Inside Obama's headquarters, some call Craig Schmirer their "secret weapon." Here's a memo that Schirmer, as Pennsylvania state director, sent out this morning about the scope of the campaign's turnout effort there.
November 3, 2008TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Craig Schirmer, Pennsylvania State Director, Obama Campaign
RE: GOTV
Over the past 48 hours, the organization the Obama campaign began building in Pennsylvania months ago kicked into high gear.
Powered by people and fueled by a hunger for change, thousands of Pennsylvanians from every corner of the Commonwealth and all walks of life are giving a few hours of their time to turn the page on the failed policies and politics of the past eight years and to make Barack Obama the next President of the United States.
Over the weekend, our volunteers knocked on 1,811,801 doors of homes from Erie to Easton, Johnstown to Jenkintown. We also made 1,193,573 phone calls to voters across the state. Unlike the McCain campaign, these aren't negative robocalls sent by the push of a button, anonymously spreading smears and lies. These are live phone calls in which Barack Obama's message of change and his plan to create an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs is laid out by a fellow voter.
Over the next 36 hours, we will make even more voter contacts than this weekend. We have 81 offices across the state, many in parts of Pennsylvania that never have seen a presidential campaign set up there before. We have more than 500 staging locations for our grassroots canvass teams, positioned in every corner of the Commonwealth. And we have filled more than 200,000 volunteer-shifts for the final push toward Election Day. The visits of John McCain and Sarah Palin can't compete with this grassroots organization.
Our volunteers are combining hard work and creativity to get the word out about Barack Obama. In Pittsburgh and State College, we have a volunteer who has engineered a mobile projector that will allow passersby to send a text message explaining why they are voting for Obama which will then be projected on the sides of buildings. For the last several days, we have had mobile billboards being driven around Philadelphia streets. And the night before Election Day, we will have street teams postering and flyering cities and small towns all across the state.
The Keystone State has always been a battleground. Today, we welcome the help from Hillary Clinton in Pittsburgh, Bill Clinton in Erie, and Joe Biden in Philadelphia. Our campaign is ready to fight for every vote and bring America the change we need.
| 
