I'm home for the week visiting my parents in Connecticut, so I've been implicating myself in the Lamont and Farrell campaigns to whatever extent that I can. Today, it was all about Ned and it was a GREAT day.
The big event today was precinct walking in Stamford (Joe's hometown) followed by a rally at Tiernan's, an Irish pub where a great Irish band from NYC, Black 47, played for Ned. The event was called Knock and Rock.
More over the flip...
I got to Lamont HQ at about 11:30am and signed up to walk. We then got trained by Maura, who's the 4th district coordinator for Lamont, which is the district where my parents live. I got paired up with a woman named Alexandra who came in by train from NYC. She said, "if I didn't, I couldn't live with myself."
We got a "turf" packet and headed out to a wealthy part of Stamford to precinct walk. It was a chilly but beautiful day. Once in the area, we would park and walk door to door. And I have to tell you, from someone here on the ground, support for Joe is SOFT.
As an aside, I spoke to a friend of mine the other night who is no dummy. He reads the New Yorker and local papers but somehow didn't know that Ned is the Democratic candidate for Senate. He just assumed Joe was still the Democrat. Hmm. Perhaps a lot of people feel that way. Perhaps a lot of Democrats who just vote Democratic across the board aren't necessarily aware that Joe isn't the Democrat this year. I went up to Hamden for the 4th debate on Thursday (which was only between Ned and Alan S.) and met Tim and asked him about this possibility and he said he thinks Ned will get a lot of straight Dem ticket voters and Alan will get a lot of straight Republican ticket voters, something that is not taken into account by polls. He's really feeling good about Ned's chances.
Anyway, through my conversations with friends as well as my walking experience, I really feel that people are a bit confused about what to think. They're so used to voting for Joe so they need an excuse to change. We ran into so many undecided voters today. But they are movable voters. Their support for Joe is weak weak weak.
Over the course of our canvassing, we heard a LOT of concern about the war. They know that Joe helped lead us into war and they know Ned wants to get us out but what do we do now was on a lot of their minds. We contantly heard "I never wanted to go in there in the first place, but we're there now."
Never before have I experienced people so willing to listen to canvassers' opinions. We started by asking what they thought about the Senate race and most people were quite willing to offer up their opinions. If it was for Joe, it was, except for one woman, quite wishy washy. We saw openings and we pounced. Alexandra immediately asked about the war and we spoke passionately about Ned's view of the war vs. Joe's support of "stay the course." When asked about what else Ned stands for, we spoke about his business experience, his call for universal healthcare and his desire to expand opportunity, whether it be after school programs for inner city kids or affirmative action.
Another aside here, one of the things I keep telling friends is that this guy is a liberal, a proud liberal, and some people may not like that but at least he knows who he is and doesn't apologize for it. There are enough Democrats who apologize for and hedge on their beliefs...like Joe Lieberman. You can like Ned's views or not, he knows what he believes and isn't afraid to say it. That resonates with people.
Along those same lines, during our canvassing, Joe's shifting positions really piss people off. One woman said "I don't know where Joe stands on anything." That pretty much encapsulated the feelings of several people we spoke with. And this is Stamford, Joe's hometown. Even here, believe me, Joe's support is SOFT.
At about 2:30, having finished about 2/3 of our turf packet, we decided to call it a day, as the rally in down town Stamford was beginning at 3. The "rock" portion of the day, Black 47, was performing at Tiernan's Bar. We got there right around 3 and immediately we saw Ned working the crowd. Alexandra made a beeline and in an instant we were talking to Ned. I shook his hand and told him my experiences canvassing today. I told him about my unscientific on the ground sense that Joe's support is SOFT. And then the coolest thing happened.
Ned patted me on the shoulder and thanked me for going out walking for him today.
That was pretty cool.
From the perspective of someone here on the ground, Ned can really win this thing, everyone.
Go Ned Go!