Just noticed that the Obama campaign is running a very smart, targeted advertisement on the website Pandora, a free internet radio service used mostly by younger folks. The ad is targeted to your geographic location, which the site asks you to provide when you register. I live in Washington, D.C., so alongside my music selections, I see a photo of Obama waving with text reading: “Register to vote for Barack Obama and other candidates for change! To vote in Virginia you need to be registered by Oct. 6. Register today!” There’s a link that takes you to a web page where you can register and find out your polling location.

Three things make this an uncommonly good ad. First, it links Obama to down-ballot races in a key swing state with an important Senate race. Secondly, it gives direct, simple information on how to vote. Third, it is reaching the young voters Obama needs to mobilize to gain an advantage in tight states.

A reminder that this election is, in large part, about ground game.

—Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.