For such an ostensibly confident, feelin’-good campaign, they certainly seem to be taking an awful lot of messaging precautions. In a conference call this afternoon, the Obama campaign offered some advice to supporters, lest tomorrow’s news cycle start bringing in evidence that things are going Mitt Romney’s way, via Politicker:

“My warning, we need to stay calm for much of the day,” Stephanie Cutter, Mr. Obama’s deputy campaign manager, said, touting thousands of early ballots already submitted by voters. “We’ve already banked a pretty big portion of our vote.” …

“Keep calm and tweet on,” Ms. Cutter said. “So, no matter what you hear tomorrow about turnout in Republican counties or exit polls, particularly early in the day, please remember and remind your readers that, because of early votes, we’re where we need to be to win….I don’t think there’s going to be official exits until the end of the day, but if things leak out that aren’t validated or weighted, please stay calm.”

No, it simply wouldn’t do for any potential late-in-the-day Democratic voters to be dissuaded from getting to their polling stations by poor news or spreading pessimism, would it? Cutter reminds supporters that President Obama has logged enough early votes to counterbalance any such news, but, as Mary Katharine wondered earlier… have they really? Their early voting totals across-the-board don’t seem to be anywhere near the levels they reached in 2008, and a lot of these polls’ samples are relying on similarly heady levels of enthusiastic Democratic turnout — not to mention, the Republican ground game isn’t nearly as wanting as it was in 2008. If the Obama campaign really feels so secure that that is what’s going to happen, that doesn’t quite explain away the “Please stay calm” memo, does it?

Anyhow, wouldn’t want to leave you for the evening with a bitter taste in your mouth, so here’s a bit of a palate-cleansing last-minute word on real “confidence” from Mitt himself. It’s do or die tomorrow, friends: