How you can help Barack Obama win the state of Indiana

As incredible as it sounds, the state of Indiana is in play for the Democrats. This is the same state that George W. Bush received 57% of the vote against Al Gore in 2000 and received nearly 60% of the vote against John Kerry in 2004. Indiana is in play for Barack Obama and the Democrats. The Barack Obama campaign is swarming the state with paid staff and volunteers that are registering voters, canvassing voters and preparing for the big day, Election Day, Tuesday November 4th.

But, we need more volunteers to register a few more voters, canvass door-to-door to identify our voters, McCain's voters and the really important undecided voters. For those that live in the Chicagoland area, we need your help in Northwest Indiana. Places like Gary, Hammond, Merrillville, Schererville.

John McCain, as far as I can see, has no ground game in Indiana although Politico reports they are pulling out of Michigan presumably to help in other swing states. The McCain campaign plans a television blitz in Indiana and we should not underestimate the power of television. But we also should not underestimate the power of the ground game and the door-to-door campaign. And the power of blogs like these. The McCain campaign is underestimating the Barack Obama forces in Indiana and will come to the realization shortly, forcing the McCain to commit more resources there: resources which McCain has a finite supply. Our actions there also force the McCain camp to reallocate resources there which will hurt other swing states. This is a "Catch 22" for the McCain camp.

Interested in impacting a Presidential race on the ground? And you will come away each day with great blogging material Daily Kos diarists reporting on the "Unraveling of the John McCain campaign."

My name is John Presta and I am a volunteer for Barack Obama. I reside in Chicago. This is my fourth Obama campaign. In 2000, through a series of interesting circumstances my wife Michelle and I met Barack Obama through our community bookstore in Chicago's Beverly community and got involved with his campaign against a Democratic incumbent Congressman, Bobby Rush. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending how you look at it), Barack Obama lost that race. (I have written a book about those experiences and several publishers are now reviewing it: the working title is Barack Obama's Bookstore: How a Book, a Bookstore, two bookstore owners, 300 volunteers and a community helped propel Barack Obama unto the national scene).

I was initially reluctant to support Barack Obama but I felt Bobby Rush voted on my issues 100% of the time. Eventually I did get on board with Barack Obama and despite this loss, I stayed on board and I never turned back. I was convinced back then he would one day become President of the United States although in my wildest dreams I never thought it would be this soon. Although Obama lost that Congressional race and lost it decisively, I continued to believe in him, and yes, I still believed he would one become President of the United States. We personally told him we would support his next political move and when he announced his candidacy in January, 2003 to run for United States Senate, we became part of his volunteer team and immediately started recruiting volunteers and raising money for the campaign. We supported him in spite of the fact that his chief opponent, State Comptroller Dan Hynes, was a strong political force in our community and there was enormous pressure to support Dan Hynes from the community. But we stayed with Obama and have no regrets for our decision. He was polling at 3-4% at the time and Hynes was the early front-runner and was running as if he were the "entitled incumbent" (sound familiar). We were told Obama could not win because he didn't have the organization, the money, the name recognition, the stature. But we never gave up. Not a moment of doubt. In July of 2003 we held a fundraiser for him that raised $4,000 at the most and close to 100 people came to hear him. And even then his poll numbers were about 7%.

And then like Lance Armstrong pedaling up a steep incline in the Tour de France, Barack Obama just kept coming and steadily passing up opponents one at a time, receiving donations one at a time, recruiting volunteers, one at a time. Slowly, steadily. But with tremendous self-confidence.

And here we are, fast forward eight years plus with the same crew as previous elections with lots of new friends, trying to deliver one more victory for our friend, Barack Obama.

Come join us this Saturday, October 4th, in Schererville at 11:00 am and pick up a door-to-door canvassing packet from the committed staff there. The office is located at 1316 Eagle Ridge Drive. And every Saturday until Election Day. And volunteer for Election Day weekend. Or join others in Merrillvile. Or Gary. Or Hammond. And any one of the dozens of Indiana offices. Or perhaps in your home state or a nearby swing state. The time for change is now and the campaign and the country need you and your help to deliver from the eight nightmarish years. I always remember after the 2000 Bush victory (the tainted victory), the satirical newspaper, The Onion, had a prophetic headline that read, 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over.'

Wow. Great satire. Take a look at the entire article sometime. The editors of The Onion were just kidding. But events turned out to be far too real.

So let's end this national nightmare now and elect our friend, Barack Obama. Come to Indiana and force the McCain camp to make a move there. And if they do nothing, all the better. Or Missouri. Or Ohio. Or Florida. You get the idea.

Reading on Walden Bookstore.