Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Quick Election Day Ground Game Notes ...

I got out at oh-dark-thirty on my bike and flew the Adrian Wyllie, Libertarian for Governor colors up and down Archer Road (running in and out of Gainesville, Florida) through the morning rush hour.

I was one-third of the Election Day "sign-wave" ground game on that stretch of road. The other 2/3 were standing on street corners -- an intern waving a (Republican incumbent) Keith Perry for State Representative sign (I stopped and talked with him for a moment) and a gentleman with a (Republican incumbent) Ted Yoho for Congress sign.

At the polling place, I put up two Wyllie signs. No Charlie Crist signs in evidence. Two Rick Scott signs, but Scott should fire his sign designer -- they're those "plastic bag" things in sedate colors, not very readable even up close.

The only Democrat sign I noticed at the polling place was for Lee Pinkoson, an incumbent county council representative. That sign had fallen over.

Being a helpful soul, I tried to stand it back up, but it was on a wooden stake and the ground was cold/hard there, explaining why it hadn't been well-anchored in the first place and I couldn't get it to work. I finally broke off the wooden stake and put it up on metal frame I cannibalized from my Wyllie stuff. So I guess the Wyllie campaign made an unintentional in-kind campaign contribution of one yard sign frame to a Democrat.

The Democratic Election Day ground game deficiency may be due to the area I'm in likely being heavily Republican.

Prior to Election Day I had numerous Democratic robocalls and only one (live) call from a GOP candidate. I heard from Charlie Crist. I heard from Bill Clinton on behalf of Charlie Crist. I heard from some former mayor on behalf of Charlie Crist. My only outreach experience with the Rick Scott campaign was a lady putting an absentee ballot request form on my door and walking away. Wouldn't even have known she was with Scott if I hadn't come down and asked her.

I'm planning to get back out on the bike during the noon and evening rush hours. Several thousand cars an hour run down Archer during those periods. In between it's light, mostly commercial traffic (logging trucks, gravel trucks, etc.).

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