It’s closing time, Joe. Like the man said in the Movie (Glengarry Glen Ross), “Always Be Closing.”
You closed on that pretty girl you met on the beach, way back when you were on Spring Break, your first wife (RIP). You closed on that Senate race when you were only twenty-nine freaking years old. C’mon, man. You’re not going to let Trump chase you down or outwork you in the last week when you can see the finish line. You’d never forgive yourself.
You got to run through the tape. I know you know what that means. You probably heard Michelle Obama use those words, many times back in 2008 with Barack. Because that’s exactly what the Obama-Biden Team did back in the both 2008 and 2012. You closed the deal. You ran through the tape. Nothing was left out. Details. Details. Details. Those Obama haters still can’t get over the fact that your old boss, Barack Hussein Obama, is the only President since Eisenhower to win over 51% of the popular vote twice. The haters are now Trump’s base.
The Kennedy-Nixon race of 1960, was my introduction to politics. From reading and rereading Teddy White‘s Classic, The Making of the President 1960, to seeing JFK in Boston, election eve as his limo pulled up the back ramp of the Boston Garden and the Boston Police taught me the three most important words in the English Language, when dealing with law enforcement are “Yes Sir, Officer.”
On the Sunday before that 1960 Election, Jack Kennedy pulled into Waterbury, CT at 3AM and 60,000 people were waiting for him on the Village Green in front of the Roger Smith Hotel. He gave them a rousing speech fully aware he was going to win Connecticut, easily, and wanting nothing more than to go to bed. But he gave them his best shot because he knew that if he could win really big in Connecticut, which, in those days, reported its returns first in the Country, the news would help energize his supporters in the Midwest and West and just might make a difference in some close states where the polls closed much later. Like, for instance, Illinois, that Kennedy won by 8,858 votes, out of 4.7 Million cast. Who knows whether the party people in Chicago who pushed JFK over the finish line in Illinois weren’t motivated to go the extra mile by encouraging news from early reporting states in the east, like Connecticut? Details, Details, Details.
I remember another race that didn’t work out so well for Democrats. That would be 2004 Kerry versus Bush. That race came down to one state, Ohio, which had 20 electoral votes at that time (18 now). The winner of Ohio won the election. Bush won it by two percentage points. On Election Day, John Kerry was sitting in the Union Oyster House in Boston enjoying Little Neck Claims, honoring an election day tradition of his that went back to election day 1982. I’m sure it has occurred to John Kerry that, he might have won if he had spent Election Day welcoming Voters at factory gates in Cleveland, Columbus and Akron and doing some local TV. I’m sure it has occurred to John Kerry more than once, that if he worked Ohio, all day the last day, it might have been a different story. Kerry didn’t run through the tape. He saw the tape in the distance and said that’s enough and called it a day. The Marine Band doesn’t play “Hail to the Chief” if you have little neck clams in Boston on Election Day while people are voting in the one state you need.
So, Joe, take your lesson from your former partner, Barack Obama. Election Day is a working day. You remember how Barack surprised everybody by campaigning in Indiana on Election Day 2008. Indiana, you gotta to be kidding me! Democrats don’t win Indiana. Ever! Except in 2008 when Barack Hussein Obama, from Kenya, no less, won the Great State of Indiana by a single percentage point. Details, Details. Details.
Let your polling tell you where you have to be. It could be anywhere, OH, MI, PA. As long as the polls are open in contested states you are working. Remember the words of Terry McAuliffe,former Governor of Virginia…”I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
Oh yeah Joe, one more thing. If you’d rather see the Electoral Votes of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in your column as opposed to the other guy’s column give Dick LeBeau a call. He played football for Woody Hayes at Ohio State (Joe, football is important in Ohio) and he had a Hall of Fame Career playing Professional Football for the Detroit Lions who are located in Michigan and he coached football for many years for the Pittsburgh Steelers who are in Pennsylvania. I’m sure Obama has his number. Call him up.
Just Win, Baby!
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