Spring Break
National campaigns speak out
Cameron Birch
Issue date: 10/31/08 Section: Features
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"The unprecedented voter registration drive has turned into an unprecedented get out the vote drive," Friend said.
He and the Obama campaign have been making sure that all of this year's new registrants get out to vote.
"All of the voters and field staff have been focused on expanding the voter universe," Friend said. He is expecting a "historic voter turnout in this election."
On reaching voters, issuing the McCain campaign message, Feldman said, "we have an active grassroots operation that is actively reaching out to voters in Pennsylvania, including students."
Friend mentioned a program by his campaign to text voters with election updates and polling info, in addition to reminding them to vote on Election Day. MySpace and Facebook are also being used to target the 18 to 24-year-old demographic to vote for Obama.
Feldman stated that the Republicans, "[are] right now, focused on voter contact...[we are] canvassing neighborhoods and college campuses."
On campaigns looking towards college campuses, however, Friend said, "from an outreach perspective it would be hard to make the argument that both campaigns would be equally reaching out to college campuses."
Friend said that the Obama campaign "uses [the college Democrats] because they are on the ground and understand people at the university…[they] give the best information to reach students in and around campuses." Feldman highlighted that the Republicans, "are closely working with college groups to turn out the vote for McCain on Nov. 4."
Both campaigns were asked about Philadelphia lawyer, Philip Berg, who tried to disprove Obama's citizenship. Friend called the case, "baseless, absurd, and ridiculous," and said, "if you have no other ideas or policies to run you should just make stuff up." For the McCain campaign, Feldman declined to comment. The Berg case was recently thrown out by a local judge.
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