Thursday, November 08, 2012

Thoughts on the election

Glenn Reynolds writes at Instapundit: "Or was it simply that Romney — who campaigned for independents and deliberately distanced himself from the Tea Party — didn’t pay enough attention to the base? Maybe the numbers will answer this, but obviously the Obama people thought this was a base-turnout election and Romney’s people didn’t. Obama’s people were right."

"Evangelicals turned out in record numbers and voted as heavily for Mitt Romney yesterday as they did for George W. Bush in 2004," said Ralph Reed, chairman of Faith and Freedom Coalition. "That is an astonishing outcome that few would have predicted even a few months ago. But Romney underperformed with younger voters and minorities and that in the end made the difference for Obama."

Reed added that the election was a "tale of two cities" and said, "Evangelicals and faithful Catholics turned out in large numbers and voted overwhelmingly for religious liberty, the sanctity of life and marriage, and limited government. But younger voters and minorities turned out in even larger numbers [than] in 2008 and delivered Obama to victory."

Overall, not factoring religion or faith, Obama easily won the youth vote nationally, 67 percent to 30 percent. Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/survey-evangelical-voters-for-romney-overshadowed-by-youth-minorities-for-obama-84609/#g4joLPdZK8fk7C4o.99

And don't forget the ground game: paid union and other organizers.

The SEIU put 100,000 “volunteers” on the ground in swing states. AFSCME put 65,000 members into action The National Education Association claimed to have 175,000 working the campaign “Ohio alone, which is increasingly likely to determine the outcome of the presidential race, has nearly 3,500 educator volunteers in 87 of the state’s 88 counties.”

Teamster efforts included: 400 Teamsters participated in the program full time More than 500,000 worksite contacts 100,000 Teamster contacts through the national Teamsters phone bank 124 direct mail pieces developed and more than 3 million pieces of mail sent to Teamster members Hundreds of thousands of Teamsters contacted through additional phone programs including state specific teleforums with General President Hoffa and a national leadership call with Vice President Biden Social media outreach including text messaging notifications for volunteer opportunities, early vote programs and voting reminders

The Laborers’ Union (LIUNA): “LIUNA mailed more than 700,000 pieces of mail, made more than 350,000 phone calls and dedicated more than 400 full-time staff to President Obama’s re-election. Twenty-five Local Union telephone town halls and three national telephone town halls were held, including one on Election Eve which drew more than 30,000 members, 3,000 of whom were in Ohio….On Election Day, an estimated 7,000 LIUNA members worked in precincts.”

The Steelworkers: “…[T]he USW amassed 4,100 trained volunteers, plus another 2,900 worksite union members to pass out 2.1 million candidate handbills. Election Day reports filed show 18,315 shifts of USW volunteers and retirees in the battleground states doing block walks and door knocking. During the past two weeks in those states, USW members knocked on 173,800 doors. Another 376,790 direct campaign mailers were sent to USW active and retired members who resided in the battleground states.”

For months, the majority of unions’ efforts have concentrated on the swing states.

“We did deliver those states,” said Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, the federation of labor unions. “Without organized labor, none of those would have been in the president’s column.”

http://www.redstate.com/2012/11/07/about-tuesdays-loss-if-the-archangel-michael-were-on-the-ballot-beelzebub-would-still-have-won/

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