Scenes from the ground game

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Posted on 11th October 2008 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 10/11/2008 11:13 AM

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Dale Lehrer, of the northern Milwaukee suburb of Grafton, is a lifelong Republican who has come to regret her vote for President Bush’s re-election in 2004. Lehrer, 55, switched sides this election and is spending 20 hours a week hosting events and canvassing for the Obama campaign.

Some of her Republican friends thought she was joking at first. Her own husband, a Republican who won’t tell her who he’s supporting, “thinks I’m a fanatic,” she said.

“There’s no way we’re going to win Ozaukee County,” Lehrer admits, “but from a percentage standpoint we’ll probably blow them out of the water from what we’ve had historically.”

Republicans concede that Obama’s campaign is doing more to target voters in the Wisconsin suburbs than did previous Democrats, but they say they are confident that McCain will do just as well as Bush in the area.

“I just keep telling them, ‘Spend your money. Knock yourself out,'” Republican state Sen. Ted Kanavas says of the Obama campaign. “The bottom line is the Republican Party is fine in Waukesha County. It’s invigorated.”

—By Ryan J. Foley.