I turned 18 in 1978, and cast my first vote in a presidential election for Jimmy Carter in 1980. I’ve voted for the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since then, which means I’m 2-for-7 – not a great winning percentage, but I don’t regret a single vote.
Until this year, however, I’ve never donated money to or volunteered for a presidential campaign. But this election is too important to me personally to allow me to sit it out on the sidelines. Last month, I made a $15 donation (all I could afford at the time) to the Obama campaign. Last payday, I gave another $25. Next payday, and every payday from now until the election, I’m going to donate another $25 to Obama if I can, and at least $10 to my local O2B candidate, Tim Cunha (FL-6).
And this past weekend, I started working as a volunteer at the local Obama campaign field office. I’m hoping my story can inspire other Kossacks now sitting on the sidelines to get involve as we enter this final, critical push to take back America.
I went to the Barack Obama office in Ocala a week ago last Saturday to see if they had any yard signs (of course, they didn't). While there, I saw a lot of people phone-banking, and told the guy in charge - Matt - that I would be interested in volunteering. Unfortunately, health issues keep me from walking door-to-door, and I don't consider myself a good phone person. But I wanted to do something.
Matt took my name and number and promised he'd call me if they could use me.
The next night, I got a call from a MoveOn volunteer in New Jersey looking for volunteers to phone-bank in Ocala the following Sunday at 10 a.m. Despite my reluctance to do phone work, I agreed.
Before I tell my story, let me tell you a little about Ocala. It's a medium-sized city (about 46,000 people), and is the county seat of Marion County. We are in the geographic center of the state, an equal distance (90 miles) from Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa.
This is Republican country, with a large population of conservative Christians. Marion County went for George W. Bush by a margin of more than 17 points (58.19 to 41 percent) in 2004. One of our former state representatives, Dennis Baxley, is now head of the Christian Coalition in Florida, and one of our former county commissioners, Randy Harris, led a successful statewide push to persuade the Florida Legislature to adopt an official "Choose Life" state license plate. Now you know what Obama is up against here.
Since a lot of people (even Democrats) go to church here on Sunday morning, I wasn't expecting to be joined by a large group of volunteers, and I was right. In fact, there were only two of us, both first-timers. Matt gave us a brief training session, and a little after 10 a.m., we got to work.
In two and a half hours, I made 78 calls. Of those, 43 weren't home (again, about what I expected on Sunday morning), and another 9 were disconnected numbers. Another 20 refused to talk to me at length (though three held the line long enough to tell me they were strongly supporting John McCain, and one lady said she was undecided but didn't want to talk about it).
That left me only 6 callers to actually talk to (Matt told me later that's par for the course). Interestingly, those 6 contacts were evenly divided, with 2 strong McCain, 2 strong Obama and 2 undecided. All six of those who actually talked to me were women.
First, the two McCain calls:
The first lady said she and her husband were supporting McCain because "he's a military man," and "that's what we need right now." She also said she believes "we need to stay in Iraq until our enemies are defeated." Nothing I said would change her opinion. Truly a lost cause.
The second lady said she was "100 percent" behind McCain, and loves Sarah Palin. Again, nothing I said could move her. In the end, she wished me "good luck finding anybody in Marion County to support Barack Obama."
From her lips to God's ear, apparently.
Because I did find two strong Obama supporters. The first said she had already sent in her absentee ballot, and had indeed voted for "the most qualified candidate," Barack Obama. The second said she had another call on her second line and couldn't talk long, but she thanked me for calling and proudly told me all five members of her household were voting Obama. Cool!
And here's what happened with the undecideds:
The first one said she and her husband were both registered Democrats, and they had voted for Gore in 2000. But this time, she felt disillusioned. I asked her what the most important issue was to her. "Just like everyone else," she said. "The economy. I hate this bailout they're talking about. Why not help the people who are struggling? I mean, we're doing okay, but there are so many people who aren't. They need to help them."
I reminded her of Obama's policies, including middle and working class tax relief, health care, more economic stimulus checks, and his position that any bailout plan for Wall Street should include protections for taxpayers and help for Main Street.
"I know," she said. "But with the deficit as big as it is, and this bailout, he's not going to be able to keep those promises. We're all going to have to pay higher taxes."
I admitted she might be right. But then I tried another tack. "Do you agree this country has been on the wrong track for the past eight years?"
"Of course," she said.
"Well, it may be true that Obama won't be able to do everything he promised. But I have faith that he'll at least try. I think McCain's just going to be four more years of where we've been heading for the past eight. I'd like to give Obama a chance to at least try to turn things around. How about you?"
"I guess you're right," she admitted. "We'll probably vote for Obama."
Eureka! "Think about it anyway," I said. "I hope we can count on your support." I marked her down as leaning Obama, and ended the call.
Okay, it wasn't a firm commitment. But at least I gave her some things to think about, and hopefully it will make a difference come election day.
The next undecided was even more pessimistic. "I'm probably going to write in Bugs Bunny," she said when I asked if she had decided who to vote for. I asked her why. "I just think they're both lying to us," she said. "They'll say anything to get us to vote for them."
Again,I decided to take her side, at least to a point. "I agree with you that politicians stretch the truth. But it seems to me John McCain has stretched it a lot more than Barack Obama has."
I then asked her if she had Internet access. She said she did. So I gave her the URL for PolitiFact and suggested she check it out. I explained that PolitiFact is a fact-checking site set up by the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, and it shows Obama has nearly a 2-to-1 advantage over McCain in statements rated "True." It also gives 6 statements by McCain it's worst rating of "Pants on Fire" - meaning outright lies - versus only 1 for Obama. I also told her I've noticed that whenever such fact-checking groups have called Obama out on a false statement, he has changed his remarks to make what he is saying more truthful, whereas McCain just keeps repeating his falsehoods. She did seem to find that interesting, though she still sounded skeptical.
Then, once again, I changed tacks. "Do you think the country is better off than it was 8 years ago?" I asked.
"Of course not," she said.
"Well, I'm not going to tell you what to think, but I'll tell you why I'm supporting Obama, and why I'm volunteering for him. I think John McCain will be the same as Bush - he's voted with him 90 percent of the time. At least with Obama, there's a chance we'll move in a different direction."
Then I asked her to do me a favor. I asked her to go to Barack Obama's website and read where he stands on the issues important to her, then go to John McCain's website, and see where he stands. Then I asked her to cast her vote based on which one she believes will stand for what she believes in.
And finally, I asked her to promise me to give Obama a closer look. She agreed.
Will she vote in this election? And if so, will she vote for Obama? I don't know. But at least, like the other undecided voter, I gave her some things to think about, and hopefully got her to at least take Barack Obama seriously.
So my final tally, based on those who expressed any preference to me, was 6 solid votes for McCain, 6 solid votes for Obama, 1 undecided leaning toward Obama, 1 undecided at least willing to consider Obama, and 1 undecided who didn't want to talk about it.
Matt tells me I did pretty good. I'm looking forward to doing it again!