Buying In

Karl Rove and President Bush are taking something of a gamble in how they conduct and hold rallies. They assume that this race will not be settled by the undecided voters but by the base. This is an assertion we've discussed here before, but now that we are down to the wire it's hard to say who's right and who's wrong.

At any rate the Bush Campaign's specific tactics were covered in a New York Times story by David M. Halbfinger.

The tactic points up a stark difference between the presidential campaigns: while Senator John Kerry is using his rallies and forums to try to reach undecided voters and to close the deal with standoffish Democrats, Mr. Bush is packing his audiences with supporters who must identify themselves as such in questionnaires and whipping them into brigades ready to blitz crucial districts to get every last voter to the polls.

Kerry aides scoff at the invitation-only audiences and what they say is the shanghai-ing of volunteers. "We don't require oaths of allegiance, and we don't take people captive," said Tom Shea, director of the Kerry campaign in Florida, after turning out close to 10,000 people for a rally in Orlando last Tuesday where, he said, 700 people signed up to help.

But Donald P. Green, a professor of political science at Yale and the author of "Get Out the Vote! How to Increase Voter Turnout," said Mr. Bush's strategy was inspired. "There's a basic principle in experimental psychology, that the hand teaches the heart," Professor Green said. "You've now made phone calls for George Bush; that helps solidify your commitment to the campaign. If you weren't enthusiastic and committed already, you might be now."

It's a truism that if you contribute to a candidate, whether it's dollars or sweat, you are definitely going to vote for him. It's also hard to calculate how much some of these Bush Supporters might be able to influence their neighbors, families or friends.

On the other hand, I have to say I agree with the Kerry Campaign; by forcing loyalty pledges and work on the campaign to just see the President, it just shows how weak the President's message really is. He's the President of the United States of America. That makes him my President and yours. So why should he be so cowardly as to forbid me listening to his speech (it goes without saying that I'm not going to sign a loyalty pledge).

There is another interesting paragraph on how President Bush looks at these sorts of gatherings. ". . . Mr. Bush likes to call his retail politicking "fertilizing the grass roots,. . . " Too many jokes that can be made with that statement.