The deadline for registering to vote in California was January 22nd. Remarkably, 700,000 new voters have been added to the rolls, with 240,000 having registered since December alone. And among new registrants, Democrats outnumber Republicans by a margin of four to one.
It's worth noting though the price that California is paying for not having same-day registration. Anyone wishing this week that they could have registered is out of luck, since the registration deadline was arbitrarily set at two weeks before the election.
The truly dramatic turnout that we saw in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, especially among young voters, was in part a result of same-day registration.
Today, the Oakland Tribune and the Los Angeles Times endorsed Barack Obama for president, finishing off a remarkable sweep of the major newspaper editorial boards across the state. Among others, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the San Jose Mercury, the Sacramento Bee, the Modesto Bee, Santa Cruz Sentinal, and the Santa Barbara Independent have all endorsed Obama.
This newspaper sweep is so extensive and so comprehensive that I'm not sure Clinton has received the endorsement of a single editorial board in the state. In total, 28 California newspapers have endorsed Obama, from southern California to the Central Valley and the Bay Area and northward, newspapers of every size and in every kind of community.
Indeed, although Clinton gained a number of early endorsements from some of the state's most ambitious and networking politicians, such as Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villariosa and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsome, Obama has been dominating the recent rounds of endorsements, picking up some of the most effective and respected members of California's congressional delegation, such as George Miller, Linda Sanchez, Berkeley's Barbara Lee, San Jose's Zoe Lofgren (an avid Dean supporter in 2004, who described being swayed by her children), Palo Alto's Anna Eshoo, Xavier Becerra, and Adam Schiff.
The San Francisco Chronicle glowed after meeting with Obama two weeks ago:
In a Jan. 17 meeting with our editorial board, Obama demonstrated an impressive command of a wide variety of issues. He listened intently to the questions. He responded with substance. He did not control a format without a stopwatch on answers or constraints on follow-up questions, yet he flourished in it.
He radiated the sense of possibility that has attracted the votes of independents and tapped into the idealism of young people during this campaign. He exuded the aura of a 46-year-old leader who could once again persuade the best and the brightest to forestall or pause their grand professional goals to serve in his administration.
When Obama visited the offices of the Los Angeles Times, this was the result, according to former staff writer Ken Reich:
It was striking last week that, when Obama came to the L.A. Times to meet with the editorial board, the usually idealistic Times staff gave him a rapturous reception. There is no question who the staff favors, and it is not an extension of rancorous, divisive government in Washington that the Clintons, like the Bushes, have come to represent.
A fantastic video blog entry from the Obama campaign following last Saturday's attempt to break a record: one hundred thousand voter contact calls in a single day. The calls were targeted at California's Independent voters, who are eligible to participate in Tuesday's Democratic party.
One of the underreported stories this election cycle has been the high quality and tech savvy of Obama's state-level blogging teams. They've been innovative in framing the campaign's message specifically for each state.
The Obama website, in an interesting way and from early on, has experimented with different forms of communities: offering webpages and blogs centered around issue advocacy, geography, or demographics.
The role seems twofold: (1) not only to ensure that your message is targeted to the needs of each community; (2) but also to resolve the problem of how to create online communities by finding new ways to put people together and create ties that bind.
My thoughts on this haven't been fully articulated, but there's something interesting going on that these blogs demonstrate. I imagine they'll serve as a model in future years.
With the exception of Al Gore, the only other major Democrat who can swing votes in California is Sen. Boxer. She is well-loved and respected by many progressives. Her endorsement could make the difference for Obama in California. Just set the doubts aside and please contact any one of her offices. Be polite. Thanks.
This is going to be epic. The Obama campaign is already going on the air in California and Arizona in preparation for the February 5th near-national primary. Some commentators think that winning California is crucial, given how delegate rich the state is and given Clinton's base in New York.
Hopefully this is also a sign that the Obama campaign is feeling confident that they'll have the funds needed to keep it up through election day.
The focus on Arizona is more of a surprise, given that some have considered it a Clinton stronghold, but given Gov. Napolitano's endorsement yesterday, now might the campaign's opportunity if people are giving them a second look.
The California Nurses Association, longtime supporters of single payer health insurance and critics of an individual mandate, are putting radio ads on the air featuring Obama's opposition. From the press release:
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee today launched a new statewide media campaign featuring the voice of Sen. Barack Obama commenting on proposals to force individuals to buy insurance.
Individual mandate schemes lie at the heart of the healthcare deal crafted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez—and endorsed by most California insurance corporations.
The Nurses Association is using Obama's opposition to strike at a health care proposal in California. You can listen to the ad here. The full text is after the jump...
Obama for California had planned to spend the weekend preparing for the upcoming January 3rd primary, with dozens of Countdown for Change house parties planned throughout the state.
Although they're still planning to hold the house parties, they're shifting the focus. In an email to supporters in California, Buffy Wicks, the California Field Director, asked supporters to "bring non-perishable food items and clothing to donate. House party hosts will collect donations and give them to the Governor's Office of Emergency Services."
Click here to find a house party near you and to see a map of the gathering across the state.
