I was going to skip this diary this week, but if nothing else, I think it's important to keep a record of the progress we are making on the Canvass - particularly in Ohio.
This weekend was spent canvassing "sporadic voters". For a political junkie like myself, it was a bit like visiting a 3rd world country.
The field organizer told me the packet was "sporadic voting democrats" - which means they have voted democrat before but are not consistent voters. It was an uneventful day out there.
I started canvassing around 11:00 and you wouldn't believe how many people I actually woke up, or at least their enthusiasm level led me to believe they must have been asleep before I knocked on their door. They were completely indifferent to the election - not angry about anything, just completely resigned to accept the world as it is. Of the people that had an opinion, I got an even number of Obama and McCain supporters, which I really don't think was a bad thing.
I felt a little unproductive about the canvass on Saturday so I decided to set up a meeting in my neighborhood for this coming Thursday. I got a packet of names from my area and started to make calls. Since these were neighborhood organizing calls, the list consisted of strong democrats. I had a blast talking to these people. Here are some of the quotes of the day:
"My husband and I were just saying that we need to get involved in the campaign - what do you need us to do?"
"I'm absolutely voting for Obama - he's fantastic"
"I really hope he wins, we can't blow it in Ohio this time"
"I'm a student, but if I could get some registration forms, I can register voters at school"
It seems there is always one contact that really stays in my memory. This one was a 77 year-old woman, who said she loves Obama but just wasn't going to vote. She felt the election was stolen in 2004 and she was just so torn up about it she didn't feel it was worth voting this time. She had wanted to vote absentee in 2004 and never got the ballot. We had a long talk about what was at stake and how the Obama campaign is working with the Board of Elections to make sure that 2008 is run ethically. She agreed that if I requested an absentee ballot for her, she would fill it out and send it back. I told her I would follow up with her after the ballots went out and she thanked me. This is the purpose of human contact in the campaign - I don't think tv ads and mailers could have gotten her to vote, but a call from a neighbor is doing the trick.
Of all the people I spoke to this weekend, there was one thing that never came up - Sarah Palin. She is not the issue here, apathy is. That's the problem in Ohio - democrats feel defeated and it's our job to motivate them.