Allow me some introduction the subject. I have been headhunting on and off for almost twenty five years and periodically my practice has involved the auto industry. Basically the corporate executives and most engineers who have come out of the auto industry don't have a clue how to compete outside their world. They are worse than the utility industry or the military and display entitlement and false superiority. The most important thing that sticks out is a steadfast denial that innovation or risk is a worthy thing.

Now I have worked in the alternative and renewable energy sector where things are quite exciting when it comes to innovation of personal transportation outside a burning fuel car. The loss of the Big Three would not be the worst where like all industries the remnants could be reorganized. My thinking is that if the personal transportation industry and trucking/train engine world should be split up. These companies should be broken up where technologies are divided where one group goes hybrid/transition. Another group goes hybrid/rechargeable. Another group goes all electric. And another group goes fuel cell. 

The US takes stock in each group like a venture capitalist with Board of Directors. The taxpayers receive the investment. You create a competitive marketplace both for engineering and parts and overall competition over what technology emerges.

One anecdotal example of what is on the horizon. A scientist at Purdue in '07 discovered that a simple chemical reaction of water running over an alloy of aluminum and gallium  instantly releases the hydrogen molecule into a vacuum where conceivably a hydrogen fuel cell reaction could take place---emitting water. The oxygen molecule bonds with the aluminum in the alloy and is converted to bauxite, the original form of aluminum. This system could then be commercialized where once a car uses up its usable aluminum it removes the chamber and replaces it with a new one, the old chamber could be commercially recovered like a fill up or toner refill cartridge.

The thing is for at least 30 years and possibly for 60 years the Detroit auto industry has been mining the world for its own entitlement and strategically, economically, environmentally and fundamentally they are out of chances. Break them up, retrain the working class work force and let the middle managers and executives find their way in the new century.

Dan Balz stated on Face the Nation Sunday that the Obama campaign that it had a 3-2-1 strategy; (1) meaning winning one state of either Ohio or Florida and Obama wins---(2) winning Virginia and either of the two, Iowa or New Mexico or---(3) winning three states New Mexico, Iowa and Colorado.

Living here in Colorado we are heavily engaged in GOTV activities in Early Voting and MIB (where complaints are building of slow mailing of ballots on requests where estimated 1.2M will vote by mail) activties are heavily under way. Yesterday the Obama campaign said that the McCain campaign made a media buy of $1.5M (exceeding the $1M of Obama) attempting to counter the Obama ground game.

So when CNN reported that McCain was pulling out of  CO at first there was a cheer and then a surprise. Except that Schaeffer is underperforming so they are not getting that boost, nor are they getting the Ballot initiative boost for proposition questions on what defines the beginning of life.

So then what gives for McCain? Admittingly they state they need to win Virginia, North Carolina, Florida (South), Indiana, (they are still assuming), Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

Now here it is the string---Reverand Wright----the final ten days will be a blitz of Reverand Wright re packaged and re formated in their robo calls and speeches.....RACE of course...In five of those states RACE is serious---outside of Nevada and Colorado and Iowa and New Mexico. But in those five states it works....especially Pennsylvania and the middle T also know as Alabama of the North.

To me it is obvious....and they will increase the temperature each day....but the problem is early voting....Ohio, NC, VA, IN, NV but no PA....why they think they can get away with this.

The distinction is as simple as 1-2-3.  It is a the full embrace of that the end justifies any means.

They are legitimate because I want them to be....and you challenging me on my moving ethos and morals is not legitimate.

