(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)

It's been a few days since that night, but I thought I'd take some time to recap my Election Night. Originally, I had only intended to attend the post-election party for PA-08 Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy, as I had prior academic obligations that I needed to tend to. Nevertheless, I found some time to make it out to the district for some very hurried GOTV work before heading over to the party and having a hell of a night. The campaign had planned 3 waves of GOTV effort, and I made it to campaign headquarters around 4:30 in the afternoon, shortly before the last wave was scheduled to hit the pavement. Water bottles were collected, people collected flashlights for the after-dark canvassing, and then it was time for us to head out. This was it - the final push to make sure we got everyone out to vote. After nearly 10 weekends of volunteering for the campaign, it was coming down to who had the better ground game. Patrick's campaign had well over 1,000 volunteers in the entire district - an astounding number of people sacrificing their time to help get him elected. Before we headed out, though, we had a pep talk from the man himself...

(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)

I first met PA-08 Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy almost 1 year ago. It wasn't a big event - we cleared leaves from the local YMCA parking lot and playgrounds with the other candidate in the running for the nomination, former Bucks County commissioner Andy Warren. I didn't know much about Patrick, but I had heard his biography - Iraq war veteran, law professor, and all-around stand-up guy - and came away very impressed with him as a candidate. He's come a long way since those days, when his candidacy was seen as something of a longshot due to being a political novice. Nevertheless, the latest polls show a very close race, and Patrick's picked up the support of Democrats, Republicans, and independents throughout the district, as I've seen in the past.

Today was the last day I could volunteer for his campaign, but it was one hell of a day. Patrick's going to be Representative Murphy in a few days, if this is any indication.

(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)

Since the beginning of September, I've been volunteering my time every weekend (except for last weekend, when I was back in Connecticut) for PA-08 Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy. A recent DCCC internal poll showed Patrick up 4 points over his challenger, freshman GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick. A new independent poll by Keystone has Fitzpatrick up 9, but it includes a third-party candidate who won't even be on the ballot, so it's hard to take the results seriously. As the campaign enters the final countdown, the campaign's GOTV machine has been humming to life as it prepares for Election Day. Two weeks ago was the first tuneup for the real thing, and today was a similar experience as well. Below the fold, I'll talk about how the ground game looks with less than two weeks to go.

(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)

Last weekend, I was unable to write my customary canvassing reports for PA-08 Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy because of a heavy load of studying. In addition, I felt it was better to cover the Swiftboating of Patrick, along with the campaign's rapid response to the unfounded attacks made by Patrick's opponent, freshman GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick. As such, the following entry covers not only last week's canvassing, which was much of the same that I have done the past 6 weeks or so, but it will also cover today's effort, which was slightly different. As the campaign is entering the final few weeks, it's important that the GOTV operation is tested today to ensure that it will be operating at maximum efficiency. Today was the first time the campaign did such a 'stress test', so to speak, so I will chronicle that as well.

(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)

Thanks to the generosity and kindness of well-known Kossack and blogosphere legal expert Adam B, I was able to attend a fundraiser hosted at the Franklin Institute (pictured above), the famed science museum that is on the outskirts of Center City in Philadelphia. The fundraiser drew what I'd call a crowd of 200-250 to a 3rd-floor ballroom just past the sporting section of the museum, with the proceeds being equally split between PA-06 Democratic candidate Lois Murphy, PA-07 Democratic candidate Joe Sestak, and PA-08 Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy. Also attending were freshman Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D PA-13) and longtime Rep. Chakah Fattah (D PA-02), but the special guest of attendance was Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY). To say the least, many in attendance were excited to see the former first lady (and likely future presidential candidate) speak.

(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Never In Our Names)

I just got off a conference call with PA-08 Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy. As I wrote about earlier today, his opponent, freshman GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, decided to open a series of Swiftboat-style attacks on him on Friday. It appears that the Democratic Party has learned its lesson with rapid response, and tonight, the campaign sent out a notice to speak with many prominent liberal bloggers about the upcoming response. The bloggers on tonight's call included Chris Bowers of MyDD, Huffington Post contributor Taylor Marsh, mcjoan and Armando of Daily Kos (yes, that Armando), and Susan Kreuger of Democracy Cell Project. On the other side of the phone with Patrick were Captain Koby Langley and General Wesley Clark. Under the fold, I'll recount to the best of my knowledge the content of the call, which was all on the record.

(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)

As those of you who have been following my blogging as of late know, I have been doing weekly volunteer work for the campaign of PA-08 Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy. Aside from being a progressive Democrat who was one of the original netroots-endorsed candidate, Patrick is a veteran who has served in Bosnia and Iraq, along with being a constitutional law professor at West Point - an impeccable resume of service, to say the least. Since 2004, though, it's been a trademark of the GOP and its right-wing cronies to question the service of just about any veteran who has seen combat - if they are running for office as a Democrat. I spoke with one of the staffers in the Murphy campaign, who noted that the local newspapers had said early on in the race that they would not stand for any sort of 'Swiftboat' attacks on Patrick's military service by his opponents.

Apparently, that appeal fell on deaf ears. Either that, or Fitzpatrick's internal poll numbers (which he has yet to release) are bad enough that he has to sink to a new low in his campaign.

Two Iraq war veterans have accused Democratic congressional candidate Patrick Murphy of mischaracterizing what he did in that war-torn country. The charge provoked an angry response from Murphy, who charged incumbent Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, R-8, with trying to “swiftboat” him.

[...]

U.S. Army Capt. Richard Barbato, who served in the 82nd Airborne, the same division as Murphy, joked that Murphy was always back at the unit's headquarters while the rest of the unit's soldiers were fighting.

“While we were up on the front lines ... [Murphy] didn't see the same things we did,” Barbato said.