As a kind of off-side addendum, there are a lot of reasons that someone would be willing to cast their vote for Obama, but not work for his campaign - especially in the Pacific NW. The Presidential election is 50 separate elections, which I'm sure you knew. All of the polling data I have read indicates that Obama has Oregon, Washington and California in his pocket safely.
Heh, well, that's why you go to another state to campaign :-) (I realize most people can't do that, though.) Also, though, the popular vote does matter in terms of legitimacy -- just think about the 2000 and 2004 elections. If all the "blue" voters in all the "blue" states had actually turned out to vote for the Democratic candidates those years (well, I voted for Nader in 2000, so let's just talk about 2004), those elections would have gone pretty differently. In the past, also, I've done campaign volunteering that involved calling people in other states. The Obama campaign doesn't seem to be doing that yet (I guess because grassroots campaigning precludes spending a lot on long-distance calls) but they might be. Finally, I suspect there is work to do that doesn't involve going and talking to people in your region directly, though I think that's the most effective thing an individual can do.
Re: Comment 103
Heh, well, that's why you go to another state to campaign :-) (I realize most people can't do that, though.) Also, though, the popular vote does matter in terms of legitimacy -- just think about the 2000 and 2004 elections. If all the "blue" voters in all the "blue" states had actually turned out to vote for the Democratic candidates those years (well, I voted for Nader in 2000, so let's just talk about 2004), those elections would have gone pretty differently. In the past, also, I've done campaign volunteering that involved calling people in other states. The Obama campaign doesn't seem to be doing that yet (I guess because grassroots campaigning precludes spending a lot on long-distance calls) but they might be. Finally, I suspect there is work to do that doesn't involve going and talking to people in your region directly, though I think that's the most effective thing an individual can do.