Hey, you! Wanna save the country? How often do you get to save a country?
You don’t want to miss this. As a bonus, you get to stomp an asshole. Dozens, actually. All you have to do is VOTE.
Seriously. Bring everyone you know. They don’t want to miss this. They may not know it yet, but this is the “portals” scene from Avengers: Endgame.
Portals opening
Younger voters raised on such fare are showing up in human waves. Early turnout numbers are staggering.
Six times, eight times, 19 times the turnout among this group in 2016. And not just in Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan. Here’s even more from Tufts University:
Still more from the Washington Post as of 7 a.m. ET this morning:
New York began early voting on Saturday. It’s not close to being a swing state. Handing its 29 electoral votes to Joe Biden is a forgone conclusion. Yet 93,000 turned out in New York City alone. Lines wrapped completely around blocks and doubled over themselves. Some voted then cried.
Now then, do not trust an early lead. This is no time to back off, DocDawg (of Daily Kos) warns North Carolina Democrats. Republicans are not going to stay home. Or as I warn volunteers, Republicans bat last.
Still, this tsunami of left-leaning voters has Republicans worried (Politico):
Democrats have opened up a yawning gap in early voting over Republicans in six of the most crucial battleground states — but that only begins to tell the story of their advantage heading into Election Day.
In a more worrisome sign for Republicans, Democrats are also turning out more low-frequency and newly registered voters than the GOP, according to internal data shared with POLITICO by Hawkfish, a new Democratic research firm, which was reviewed by Republicans and independent experts.
The turnout data does not mean Donald Trump will lose to Joe Biden. Both sides are bracing for a close race and a giant wave of Republicans to vote in person on Nov. 3. Yet the turnout disparity with new and less-reliable voters has forced Republican political operatives to take notice.
“It’s a warning flare,” said veteran Republican strategist Scott Reed.
Someone (Obama?) the other day responded to those who believe voting doesn’t change anything. Overall turnout when Obama was elected in 2008 was just over 60 percent. We’ve never seen what happens when 80 or 85 percent of Americans vote.
I’ve argued since 2018 that voters 45 and under are where Democrats’ untapped strength lies. If they vote, they run this place. Maybe not overnight, but soon. Universal health care, green energy, etc.? Enough power applied in the right spots at the right time can make those things happen.
“This is our moment”
Stuart Stevens, Republican consultant and senior advisor to the Lincoln Project, believes the Republican Party he spent his life assisting has surrendered its legitimacy. Democrats may not be perfect, he writes, but have “remained far truer to aspirational American values than the compromised, moral disgrace that is the party which endorsed Roy Moore and welcomes the dangerous lunacy of QAnon.”
Stevens writes at The Bulwark that Democrats should seize the day and not hold back:
In these last two weeks, I would plead with Democrats to change that mindset and banish the timidity. If I ran the Democratic party, here’s what I’d be telling my troops:
We are going to crush Donald Trump and the sickness he represents. There are more of us than there are of them. We are right. They are wrong. This is our moment. This is our destiny. Walk with confidence. Do not falter. Victory will be ours.
Too much? Stevens doesn’t think so:
Do not hesitate to swagger. These last two weeks belong to you. Years from now you will look back on these last days as some of the best in your lives. An evil was unleashed in the country you love and you rose to smite it. You will slay this dragon.
Trump is collapsing and his allies of convenience are panicked.
They should be. We are coming.
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For The Win, 3rd Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV mechanics guide at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.