I received the following letter from the editor of the Colorado Springs Independent which also published the following article that illustrates the problems with voter registration in El Paso County. In my blog I also discuss our own problems with the office in correcting my wife's MIB. Here is a copy of the Governor's letter:

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
136 State Capitol Building
Denver, Colorado 80203
(303) 866 -2471
(303) 866 - 2003 fax

Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor
October 9.2008

Secretary of State Mike Coffman
Colorado Department of State
1700 Broadway
Denver, CO 80290

Dear Secretary Coffman:

I am certain that you share my view that the opportunity to vote in our elections is a fundamental right that, as public officials, we must make every effort to protect. I believe that you also share my commitment to ensuring that all Coloradans who are qualified and wish to exercise this right have every opportunity to do so in November's election. The purpose of this letter is to urge you to take more aggressive steps to correct an error made by your office regarding the deadline for remedying an incomplete voter registration application. A letter prepared by your office and mailed by a number of county clerks incorrectly told over 4,000 registrants with incomplete applications that any deficiencies had to be rectified by October 6, 2008. As you know, under state statute and your own rules, these registrants may correct or supplement their applications at anytime prior to voting. See C.R.S. § 1-2-509(3); Election Rule 2.6.3. Your dissemination of
inaccurate information may disenfranchise hundreds or thousands of Coloradans, an outcome that is unacceptable.

Since Monday my Office has been contacted directly by scores of constituents who are concerned that they and others who thought they registered to vote will be disenfranchised come election day. Members of my staff have been in contact with members of your staff, and I am aware that your office learned last Friday that your initial instruction to county clerks was inaccurate. Further, I understand that your office
is preparing a letter to go to the applicants who were provided inaccurate information, but that this letter will not be completed until Friday of this week at the earliest. or as late as next week. In my view this letter alone is too little, too late. I urge you, as the chief election official in this State, to direct all county election officials to make personal contact by telephone with each potential voter who may have been misled or confused by the earlier communications. I urge you to direct county election officials to include these people on the polling books statewide and to provide these individuals with the opportunity to remedy this technical deficiency at the polls on election day. Finally, I urge you to contact media outlets statewide to ensure that corrected information is communicated as broadly as possible. In short, please ensure that these individuals are notified that they will be afforded every opportunity to remedy any deficiencies in their applications with minimal burden through election day.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time this season that county election officials have issued erroneous communications that have the potential to disenfranchise qualified voters. Last month, EI Paso County Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink publicly acknowledged that he had misinterpreted Colorado law when he sent an erroneous message to Colorado College indicating that students whose parents live in another state and claim them as dependents for tax purposes are not eligible to register to vote in Colorado. Even after correcting his error, Mr. Balink posted on his office's website a caution to college students warning them of potential negative ramifications of registering to vote in Colorado. These actions were, in the first case, wrong and in the other, beyond the scope of his duties as Clerk. His actions are unacceptable and should
be carefully scrutinized by your office.

It is critical that public officials charged with carrying out the law provide the public with accurate information. It is all the more critical when, as here, the wrong information has the impact of discouraging citizens from exercising a fundamental right. Providing the wrong information is inexcusable for many reasons: it disenfranchises
voters; it makes citizens skeptical (especially when the chief election official is on the ballot); and it exposes the State to litigation risk. But most importantly, it risks impacting the outcome of the election.

Our focus as public officials should be on ensuring that every qualified elector in this State is able to exercise his or her right to vote in the upcoming election. This includes encouraging the use of mail-in ballots, as well as expanding access to early voting opportunities. To that end, I ask that you join me in requesting that every county across our State open its polls on weekends during the early voting period, as feasible.
Providing additional access to early voting opportunities across the State, at times most convenient for the working men and women of Colorado, is all the more critical in this year's election when we can expect record turnout and a longer than usual ballot. In addition, I ask that you join me in requesting that those voters who have the flexibility in their schedules to permit them to vote between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on election day, when lines will be shortest, do so. It is steps like these that will help ensure that all Coloradans who are registered and wish to vote will be able to exercise this fundamental right.

Thank you for your prompt attention to these issues.

Sincerely,
.
Bill Ritter, Jr.

Governor

Having been with the Obama volunteer team since almost the start I have been amazed by what I call "doing everything right" from the start. The most tangible evidence has been the enormous success the Obama campaign has had on registrating new voters in every battleground state, often going back to the primary/caucus days. Huffington Post has a great article today that captures much of how and why this political experience has been wholly different and successful.

