Yes, this is a re-post. It was originally posted at about 10:24PM EST Tuesday, so, of course, it had a limited audience, I'm probably breaking a rule or two, and If I'm going to be banned, so be it. But I hope this diary survives for a few hours, anyway. Again, I probably won't be around much, since I'm headed off to work, but I will check in as best I can to respond to comments. I'll have, maybe an hour at noon PST to respond for sure. After work, I'm jumping in my car for the 5 hour drive to Reno, where I'll be doing GOTV until Tuesday night. So, I'll probably login to DKos only to beg for the occasional food bomb. ;)
P.S. I'm asking for food/support for the GOTV ground crew, the foot soldiers; Jeff Lieber makes a great pitch for supporting the voters. I'm bringing every umbrella I can find to Reno...
With November 4th rapidly approaching, I have a request to make to the community. Feed your local GOTV ground crew!
Friday the 31st (Halloween) starts a long, long slog through Tuesday night. Everything changes election weekend. While we (Reno, NV) have been using various staging areas to launch canvassing shifts, phone banking and data entry; come Friday morning, I have been assigned to a new staging area, for a complete change of duty. Friday, we're doing the last of the data entry. Saturday, IIRC, we do the last cut of the turf, and everything else is boots on the ground until 7:59PM Tuesday, November 4. Here's the thing; I have no idea if there are any restaurants, pizza parlors or taco trucks that will provide nourishment to me! I'm looking at dropping off a packet of addresses, grabbing whatever food and drink are available, and heading out with another packet ASAP. I've done this before, I know my limits (I hope...) and, let's face it, this little five-day period, ending on Tuesday, these are the days that count! Tuesday is D-Day. Tuesday, we hit the beaches.. This one's for all the marbles, and I'm not leaving anything on the road.
So, here's the deal; Feed us! Cut up some fruit salad. Bring on the lasagna! I've heard some very favorable things about something called "tuna hot dish" from a kossack in Minnesota...
The people who have been feeding us have been great, but they're going to be out in the streets, beating their shoes into the ground, along with the volunteer coordinators, our Ops. director, everyone, including our Boss of the Office, doing literally everything to get boots on the ground. Our war cry is literally, "Out of the office, into the streets!"
If you haven't volunteered before, I get it. You aren't a phone banker, canvasser, or computer person. Maybe you believe, but you also believe you don't have the time/talent/whatever. Here's something anyone with a car can do: Make a food run! Call your local office, and ask if any satellite offices need food. Hit the Piggly-Wiggly for bagged salads, a cold cut tray and some bread. During the Kerry campaign, I was living off peanut butter and apples, and raisin bran with soy milk. (I still keep raisin bran, shredded wheat and soy milk at my office, it's become a habit.) Homemade casseroles can't be beat. Some volunteers, and almost all of our actual, paid staff have been living off restaurant food, bagels, and Costco pizza for months. I swear, I'm ready to check some of them for scurvy.
The plan is, we'll be hitting the streets with lists for 2-3 hours at a time, then back to whatever staging area sent us out. It would be great if there was food and soda/coffee in the offices. It means not having to take a half hour lunch break.
If it's okay with the community, I'm suggesting that local offices that need a food bomb post on an open thread or the election day live blogs. An office contact number, how many people, and preferences/restrictions (allergies, religious restriction, can't-stand-another-Costco-pizza, whatever). BTW, you can't go wrong with vegan. Vegan food can be eaten by anybody! ("I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants!" Sorry, I just love that line!) My point is, a pot of lentils, and some onion boils up in less than an hour, and with some bread and shredded cheese on the side will keep a walking volunteer going for miles! (Dried lentils are, what, a buck a pound? Okay, breads gone up a lot, and cheese is not cheap, but the door-knocks-to dollar ration is still pretty good...)
If you're a GOTV volunteer, make sure the main office listed for you at Barack's website knows of which restaurants will deliver to your staging areas and take credit cards! If you're really in need, and can't spare the money or the time for a volunteer to make a food run, ask for a food bomb! What can it hurt? I'm guessing that, on election day, kossians will be willing to "order out" to a Chinese place in a red state. (I'm hoping that the willingness to invest in success will extend to as early as Friday afternoon, when I expect I'll be working hardest at data entry.) Broccoli beef, Buddha's Delight, vegetarian chow mein and vegetarian fried rice is less than $25 almost anywhere in the world. If you send it to whatever staging area I'm at come Tuesday, I'll tip the delivery guy, I promise.(
Why I'm asking: I remember when I was canvassing for Kerry, and a local restaurant owner unexpectedly showed up with a tray of enchiladas, a big pot of beans and another of rice. My feet wanted a divorce, my blood sugar level was looking like this month's Dow Jones average, I was not showing up tomorrow for more of this sh*t! But after a half hour, jalapeno-reinforced, I was ready to stand and fight another day. (We're five days out! A little rice and beans could keep a first-time canvasser out on the road...)
I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm just a volunteer. Teh actual, paid office staff has, as part of it's mission, taking care of me and the volunteers like me. I try to keep these kids fed, because keeping them rested is out of the question. I'm asking that you help. This is it. The end is in sight. Win, lose or draw, Tuesday night is the finish line. Napoleon said, "An army marches on it's stomach." More importantly, the Inuit know that food is sleep. This isn't my first time at the rodeo. Sleep is for Wednesday, but food is sleep. If you're not doing anything else, from Friday through Tuesday, call your local office. Ask where food is needed. Especially Tuesday, November 4th. Those of you who live in blue states, like me, have your credit cards out, and food bomb the red state volunteers who ask.
It's late on the East coast, but I'm posting this anyway, and I'll break the rules, and post this same diary, with edits, tomorrow afternoon Thursday morning. I'm not a "name" on the site, my diaries don't draw a lot of traffic. We have a 50 state strategy in place, let's feed our red-state brothers and sisters in Utah, Texas, and, yes, Alaska. Feeding us at the staging areas saves us time otherwise wasted at the Bob's Big Boy. Nothing against Bob, but I'd rather have a good breakfast with good news, Wednesday morning.
I will GOTV for food.