Ground game

(Via FiveThirtyEight.com's Sean Quinn)

Anecdotes from visiting campaign offices around the country.

Shades of the WaPo article Sean refers to at the outset of his post:

This week, a number of veteran GOP operatives who orchestrate door-to-door efforts to get voters to the polls were told they should not expect to receive plane tickets, rental cars or hotel rooms from the campaign.

"The desire for parity on television comes at the expense of investment in paid boots on the ground," said one top Republican strategist who has been privy to McCain's plans. "The folks who will oversee the volunteer operation have been told to get out into the field on their own nickel."

Political campaigns are stocked with volunteers - it's the only way they function - but not paying your operatives for travel can only hurt their effectiveness.

But the other story, the story on which we've had a running eight-week exclusive in 36 separate On the Road pieces and counting, is that John McCain's ground campaign is just not happening. It hasn't been happening, without Sarah Palin there might be four or five volunteers across the entire nation left, and now, per Mosk's piece at WaPo, it looks like it will be happening even less.

 Read the full post.