Inside the Obama campaign, almost without anyone noticing, an insurgent generation of organizers has built the Progressive movement a brand new and potentially durable people's organization, in a dozen states, rooted at the neighborhood level.

The "New Organizers" have succeeded in building what many netroots-oriented campaigners have been dreaming about for a decade. Other recent attempts have failed because they were either so "top-down" and/or poorly-managed that they choked volunteer leadership and enthusiasm; or because they were so dogmatically fixated on pure peer-to-peer or "bottom-up" organizing that they rejected basic management, accountability and planning. The architects and builders of the Obama field campaign, on the other hand, have undogmatically mixed timeless traditions and discipline of good organizing with new technologies of decentralization and self-organization.

But all that has been in preparation for the final push, also known as GOTV (GET OUT THE VOTE) where I assure you have never seen such a coordinated, massive effort by its decentralized, self-organization on the neighborhood level with the deployment and motivated streamlined organization at the field management level. My experience from earlier campaigns was that a central body, usually at the county level would attempt to loosely coordinate Unions, local party officials and small teams of campaign volunteers into trying to sweep up a small percentage of voters.

The Obama team has other plans. First in states like Colorado or Wisconsin where early voting, (known as Mail-In or Absentee balloting) they focused on making voter contacts where they are both persuading the undecided's, closing the leaners and openly registrating mail in ballot applications for their identified supporters. In Colorado they are seeking to get 75% of their identified support to mail in and/or early vote before the final weekend. It is well known that Mail In balloters vote at higher turnouts than day of the election voters to a degree often in the high 80's to 90%.

This is where the investment into technology comes into play where the Obama team is partnered with the Democratic Party in their nationwide voter database. This tool will allow Obama campaign organizers and volunteer leaders to get daily updates of who has a Mail In Ballot, where then they can focus on GOTV efforts on those who haven't turned in their ballot yet. By the final weekend the organization will know who is left to vote at the polls and then concentrate their entire human resources on contacting those voters and getting them to the polls on Tuesday. Furthermore, they can seek to recruit more volunteers to work on the final weekend if they have voted already.

The final day instead of one county-wide office with a skeleton crew of loosely associated groups haphazardly doing GOTV activities the Obama team will have staging centers all over their field organizations working in their neighborhood areas that they have already worked the last two months in campaign activities. That weekend they will deploy the largest teams of canvassers and phone bankers attempting to reach every remaining voter on their contact list. As the election day unfolds each precinct will have a poll watcher who will report back on an hourly basis who has voted while contact teams will fan out and find those remaining votes.

Then teams who have had great success will be redeployed to problem areas in the final hours making the mad dash to the finish line. At each poll they will also have watchers identfying inappropriate activities like systematic voter challenges and machine issues and other suppression activities. Teams of lawyers will be in place to immediately act on nefarious and questionable activities. The plan holds that if a large majority of voters have already voted with a paper trail (mail in ballot) they can ably respond to the issues in smaller numbers.

This plan is being deployed in each battleground state with local knowledge and where local issues will make adjustments. But the bottom line is that right now the Obama teams are identifying human resources, securing time and facilities and organizing while the campaign is in full swing. It is a dream come true for a political science junkie who has been waiting for the someone to come along and unleash the power of a democracy. The only way the CWC (conservatives without conscience) can success is at the margins, the cannot stem the tidal wave of a voting tsunami of interested and motivated mass voters.

Couple this with the reports that Obama is securing a half hour of prime time on the national networks Wednesday October 29th the final Wednesday using what is rumored to be a outragious record haul of contributions in September this could be the change election we have been waiting for.

Final note: A truly angry white man who happened to be my college roommate, a genuine kool aide drinking Republican Reptile, told me today the market crash is because everyone fears an Obama Administration. Right.....what they fear is losing another 5% before they can sell out.  

