The guys at fivethirtyeight.com, who have been providing the best polling and GOTV analysis in the country this year, finally get to the Commonwealth. They've visited Obama's Falls Church office and profile their operations. And they're impressed:
By our observation, the Falls Church, Virginia Obama office is as impressive an operation as we have seen in the dozens and dozens of offices we've seen across the nation.
Those of us that have been paying attention to the ground game here in Virginia since the primaries generally knew about the impressive nature of Obama's Virginia team, but 538 provides detailed analysis and reporting about the efforts that are a "can't miss" read.
And, of course, this sort of organization isn't even reflected in the current polling numbers in Virginia that show Obama leading. That's not good news for John McCain's prospects in voter rich Northern Virginia (though his campaign considers this "not-real Virginia," so maybe he thinks those votes won't count?)
Regardless, to have this traditionally GOP state vote for a Democratic president, it'll take a superb GOTV operation like this one with all engines firing. And it'll take dedicated volunteers running through the finish line. If you want to join one of these efforts in the final weeks, connect with any of these Virginia offices shown on this interactive map.
If you ever want to know how a campaign office should be run, ask anyone who works there regularly.
Anyway, it's lots of fun to be in a truly competitive battleground state again :)