The home stretch

William Safire points out that many of the phrases associated with politics come originally from horse racing, the sport of kings. I assume that the analogy is drawn largely from the sense of anticipation that builds up....This is not the home stretch of the campaign, but rather of voter registration. After Oct. 6th, voter registration ceases (though there is early voting and some same day registration in a number of states, including now OH).

There are six days remaining. Now is when things get more gritty. The offices begin to pare down staff, unregistered folks get harder to find, the whole thing feels less fun than desperate.

Philadelphia in and of itself has many different voter reg groups in it, (six that I know of, not including the candidates themselves). The number of voter registration forms recieved by the registrar has now exceeded the possible number of registrants in the city limits. Needless to say, some of these groups are better about avoiding voter fraud then others. But this is the grist for the lawsuits that lead to restrictive and racist voter ID laws.

I can do the best I can with my people, but I have zero control over other groups. It's maddening to hear the registrars talk about it.

Five more days though. Then on to getting all these folks out to the polls. I've been doing this for about five months. Voter Reg, honey, it's not you.

It's me.