GOTV

The nature of campaigning is changing. Until now the emphasis has been on persuading voters and identifying supporters. With the election just days away, the focus has changed - now it's about getting supporters out to vote. Tomorrow is the last day for "in person absentee voting" (early voting) in Virginia. Tuesday is polling day.

My morning was spent counting out pieces of literature, putting them into batches small enough that they can be taken to personally deliver to people who have indicated that they will vote for some or all of the Democratic candidates. I got quite an assembly line going  - but nothing compared to the line I worked on in the afternoon. Two hours were spent on the mailing out of literature. The machine handled 20,000 pieces an hour - my job was to pick up the printed literature, bend it both ways and ensure that the pieces weren't stuck together and were facing in the right direction. So I was constantly building a pile of literature for the machine operator to add. The machine, linked to a computer database, printed a name and address on each sheet, and these were collected up by another worker who handed a bunch over for tying up and placing in a mailbag. In my short time in the factory, I helped process about the number of pieces of mails that would serve half the number of households in an average sized English constituency! It was quite a bit of bending and lifting - and the factory was warm and very noisy.

I relaxed in the evening! Today I'm in a coffee shop on Capitol Hill - and will be heading out for a business meeting which will be conducted over Skype between participants in London and Washington.

I'm very excited about tomorrow. I have my E-ticket for a rally to be addressed by former President Clinton and President Obama. A group of us will be heading out together. Some lucky ticket holders will be selected at random to meet with President Obama backstage - I have my fingers crossed!