My take on McCain and his inability to say it to Obama's face the "Ayer's thing" actually comes down to this when I had a conversation with a close business associate. Let me put some context into my conversation. Jim is currently a CEO/Entreprenuer and former HR senior VP of a former US Fortune 500 company where coming up the ranks as a engineer/manager with another former Fortune 500 firm. I had served him as an executive search headhunter in a number of business initiatives ranging in projects that entailed COO's to director level positions. With that in mind our conversation centered on the leadership personalities of McCain and Obama. Having been in personal presence of Obama I gave him my take, my up close personal assessment of the people and friends of his which were all complimentary---saying in short he is what you see. Extremely smart, pragmatic, genuinely empathetic to those of all social and work class around him---he can down shift in a moment and connect with anyone and yet stay tuned into the overall. He is a real leader of leaders. Which would be confirmed in that by all accounts he is a self-made person having earned every step of his ascension to this current status.

When we discussed McCain it was quite critical. Not that personality disorders have not ascended to top leadership roles especially in business where Jim and I have both worked for same persons with extreme character disorders and flawed judgments and in all cases those individuals have not fared well leading their organizations in extreme challenges. McCain by his pedigree is the son of a 4-star Admiral, who was the son of another 4-star Admiral. When he grew up he wanted for nothing. He was by birth entitled to go to Annapolis (or West Point of the AFA) by appointment. He was not the Eagle Scout kid in the CD who earned everything with effort and dedication and got the Congressman or Senator to sponsor him or her to that first appointment. Through life he has had entitlement after entitlement ascensions. It is as clear as any resume both of us have read. He was squadron leader---why? Name or record...I have talked to those who served with him, it was name only.

Upon returning from a hell hole....he remarried into a fortune. And then he got elected because he had a good story. He then got elected to Senator following a true leader Goldwater who questioned the choice, that is a tell.

Then in 2000 he ran against another entitled candidate, the son of a President and grandson of a true Nazi sympathizer who somehow became Senator. Bush too was entitled to Yale and Harvard by social order and did not earn it. But beat McCain because of politics scorched earth politics.

Now when he is at the true sunset of his life he is running for that believed entitled status in life---President. And yet he is losing and beginning to lose badly to a person who has earned his way all the way to this point. So now McCain is going to take him down on character issues.

Funny thing is that I have walked and lived amongst those entitled circles as Jim. He a self-made corporate jockey from previous simple means, me a middle class ethnic Catholic, we have seen how entitled class react to losing. This is exactly how they totally bespurge any semblance of an opponents character and even make it up---taking the loss personally.

Now finally cowardness. McCain is no different than any person I have heard has talked behind my back of smears and lies and then were polite in public. I have confronted those at times, they run and hide, only to try to get revenge later behind your back. Ultimately it is all about me (McCain). The final tell in this entitled family was Cindy McCain's big speech yesterday about how she wanted Obama to walk in her shoes as she took personally the funding for war and her son. She too took it personally....and was proud of it.

Hey Cindy, I 'll walk in your shoes for a day, just let me spend a few thousand to catch back up on the losses your Party allowed to happen to the financial markets, oh and that goes back to the business I lost when it actually began in '06 as the market has fallen in a steady slide since '07...

Today on the telephone an old Republican friend told me he was rising the white flag. Was it the further dive by the DOW or the continued separation in the polls. Was it another SNL skit that just hit him in the belly or McCain going into the mythical "HELM's DEEP" of smear and sleaze politics.  Maybe it is that 82% of the country thinks the Republicans have taken the nation to the wrong direction.

He sought consoling and I gave him none. I was cold---the nation is broke I said and the Republican decisions, their philosophy, their worldview has brought us there, they lied to us to take us to war---his response "their heart was in the right place."  Heart...Bullsh$t...you don't lead the nation with heart or prejudice or just for partisan gain....you lead correctly. 

"But the free market, what of it", he inquired? Well it is not free, nor is it a market either---it was a gaming house where there was no bank, no rules except don't get caught holding the empty bag.

"I just can't Democrats," he said..."they think they are so smart.". but they are....

