SHOCKING - Obama has more offices and staff than McCain!!!

TheHill.com - Obama takes advantage in field offices: "In states where both campaigns have announced field offices that they’ve opened or plan to open, Obama has a definite advantage. In Ohio, Obama will have 18 offices open by the end of this week, while Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) has eight. In Virginia, Obama has opened 20 while McCain has opened six.

In Missouri, Obama has plans for 30 offices while McCain is aiming to have 10, the Kansas City Star reported.
While Obama has 50 staffers already in the Show Me State with plans to hire 150 altogether, McCain had only a handful with hopes of hiring 50 workers."

This is news? Are you kidding me?

In 2004 we were often outnumbered 4 and 5 to 1 in most battle ground states when you compare offices and staff. In Minnesota alone when you add ACT, MOVEON.org, Kerry Edwards and the state Democrats they had over 400 full time paid staff with over 20 offices. BC04, RNC Victory and State Party barely had 100 with only 5 offices.

My point is can anyone remember the last time a GOP POTUS Campaign had more offices or staff than a Democrat's?

Flashing Electronic Ink On Direct Mail Coming Soon

E Ink responsible for Esquire's flashing magazine cover - Engadget: "Nary a month after an E Ink exec asserted that e-newspapers would be going commercial by 2009, in flies word that a forthcoming issue of Esquire will likely be the poster child for the change. According to David Granger, Esquire's editor in chief, rags have generally 'looked the same for 150 years,' but all that will change when 100,000 copies of the September issue arrive on newsstands with a flashing electronic cover. The E Ink technology used will be exclusively available to Esquire until 2009, and the blinking 'The 21st Century Begins Now' text will sadly fade after the battery runs dry in 90 days. Still, there's at least some chance the issue will wind up in the Smithsonian, and an even bigger chance magazine racks everywhere will require Kanye-approved sunglasses to even look at in just a few years."

How long before our direct mail has flashing "Get-Out-The-Vote" and neon "donate now" messages?

H/T to Engadget.

Don't think you can buy this one at Dell.

Ego's Bentley laptop is gonna make you so cool, we swear - Engadget: "Ego's Bentley laptop is gonna make you so cool, we swear"

H/T to Engadget. Need a "high end luxury laptop"? How about the $20k Bentley custom leather bound laptop?

The Myth that more African American turnout will flip the south for Obama

Campaign Myth 2: Thirty Percent Will Flip the South - Behind the Numbers: "Using the 2004 election as a baseline - this is the election against which final analysis will gauge Obama's ability to 'turn' states 'blue' - and exit poll estimates of the proportion and preferences of black voters, suggests black turnout would have to spike considerably higher - 50 percent or more - for Obama to win many of these states.

Taking Georgia as an example: George W. Bush beat John Kerry by 17 points in 2004, a massive margin, and better than his 12-point victory in 2000. Average GOP advantage: 425,796 votes. But add in 1996 (when Bob Dole beat Clinton by a single point) and 1992 (a narrow Clinton win), and the average drops to 216,218 votes, a much lower threshold. Using the CPS data further confounds the issue. The 2000 CPS estimate for black turnout in Georgia exceeds the total number of African American registered voters in the Georgia Secretary of State's database by more than 27,000.

Substituting the 2000-2004 average for the 1992-2004 average and using estimates of black voter turnout from the state government, shows that black turnout would have to go up by 81 percent to put Obama over the top; again assuming all else remained the same. Compared with 2004 alone, black turnout would have to about double (increase 96 percent) to give Obama the state's 15 Electoral College votes."

Very interesting read with hard facts on the ramifications of additional African American turnout.

Official: State fits Obama's game plan | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

Official: State fits Obama's game plan IndyStar.com The Indianapolis Star: "Indiana, Plouffe said, is a 'state people are surprised we are playing so hard in. We believe that Indiana is highly competitive. We think we've got a terrific organization there, and McCain is not on the air and doesn't have any organization to speak of.'
Plouffe said the decision to run TV ads in Indiana and 17 other states is 'not a head fake.'"

Really?

What if the "Indiana plan" was part of a fundraising scheme for Obama?

What if Obama and HRC had already raised 1.7 million dollars out of Indiana and wanted to raise another 5-6 million? Why not invest one to two million dollars into a great diversion like Indiana?

NOTHING will motivate donors more than a real, or at least perceived to be real, local campaign for President. I think that if you "invest" a couple million into Indiana, even though you have no shot to win, but still net 3-4 million you can spend in Ohio, Iowa, Virginia or Colorado.

Why not do it?