Schlepping toward November

Signs that the Great Schlep is working in Florida? You heard about it via Sarah Silverman's hilarious video, and energetic young people have answered the call. From CNN comes news of a young man who schlepped out to Tamarac FL to convince his grandparents. "When Bender recently returned to his grandparents' retirement community in Tamarac, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale, he was greeted with several surprises. Months of telephone conversations and his trip had paid off: His grandparents told him shortly after he arrived that they were going to support Obama.

The next surprise was that his schlep had generated interest around their retirement community. A lot of interest. So many other seniors wanted to hear about Obama that the venue for a meeting on the subject had to be changed from the Furst's living room to a ballroom in the community's clubhouse."

Also, the latest CBS/ NY Times poll gives Obama a BIG lead over McCain "The Obama-Biden ticket now leads the McCain-Palin ticket 53 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, a 14-point margin. One week ago, prior to the Town Hall debate that uncommitted voters saw as a win for Obama, that margin wasjust three points." Coupled with the latest LA Times/ Bloomberg poll showing Obama 9 points ahead, all that gives Obama an averaged lead of 8.1 points over his opponent according to Real Clear Politics' calculations. But John McCain has Obama right where he wants him.

And for your amusement, some video of Obama canvassing in Ohio that proves that he leaves no vote unturned,. not even the spider-vote.

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21 days to the election! That's just THREE WEEKS!

Don't forget, you could be voting now! Your state may offer the option of voting early, if you're willing to go to your local board of Elections. Reed College has compiled lists of which states offer early voting/absentee balloting options with links to official websites. Here is the shortlist of states and their early voting windows:

Alaska: Oct 20-Nov 3 Arkansas: Oct 20-Nov 3 Arizona: : Oct 2-31 California: Oct 6-Nov 3 Colorado: Oct 20-31 Georgia: Sept 22-Oct 31 Florida: Oct 20-Nov 2 Hawaii: Oct 21-Nov 1 Idaho: Oct 10-Nov 3 Illinois: Oct 13-30 Indiana: Oct 6-Nov 3 Iowa: Sept 25- Nov 3 Kansas: Oct 15-Nov 3 Louisiana: Oct 21-28 Maine: Oct 5-Nov 3 Montana: Oct 6- Nov 3

Nebraska: Sept 30- Nov 3 Nevada: Oct 18-31 New Mexico: Oct 7-Nov 1 North Carolina: Oct 16-Nov 1 North Dakota: Sept 25-Nov 3 Ohio: Sept 30-Nov 3 Oklahoma: Oct 31-Nov 3 South Dakota: now-Nov 3 Tennessee: Oct 15-30 Texas: Oct 20-31 Utah: Oct 23-Nov 2 Vermont: Oct 6-Nov 3 West Virginia: Oct 15-Nov 1 Wisconsin: now-Nov 3 Wyoming: Sept 25-Nov 3

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Also don't forget to check Project Vote, which lists the names and addresses of purged voters in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas (so far). If you live in one of these states, check the list TODAY to see if you have been purged and also check for friends, relatives, and neighbors." If you find yourself or someone you know on one of these lists, they may be able to protest being removed from the rolls.

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Last debate is tomorrow Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 9pm EDT (6 pm PDT)at Hofstra University's Hofstra Arena in Hempstead, New York, moderated by Bob Schieffer, CBS News chief Washington correspondent and host of Face the Nation. Let's hope he does better than Tom Brokaw. This debate will focus on domestic and economic policy.