You know I voted already today with twenty other motivated Obama supporters at 8 AM. "Yeah, he said, "I got my ballot and could care less. It used t o be that Colorado would always go Republican and now I bet it goes Democrat. Guess I might as well move to Utah or Idaho."

Why? "Because I can't stand Democrats, he said....we are supposed to be right and superior and if you guys are...you will make me think that the common good is good."

First thing there has been a flurry of activity emulating out of the Secretary of State's office regarding registrations which have been brisk this year. In early September an online article in the Colorado Independent it was revealed that an estimated Obama haul of 2-to-1 voter advantage on 118,000 newly registered voters. Voter registration numbers have not been released but in El Paso County, (Colorado Springs or the Red Zone) where over 32,000 newly registered voters have been compiled to October 3rd.

.........................Rep's.......... Dem's ........Unaffiliated 1/25/08...... 153,532 ......    68,689 ..........108,406
6/30/08 ......155,558...... 72,590...........112,630 7/31/08...... 157,047....... 74,774..........113,699 9/02/08...... 157,998....... 75,241..........112,665 10/03/08.... 163,203........ 81,881..........119,085 % ..................44.6%..........22.2%...........32.5%

Ttl Voters 365, 899............ (9% increase)

Where over 17,000 new registrations were recorded in September. Friday Secretary of State Coffman announced all new registrations with clerical errors or misinterpretations in providing residency information they would be purged and then stated they would remain registered but ineligible to vote until they corrected or completed the form. This involves 35,000 new registrants state wide. Today cooler heads prevailed as the lawyers got involved and a remedy was made that those 35,000 registrants would be contacted by their respective County Clerk's offices and they have until Friday October 31st at 5 PM to complete or correct the information.

Watch this:

In El Paso County we voted today, 17 of us were at the County Clerk's office at 8:00 AM to hand deliver our Mail In Ballots while being decked out in our Obama garb. Well they asked us to cover our buttons and shirts because it was an election place. WRONGO again! The lawyers were called and informed the Republican intimidating County Clerk that not until October 28th is it a polling place, it is merely a receiving place. They are watching every step of Mr. Balink who continues to misinform the electorate on registration issues.

In Arapahoe County Colorado, the suburban area of Denver County is now Democratic! One of the top Obama field directors told me they passed the Republicans in this swing county which now has Denver County, Adams County (to the north) and Boulder County (U of CO) as having more Democrats while Douglas, El Paso and Jefferson Counties remain Republican. This ground game is grinding out the Red Zones in Colorado!

Secretary of State Mike Coffman, one of two GOP statewide elected officials and now running for a Congressional Seat has now deemed 35,000 (out of 120,000+) new registrations invalid due to a clerical error or interpretation of instruction in providing residence status AFTER THE FACT!

In short the CO voter registration form asks for a driver's license number, state-issued identification number, or social security number as proof of identity (link to form here) 

The Secretary of State's office is now telling voters they must have checked a box which indicates they do not have a driver's license or state ID card, in order for the social security number to be sufficient. 

  The sentence in the form states:

"Check here if you do not have a driver's license or state-issued identification card".  It does not say "at all" or "with you". 

This sentence of course is vague, and could be interpreted by each registrar differently.  When people have been trained (like me) to do voter registration by his office for many months, they have been told the box only needs to be checked if the person does not have a driver's license or state identification card AT ALL.    On the Secretary of State website, there is a link to a PDF document titled "Registration Information for New Voters".  After a list of documents allowable for establishing identification, it continues:

Or you may provide one of the following numbers without providing a physical copy of the number:

Valid Colorado Driver’s License number

 Valid Colorado Department of Revenue Identification number

 At least the four last digits of the voter’s Social Security number

 

