The Congresswoman is participating in an Obama rally Saturday, Oct. 25,

1 p.m., in the parking lot at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), at

430 South Capitol Street, S.E.

This rally is being held to bring together all the groups that are canvassing Virginia to turn Virginia blue. Those groups include MoveOn.org, Pride, D.C. for Obama, D.C. for Democracy, and many others.  The Congresswoman, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, and council members have been invited to pump up the canvassers and reinforce the importance of their work.  Following the rally, volunteers will disperse to Virginia or stay in D.C. to make calls to voters in Virginia.

            “The campaign is doing very well in many states where Obama was down just a couple weeks ago,” Norton said. “But there’s considerable potency in the way ‘Joe the Plumber’ is being parlayed by the McCain campaign.  The greatest risk to Barack is that Gov. Sarah Palin has greatly energized the formidable right wing and evangelical base, and that base has beaten us time and again in presidential and senate elections.  The Obama campaign has a more wide-spread and potentially more formidable ground operation, but unlike the RNC operation, ours has never been tried or operational in a national election.  Moreover, the combined flood of new voters for which too many states appear unprepared and the purging of the voter rolls is predictive of an election day that will feel like a hurricane at the polls.”  Norton said the Obama campaign is ready with lawsuits ahead of time, and lawyers are on the ground.  She said that she is confident that we can win if we all stay engaged, but that anyone who can vote early or legally vote by absentee ballot should be sure to take advantage of these early opportunities.

            “Obama should be much further ahead than he is, considering the almost unprecedented unpopularity of Bush’s eight years and the economic crisis hitting every group of Americans,” Norton said. “We are in danger of believing our own press clips and polls before the vote is in.”  Norton said she is not pessimistic about victory, but she is very concerned that the pundits and news casts act as if the election of Sen. Obama is in the bag and could lull people away from the hard work still to be done. “Exuberance before an election is always dangerous, but particularly so this year.”

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Norton to Rally Obama Canvassers Saturday, and Warns of Over-Confidence

Although elated by this weekend’s endorsement by former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the announcement that Sen. Barack Obama broke another fundraising record, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today warned against pre-mature celebration and cheering in advance of the Nov. 4 election.  She said the campaign will tighten, as is always the case before an election, especially with “robo calls full of false and misleading information flooding battleground states.”