The Great Schlep

An organized mass migration of jewish grandchildren to Florida began today, in an attempt to influence older jewish voters to vote for Obama. According to the BBC, the initiative, called The Great Schelp, was organized by Ari Wallach and Mic Moore.

Got Bubbies living in Florida? (That's a Yiddish term for grandmothers.) Or any other crucial swing state for that matter?

If so, you are qualified for this particular voyage - an organised effort to visit your Jewish grandparents and persuade them to vote for Barack Obama.

"Twelve per cent of the Jewish community is still undecided," Great Schlep co-founder Ari Wallach told BBC News. "That's a few hundred thousand people and they tend to cluster in swing states."

There are 600,000 jewish retiree's living in southern Florida. They will have a big impact on the outcome of the race in Florida, and as it has in the past, the outcome of the national election. Sen. Joe Lieberman has been campaigning for John McCain among the jewish communities of Florida for the past several months, seeking to gain votes among these older voters.

The organizers of the Great Schlep are inviting young jewish people to visit or call thier grandparents over the Columbus day weekend, starting today, and talking to them about Barack Obama. The Great Schlep website has downloadable talking points and information to help answer questions in the discussion.

The Great Schlep picked Sarah Silverman to deliver thier pitch. Silverman does an irreverently good job. The polished and competent execution of the campaign is characteristic of the whole Obama campaign. The intelligence of the concept is another example of paradigm changing, outside the box thinking that I think is representative of the competence the Obama campaign has shown since early on. It will be interesting to see if there is a measurable impact on the polls over the next week.