According to reports, the Secretary of State's office has recently deemed up to 35,000 (this was told to me last night from the El Paso Democratic Party Chair) of these new registrations invalid, despite the fact they have been completed as instructed!   There are many reasons why persons didn't have their driver's license on them. A)  Imagine you run some errands with your spouse and your spouse drives, so you don't bring your driver's license with you.  B) Or, you could be taking a walk, working out at the gym, shopping, etc. C) You meet a voter registrar with a clipboard somewhere, and they offer to help you register to vote.  D) Or you don't have your driver's license with you, although you do have one at home, and you put your social security number on the form instead (a number unique to you).  The registrar collects all the necessary information, asks you to sign and date the form, and gives you a receipt with his/her signature.    According to Secretary of State's Coffman's new interpretation, the form is invalid if you are honest and do not check the box saying you do not have a driver's license (because you do - it is just not with you).  If you were dishonest and said you didn't have a driver's license, in order to use the social security number option, you may get away with it.    Of course pending lawsuits are spreading.  MEANWHILE, voter registration in Colorado ends at the close of business on Monday, October 6th.  Mail-in ballots, the choice of most of the new voters registered this year, are scheduled to be sent out October 6th, as well.   The national press can contact him at his campaign office at (303) 791-6453 or info@coffmanforcongress.com or the elections office at (303) 894-2200 ext. 6307 elections@sos.state.co.us .

This is another report from the battleground state of Colorado with a view from the Red Zone front lines inside Colorado Springs. In the past the Republicans could count on a margin 70-30 which would balance the Democratic votes in Denver and Boulder counties. In 2004 Kerry got 32%, while Senator Salazar won a narrow victory getting almost 34% in El Paso County which was the margin of his win. In 2006 Governor Ritter expanded the Salazar plan and received 39.7% in the Red Zone and won easily 55-44% over former Congressman Beaupreu.  Under the national radar my firend Lt Col Jay Fawcett also received 39% against Lamborn and even pushed the number in Colorado Springs into low 40's.

Now as the final weekend approaches the voter registration numbers are being released and the Democrats have amazingly registered more voters than the Republicans or Independents with an increase right now at 17% (compared to 9% for Unaffiliated's and 6% for Republicans). All told like the rest of the state El Paso County has seen an increase of 9% new voter registrations.That said the Democrats have added almost 13,200 new voters while the Republicans are at 9600 and the Independents just over 10,600.

Compare this to the early September report that Colorado has added over 118,600 new voters with 74,600 were Democrats and you can see why change is in the air. Bottom line in the Obama strategy is for El Paso County to deliver 38% vote to the state and the math should work out for a strong victory statewide. What is heartening in that Colorado Independent report is that new voters are 2-to-1 inclined to vote for Obama, that includes Unaffiliated's. If this translates to El Paso County it would mean the 32,000 new voters could result in 20,000 votes for Obama where Salazar recorded 81,000 votes (a record for a Democrat in the county) and with the expected turnout equote to over 40%.

With the ground game extremely active and known to be the best organized volunteer group in Colorado the belief is that the bar can be moved at least 5% from Ritter & Fawcett levels. This would turn Colorado from a leaning or battleground state to a flat in the bank state for Obama.

My numbers to review:  Voter Reg in El Paso County

....................Rep's.......... Dem's ...........Unaffiliated
1/25/08...... 153,532 ......68,689 ..........108,406
6/30/08 ......155,558...... 72,590...........112,630
7/31/08...... 157,047....... 74,774..........113,699
9/02/08...... 157,998....... 75,241..........112,665
10/02/08.... 163,203........ 81,881..........119,085
% ..................44.6%..........22.2%...........32.5%
Ttl Voters 365, 899............ (9% increase)

Or you can translate the following:

....................Rep's.............. Dem's.......... Unaffilied's
06/30/08... + 2026........... + 3901............. + 4224
7/30/08..... + 1489............ + 2184............. + 1069
09/02/08.... + 957............... + 469............. (- 1034)
10/02.08.... + 5205............ + 6640.............+ 6420


Total.......... + 9677............ + 13194............. + 10679

% increase.. + 6%................. + 17%................. + 9%

The MATH as we learned in the primary/caucus season is king, everything else is immaterial. In CO it appears that new registration of voters is approaching 10-12% per county which means that Colorado will grow beyond 3M voters (last reported to be 2.990+) but with registrations coming in daily. Registered voters are GOP 34.4%, Independents 34.1% and  31.5%. That said the trend continues to march big for Unaffiliated voters with Democrats increasing their rate over GOP registrations.

