'Great Schlep' organizers happy with turnout to garner votes for Obama among jews

A hundred Schleppers converged on South Florida last weekend, only to find their Jewish grandparents already were voting for Barack Obama.
The young urbanites visited their elders as part of "The Great Schlep," a campaign promoted by comedian Sarah Silverman to urge Jewish grandchildren to get their Florida grandparents to vote for the Democrat.

Mik Moore, the Schlep's co-executive director, said organizers were thrilled with the turnout.
Moore, who wore a Great Schlep T-shirt last weekend as he was having brunch at The Bagel Tree west of Boca Raton, said 10 seniors who approached him at the deli were all voting for Obama. Schleppers who organized talks in senior citizen communities also said they had no problem drawing crowds.

Mike Bender, 33, of Los Angeles, who visited his grandparents, Selma, 87, and Kenny Furst, 90, of Tamarac, said 150 people gathered to hear him promote Obama at the Kings Point retirement community. Bender said the Fursts were initially noncommittal about their votes, but have become Obama supporters.

"We've been in ongoing talks since Thanksgiving," Bender said.