The Young Democrats of Oklahoma are hosting a phonebanking marathon this weekend to get out the vote (GOTV). I certainly don’t qualify, but very encouraged to see young folks working so hard for their party in a state where doing so can be pretty discouraging. But that’s probably why they keep the membership below a certain age — so the fresh, idealistic youth won’t be infected by jaded old politicos like me!

Anyway, here’s the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where and why):

Saturday, Nov. 1 - Tuesday, Nov. 4
Sat. 12-5 pm, Sunday 1-5 pm , Monday and Tuesday, 12 - 6 pm

Democratic Party Headquarters, 4100 N. Lincoln, OKC

Bring your own cell phone, call 18-29 year olds and remind them to vote on Nov. 4.

Oklahoma DP candidates will be stopping by to say thanks and lend some encouragement — maybe bring pizza?

If you are of the Democratic persuasion, under 30, and in the OKC area, this would be a good time to volunteer for your country. Take it from a political veteran: you will have fun, and feel pride about the effort for the rest of your life.

From email announcement:

This election cycle is almost over but we have one more important task. Young people all over the nation are pitching-in these last few days to help Get Out the Vote. Young Democrats of Oklahoma are no exception. We are planning the largest GOTV phone bank in the history of our organization.

It’s easy, fun, and most of all effective. All you have to do is call another young person 18-29 yrs old and say “Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday”. That’s it, can you help?

Sign-up Now.

We really need people for Saturday, Nov. 1st and Sunday, Nov. 2nd. We’ll provide you with a list to call, info for any questions you might get, and food and drinks. Also, we’ll have at least two chances to win a new iPod Nano. Are you in?

Sign-up Here.

Young people have one last chance to make a difference in this election. This will be our last offensive strike, and our last chance to show people how effective, engaged, and relevant young people can be in an election. Will you be there?

Sign-up here and help make history.

See you next weekend,

Josh Smith
President
Young Democrats of Oklahoma

Warning: I hope to come by with a camera.

Barack Obama’s senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower expectations for his presidency if he wins next week’s election, amid concerns that many of his euphoric supporters are harbouring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve.

The sudden financial crisis and the prospect of a deep and painful recession have increased the urgency inside the Obama team to bring people down to earth, after a campaign in which his soaring rhetoric and promises of hope and change are now confronted with the reality of a stricken economy.

One senior adviser told The Times that the first few weeks of the transition, immediately after the election, were critical, so there’s not a vast mood swing from exhilaration and euphoria to despair

The aide said that Mr Obama himself was the first to realise that expectations risked being inflated.

In an interview with a Colorado radio station, Mr Obama appeared to be engaged already in expectation lowering. Asked about his goals for the first hundred days, he said he would need more time to tackle such big and costly issues as health care reform, global warming and Iraq. The first hundred days is going to be important, but it’s probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference, he said. He has also been reminding crowds in recent days how hard it will be to achieve his goals, and that it will take time.

I won’t stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy – especially now, Mr Obama told a rally in Sarasota, Florida, yesterday, citing the cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq. Mr Obama’s transition team is headed by John Podesta, a Washington veteran and a former chief-of-staff to Bill Clinton. He has spent months overseeing a virtual Democratic government-in-exile to plan a smooth transition should Mr Obama emerge victorious next week. The plans are so far advanced that an Obama Cabinet has been largely decided upon, with the expectation that most of his senior appointments could be announced shortly after election day.

Yet Mr Obama and his aides are under no illusions about the size of the challenges the Democrat will inherit if he enters the Oval Office. Tom Daschle, the party’s former leader in the US Senate and a strong contender for the post of White House chief-of-staff in an Obama administration, said last month that the winner next week would have only a 50 per cent chance of winning a second term in 2012.

Not only will the next president take office with the country sliding into a potentially long recession — and mired in debt — but the challenges abroad are immense. There is an unfinished war in Iraq, a worsening situation in Afghanistan and an unstable and nuclear-armed Pakistan to contend with. Iran appears intent on acquiring the bomb and there remains the ever-present threat from al-Qaeda and Islamic extremists.

If he wins, Mr Obama will inherit a Democratic-controlled Congress, and might even have the benefit of a 60-seat filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate. Such a scenario would allow him to push through legislation largely unfettered by Republican opposition. Yet it also means that should the country still be mired in recession in three years’ time, voters — who have short memories — will probably blame him and the Democrats on Capitol Hill. Those stakes have led Mr Obama to conclude that while expectations need to be tempered, big things need to be achieved very early in his first term, when he will still have the political capital to achieve some of his most ambitious legislative goals.

Having promised real change, the pressure will be on him to deliver. In the Colorado interview, Mr Obama added: The next president has got to come quickly out of the box.

The early priorities being lined up if he takes power are a mixture of symbolism and substance. He plans to make a major address in a big Muslim country early in his first term. Having pledged on the campaign trail to close Guantanamo Bay, he is also determined to make early moves to rid America of the controversial prison. Yet what to do with the remaining inmates looms as an intractable problem, as many of their home governments refuse to allow them to return.

Mr Obama’s first legislative goals will be to follow through on his pledge to cut taxes for the middle class and raise them for the wealthiest Americans, and to push through a hugely expensive Bill to provide near-universal health insurance.

(Via The Corner)

This further increases my sinking feeling that McCain does not have a prayer.

From the Economist:

I can tell you right now, there are many wealthy people, who read this magazine and it’s distributorship is to many Conservatives. I look for many Conservatives to cross the aisle and vote Democrat.

From The Economist’s Political Blog Democracy in America:

And, by the way, he will probably get it. Here’s to hoping Mr Obama’s moderate and sensible side wins over his primary-season, protectionist-populist side.

I bet there’s a good number of people betting on that hope. But I highly doubt that Obama is going to do anything extreme during his tenure as President.

Anyhow, it was a very interesting endorsement.