So with Obama polling near 51% over 41% what gives?  Independents are going to Obama 2 to 1 in all areas of the Front Range and even outpolling McCain with crossovers by 4-5% in either camps. With more Registered Republicans going for Obama instead of Registered Democrats going for McCain the Math continues.

In El Paso County, the home of Focus and New Life, where Registered Republicans previously outpolled Democrats almost 2-to-1 and yet this year something is happening that the country club and Focus crowd is not used to:  15000 new registrations are Unaffliated's, 10,000 are Republican and 9000 are Democrats to date. This is not 2-to-1 but something like Independents at 44%, Republicans at 29% and Democrats at 26%. Also El Paso will now have over 400,000 voters.

The problem for Colorado voters is time, not time to register but the amount of time they will have to devote to the ballot, almost as long as filling out their income taxes. With 18 ballot initiatives----eighteen----it is estimated that it will take 15 minutes to fill out the ballot. You think lines were long in Ohio, the lines will probably be 3 to 4 hours after 4 PM on November 4th in many places. I figured out that each precinct in Colorado Springs will be able to process 40 voters an hour maximum with 10 booths and 15 minutes. That would mean each precinct will have to process 33 persons an hour without a let up in the 12 hours to process the expected turnout of 70%.  Fortunately one-quarter of the electorate will use Mail In or Early Voting but still over 150,000 will vote on election day.

So the Ground Game has now accelerated gears in Colorado to get every identified Obama supporter to register Mail In and increase that number to 40% or more. This will make the difference for it is believed that the only loss in the Democratic Slate for the State was the Secretary State where over 15,000 estimated voters were turned away in 2006 because of long lines due to machine malfunctions.

The Ground Game believes it will talk to each Independent, Crossover Republican and Democrat three times before voting and effect the outcome over 5% and possibly 10%. And it is those Independents that are coming over in droves to the tune that only 15% of the electorate remains undecided.

That boring Ground Game....and Math.

Make no mistake the implications regarding a total failure of the Capital Markets in NYC and Worldwide would be a disaster, but the END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS!  Meaning allowing a $700B bail out on top of what appears to be $600B bail out or $1, 600, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000.00 in total has to have STRINGS ATTACHED....many strings in fact strings and poison pills and even retribution otherwise it is nothing but a coup de' etat by financial means. This will handicap, even forestall any Healthcare Reform, Tax Reform for the sake of transferring wealth to the rich.

It is no different that how the NAZI's and Italian Fascists took over Germany and Europe in the 1930's. It binds without strings, accountablility and controls the BIG BANKS, BIG CORPORATIONS with the GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY the very definition of FASCISM. My take is this, if a bail is necessary than fine.

But freeze all assets of the individuals who were in charge of those banks and corporations for a follow up and detailed investigation. If they broke regulations, laws or were negligent to shareholders, investors or the government they lose it all!

This week on CNBC and other business news places they discussed the over $1T buyout of the financial markets. Let us see Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, Bear Sterns, AIG and now the entire defunct mortgage portfolio. Basically much of the paper represents most of the US home market, the largest business insurer and a lot of Wall Street and US Banks and they called that Socialism.

Well that might be the common phrase but in reality what brand of Socialism, can you say National Socialism as in the German Fascists....errr....NAZI's who actually invented propaganda spin even in their name. In reality the Fascists are a right-wing form of government where Authoritarians are partnered with BIG BUSINESS and BIG BANKS and the military to operate the state.

Let me review. The government now owns most of America's private property. The government is controlled by the authoritarians in Washington. The military is engaged in a perpetual war of consquests for land and resourcs. Sound familar----yes it does.

