THIS MODERN WORLD

For New Yorkers, at least:

Tomorrow through November 11, if you go to Babeland with evidence that you voted (“your word of honor” is acceptable), you will receive free either a “Maverick sleeve” or a “Silver Bullet” mini-vibrator, depending on your particular physiological needs. These items are respectively a $15 and $20 value, and assure (but do not guarantee — see labels) that whatever the result of the election, you will receive some kind of satisfaction from it.

Also via Edroso, who’s liveblogging the day over at the Voice.

Atrios:

Person working polling place under mistaken impression that photo ID is necessary for first time voters (like me, just moved). Not true. Non-photo identification verification, such as voter registration card or utility bill, should be enough.

They were asking for photo ID here in Connecticut, the volunteer seemed vaguely annoyed when I asked about it. But according to the list of official documentation, a signed statement will also suffice. Just FYI. Every vote counts today.

But something — maybe the incipience of a wrinkle, suggesting that the Singularity cannot come fast enough — did momentarily put the Perfesser in a solemn mood, and he summoned an “Army of John Galts” to talk about how they would go off the grid if the socialist Obama prevailed, depriving the littlebrains of their essential crafts of law perfessin’, psychologizing, documentary filmmaking, and the like. One such — a newspaper columnist and a “private investor”! How will we do without his unique skillset! — writes:

I want to appease the new administration and not be too productive. So, upon Obama’s passing his new redistribution plan, I will slow my work schedule, lay off a few people (Obama’s got their back) and let someone else bust his tail since I will now be able to get “redistributed wealth” from those poor fools who are ambitious, energetic, work hard and have made good decisions.

It doesn’t occur to them that others will scramble to take their places — well, it does occur to one, but Kartik Gada believes that even immigrants, formerly besotted of America, will also be disgusted with Obama and follow the Galts to… Red China, or some other such paradise where they know how to treat an investor class. Then we’ll all be sorry.

They really believe it. The greed and stupidity of investors far bigger than the Perfesser have done what untold cadres of socialists and communists couldn’t manage in a century — destroyed the good name of American capitalism and put the better part of its assets under government control — and the would-be Galts are threatening to bugger off to China because America might elect a moderately progressive Democrat.

From alicublog. (As previously noted, Roy also blogs these days for the Village Voice.)

As a comparison between the Obama and McCain campaigns, I just signed up at JohnMcCain.com to see what opportunities there were to volunteerv. Like the Obama campaign, they’ve got a “phonebank from home” script that you can use, though their script is incredibly dull :

Election Day is Tuesday, November 4th, and John McCain is the only candidate with the experience we can trust to bring real change to Washington and get our economy back on track. Can we count on your support on November 4th? The race is shaping up to be extremely close, and your vote will make a difference. Please remember to vote on Tuesday, November 4th for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

John McCain and Sarah Palin will bring real change to Washington. They are the only ones with a plan to get our economy back on track and lower our gas prices. They’ll reform Washington and Wall Street, fix our economy and break our dependence on foreign oil, which will cut prices at the pump, help keep our families safe and move our economy forward.

When I signed up from California, they have me calling Nevada. If I’m going to be making a long-distance phone call, why not have me call Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, or North Carolina? Seems like a wasted opportunity. When I signed up at BarackObama.com, I could make calls from home to Ohio, Colorado, or Virginia, with calling campaigns aimed at an eleven additional states.

When I looked for McCain/Palin events near me, here’s the only item that appeared :

Marathon Runners for McCain

Monday, November 03, 2008
6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
PASADENA, CA

As John McCain has demonstrated to us all in his life, success is an enduring marathon of a commitment to moving forward, not a short sprint to the finish as we see with Barack Obama. Come run with pride with us and with your favorite McCain-Palin gear on as we support our candidate with the same determination he has shown us, in a five-mile run in the heart of Pasadena.

No phone banking, GOTV, canvassing, or other gatherings that might actually convince people to vote for John McCain. Just a “fun run” for the status quo. By contrast, when I signed up to volunteer for Obama, the closest gathering is a phone bank from Caltech that will be starting at 6AM and be doing two hour shifts throughout the day with the goal of reaching 20,000 voters by 5PM. Like with the phone banking, the Obama campaign has distinct targets and realistic goals and isn’t using its organizing tools simply as a way to help supporters hang out while waiting to lose.

My favorite thing about “volunteering” through John McCain’s site is when I initially sign up and click the link to “Deploy as a McCain Volunteer”, the link leads to an application. That’s right, you need to apply to help the campaign. And even before you fill out the form, you’re told :

If selected, you will be volunteering on behalf of McCain-Palin 2008.
. . .
If accepted, you will be required to arrange your own transportation to the deployment city. You will not be reimbursed for your transportation, but may spend no more than $1,000 of your personal funds due to federal campaign finance regulations.

Given this lack of local campaign opportunities and a screening process to even volunteer, is it any wonder that McCain/Palin campaign offices around the country are empty?

Offices in Troy, Ohio were closed on Saturday October 11. With perfect coincidental timing, two elderly women dropped by to volunteer but found the office shut. At Republican state headquarters in Columbus later the same day, one lonely dialer sat in a sea of unoccupied chairs. In Des Moines on September 25, another empty office. In Santa Fe on September 17, one dialer made calls while six chatted amongst themselves about how they didn’t like Obama. In Raleigh this past Saturday, ten days before the election with early voting already open, two women dialed and a male staffer watched the Georgia-LSU game. In Durango, Colorado on September 20, the Republican office was locked and closed. Indiana didn’t have McCain Victory offices when we were there in early October.

When the offices are open, they have reduced hours. We can confidently plan to get evening good-light photographs of a town after we visit the local McCain office, because we know it will be closing by 5 pm, as the office in Wilmington, North Carolina was this past Sunday. The plan is, get to inevitably closed/closing McCain office, get an hour of photos near sunset, then visit the bustling local Obama office.

When you’re doing as poorly as McCain is in the polls, the only thing that can save you is a massive GOTV effort. Thankfully, I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about that.

Don’t forget to vote, unless you’d like to see this guy in the limelight for the next four years.