It’s 6pm (Mountain Time) here in Farmington, New Mexico. I’ve spent the last five days (or six? My brain is barely working anymore) here in the Northwest corner of the state to help John Kerry win the Presidency hours from now. Farmington is kind of like Yakima. Lots of dust, trucks, and Conservative voters.
I’ve been close to campaigns before, but never anything like this. Two weeks ago, New Mexico was locked in as a swing state, and volunteers and paid staff flooded into this sleepy part of the Great Southwest. The office I’m now writing from has expanded from a few locals working hours a day to more than one hundred people all working to help win the state for Kerry.
In 2000, Gore was crushed in San Juan County (there aren’t any islands to visit here, though) by 24 percentage points. But as the voting here draws to a close exactly four years later, there’s something different going on in San Juan County.
In 2000, George Bush walked away with a net gain of nearly 10,000 votes from San Juan County. As I look up at our turnout tracking, there’s no way Bush will come away with that kind of gain this year. Because in addition to being conservative, San Juan County is also home to one of the oldest living cultures in the United States, the Navajo Sovereign Nation. And this year, our team has worked with Navajos to help raise turnout on the reservation to record levels.
The energy here is incredible. Each day flies by…in the first few days the pressure increased by the day. In the last forty eight hours, the pressure has doubled by the hour.
Now it’s 8pm Mountain time. The final returns for our county are coming in, and our targeted precincts have exceeded our expectations. Our confidence (and that of the 200 or so that have gathered to hopefully celebrate with us) is growing.
If the rumors I’ve heard are true (and I guess we’ll see soon), Kerry will carry New Mexico, and the Electoral College. My fingers are crossed. More to follow…if I don’t pass out from exhaustion.
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