You may like watching the cable news to get the latest fix on what they think is important, but I like watching the ground game. Today in the campaign HQ I saw a big sign, the head of the local Peace & Justice Coalition Chapter, are real life 60 year old radical activist. Well at least a middle school teacher who is willing to march provocatively with Nuns and professors, but he is arrested at least once a blue moon. Well he came in by himself to phone bank. When we caught up on things he then said wow this place is hoping. I then showed him my recent spread sheet of volunteers in our 13 precinct team area----now over 175 and growing.

One Hundred and Seventy Five persons in just the upper west side of Colorado Springs! Yes and there are 35 other teams, some as small as a dozen, some over 100 but all functioning. In fact the regional director said this is the same that is going on all over the state!

We have personally contacted 70% of our targeted voter universe of Independents, cross over Republicans and sporadic voting Democrats in our 13 precincts. 70% have had personal conversations. Our data coincides with the most recent poll that Obama is leading in our area, 50% (51% in the IN/ADV of September 18th), this is Colorado Springs, CO---one of the most conservative places in America.

Later I learned our data is consistent with the national trend that only 10-15% of the voters remain undecided meaning that the electorate is making up their minds almost a month earlier than years before. This is good for we have had a big push for mail in balloting and voter registration. Which by the way had more Democrats registered than Republicans between the caucus (January 5th) and primary July 3rd deadline. This even though the Democrats had no contested primary races. Go figure.

The ground game...boring, methodical, unreported and very powerful.  For you TV addicts, this is the big unknown and the fact that there are 15% more voters in the system than in 2004. America is waking up.

Folks, you in NY, DC, IL or CA might be consumed by the press and media perceptions of how the campaign is being played out on the TV but the results on the ground in Colorado are telling a different story. This past week the estimated five thousand or so volunteers in Colorado have been recording results that are showing a definitive and conspicuous move by the electorate towards Obama. You may have seen the three polls released yesterday where Obama has averaged a 2.3% gain where before the conventions the polls were mixed with McCain holding 1% or Obama leading.

What you don't have are samples of literally multiples of tens of thousands of actual voters. In Colorado the largest segment of the voting electorate are Unaffiliated or Independent voters with Republicans holding a slight advantage over Democrats in registration although since 2002 the trend in the state has been precipitously Democratic with the election  Sen. John Salazar in 2004 or Coors in a close race, when Bush carried the state Then Gov Ritter's surprisingly strong win over GOP Congressman Bob Beauprez where also a Democrat was elected State Treasurer and Attorney General alongside majorities in both state legislatures.

The current trends are amazing especially in conservative CD 5 (Colorado Springs) where what is known as sporadic Democrats (some time voters) are declaring Obama support almost 9 to 1 and Independents are stating the same 2 to 1 against McCain with 1 still undecided. Now in Colorado the formula is simple; Salazar got 33% in Colorado Springs (CD5) and correspondingly win strong in Pueblo, Boulder, Adams and Denver Counties and split Arapahoe and Jefferson Counties (suburban Denver). Ritter received almost 40% in CD5 and won by an easy margin two years later. The Obama campaign believes 36-38% from Colorado Springs would insure a win Colorado and we are now trending well above that number.

The Obama campaign believes it will be able to contact every targeted voter personally before Mail-In balloting begins on October 6th. In targeted districts we are almost through contacting Independents and crossover Republicans and working through sporadic Democrats. This of course is not sexy, nor is it objective reporting but it is what is going on at the doors and over the phones with actual voters.

When volunteers talk directly with voters the express the issues of economy/jobs, energy, education, healthcare and the war as predominent issues. Palin's effect has actually been counter-productive here where Colorado has already been through a generation of culture wars that resulted in nothing but ineffective and wasteful governance. In fact some remember how Colorado Springs largest school district's BOE was taken over by Right-wing evangelicals where in 2006 they were recalled and removed after spending over $1M on defending lawsuits over their biased policies and hiring and then firing a superintendent in less than a year. This and other episodes have had a residual effect in even the 16th most conservative CD in the US.