Steve Corbett, a radio talk show host in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, accidentally received a copy of an internal email sent by Grant Olin who heads the Wilkes-Barre headquarters of the Obama campaign. The email went to 627 Obama campaign volunteers in the Wilkes-Barre Scranton region, saying that Obama Headquarters reported an internal poll which shows that Obama is only 2 points up in Pennsylvania. Sean Smith, who is heading Obama’s Pennsylvania campaign, was interviewed by Steve Corbett via phone at 5:35 today to discuss this. He said that Grant “went rogue”, and aknowledged that Grant was “reprimanded” for this.
(Via Ace.) I’m finding it hard to believe Grant Olan (the correct spelling) “went rogue.” He’s a young lawyer from Chicago, about 29, intense, dark haired, a total True Believer in Obama.
I met Grant on the night of the North Carolina primary, which I liveblogged from the Obama campaign’s Martinsburg, W.Va., headquarters. Late that night, the Obama crew went to a grocery store coffee shop to use their free Wi-Fi and file their nightly report on their canvassing effort. I spent a little time talking to Grant, who told me that he left his job at a law firm and took a substantial pay cut to work for the Obama campaign.
I next saw Grant in July in Wilkes-Barre, when I went to cover a McCain campaign event for Pajamas Media. Because I had difficulty logging onto the campaign’s Wi-Fi system, I went to file my story at a coffee shop around the corner, where I ran into Grant. He was there doing a voter-registration event with his local Obama volunteers (I think they were trying to recruit more volunteers from the protesters who showed up at the McCain event). Again, we talked a while, and Grant told me a few stories about his canvassing experiences in the heart of Hillaryland (Luzerne County voted 3-to-1 for Clinton over Obama in the primary).
If Grant Olan released that internal polling data without authorization, I will bet it was because he was worried that Team Obama was taking Pennsylvania for granted. But if it’s really a two-point race in Pennsylvania, the public polls have completely missed it — six of the seven most recent polls show Obama leading by double digits.
However, Ed Rendell is reportedly worried, so maybe there’s some kind of ginormous Bradley effect that the Obama campaign’s internal polls caught, but the others didn’t. Or maybe Grant Olan’s just such a True Believer that a fit of Hope fever drove him into a state of paranoia. (Get well soon, man.)
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