I decided in late August to host a Kerry party this weekend. I didn't register it with the campaign because I wasn't raising any money. And I didn't invite any of my political friends (of which I have many, as a government employee). I purposely invited friends and friends of friends who were not very involved, had rarely/never voted, and were swing/undecided voters. I was very upfront about it being a Kerry party, not an "undecided" party. And I told them in the invitation that they wouldn't be asked for money - I just wanted to talk about what they thought were the important issues of the day.
It turned out to be a great experiment. And I'm so excited about the outcomes. More after the break...
So we had 13 people total. Here's a breakdown:
Myself - Employed by a Democratic member of Congress. Mid-20s. Voted in every election (even the odd years) since turning 18. Primary concerns being current administration's massive dishonesty and the state of the economy & all its manifestations (health care, educations cuts, etc.).
My Husband - Admittedly wouldn't be anywhere near as knowledgeable about or involved in politics without being married to me. Mid-20s. Returning to college after a four year break to finish BA. Primarily concerned about economy and health care.
Male #1 - Leaning Bush (but had the guts to come to a Kerry party!) because he's fiscally conservative. Voted for Bush in 2000. An accountant. Religious & attends church regularly, but considers himself socially liberal because he believes that Christianity is about reaching out to the vulnerable in society. Has voted all over the map in the past. Married with a baby. Late-20s.
Female #1 - Wife of male #1. Former educator who is now self-employed part time and raising their baby part time. Voted for Bush in 2000 because she believed the 'compassionate conservative' mantra. Now supporting Kerry. Major concerns are education, women's issues and the environment. Late-20s.
Female #2 - High school graduate employed at Target for approx. 6 years. Has never voted. Doesn't know much about the candidates, but watched Thursday's debate. She was completely undecided and after the debate is leaning Kerry. Unmarried. Mid-20s.
Female #3 - College graduate who is currently unemployed. Voted for the first time in 2000 for Gore. Is supporting Kerry. Top concern is the environment, but is also concerned about women's issues. Unmarried. Mid-20s.
Female #4 - College graduate who is also currently unemployed. Has never voted. Up until recently (the change is mostly because of my influence), had "stuck [her] head in the sand" when it came to politics because it's confusing and she doesn't feel like she ever gets a straight answer out of politicians. Feels like she needs to know about what is going on for this election. Is leaning Kerry because of social issues. Top concern is foreign policy (not Iraq) - an interest that was developed after recently visiting Africa & Europe - and the environment. Unmarried. Mid-20s.
Female #5 - Strong Kerry supporter. Has voted all over the map in the past, including supporting moderate Republicans. Grew up in a Republican household. Tired of the neo-conservatives taking over the party. Has always voted, but had never given money or volunteered for a candidate until 2002 when local state legislative race became interesting to her. Has now given money to Kerry, DNC and is volunteering often. Voted for Gore in 2000, but didn't feel like it was the end of the world when Bush won. Since then has felt deeply betrayed by the Bush administration. Special education teacher. Top concerns are education and environment. Married with 3 kids (25, 23, and 16). Early-50s.
Male #2 - Husband of Female #5. Has also voted all over the map and supported moderate Republicans. A Vietnam-era vet. A college history professor. Sees the errors of the Bush administration from a historical perspective and is scared about what the results will be over time. Similar level of involvement as Female #5. Mid-50s.
Female #6 - Strong Kerry supporter. Never very politically active, but has voted regularly. Mom is Republican and Dad is ultra-liberal. Recent grad school graduate. Married. Mid-20s.
Male #3 - Husband of Female #6. Has voted both ways in past. Is supporting Kerry. Works for county government and is concerned about cuts to education and aid to states because it results in property tax increases. Is politically interested, but has never been active. Early-30s.
Male #4 - Voted Republican early in life, but since Nixon "will never vote Republican again." Watergate and Vietnam had strong impacts on him. Sees parallels between Vietnam and current Iraq situation. A Vietnam-era vet. Former state employee. Married. Late-50s. Has always voted but was never very involved until this election. Put a candidate's bumper sticker on his car for the first time in his life ("veterans for Kerry").
Female #7 - Wife of Male #4. Similar story regarding the influence of Nixon and Vietnam. Has occassionally voted Republican since then, but there are not many moderate Rs left to support. Feels the same pit in her stomach about this election that she felt about the '68 election. Is very angry about how Bush has misled the US. Other top concern is education & No Child Left Behind, as she administers a university's teacher training program. Late-50s.
Okay, so you've got the lay of the land. We touched on a lot of different topics - including Thursday's debate, No Child Left Behind/education, the war in Iraq, economy, health care, the environment and taxes. I wanted it to be a free-flowing discussion, and I mentioned a few times Kerry's plan for certain issues. But mostly I just let people talk. At the end of the "party" everyone got a packet, which included information on Kerry's views on issues they had been particularly interested in, the debate schedule, info on their polling place and other candidates on their ballot, and a list of Bush flip-flops. I also had add'l info (including that great article from today's NYT on how Bush came to use the intelligence info) for those who wanted it. About 3 people took add'l info. Lastly, I registered both people who hadn't ever voted and re-registered one who had moved recently.
Here are 'nuggets' from the conversation:
- Interestingly, not a single person listed the war in Iraq as one of their top issues. And when I pointed that out, most people kind of shrugged. None of them thought Bush had dealt with it very well, but most had a lot of other things to deal with day-to-day, such as job loss, no health care, etc. One woman simply didn't know a whole lot about it (kind of amazing, IMO) other than that it wasn't going well, so the rest of us filled her in on the history. Once we started to talk about it, most people seemed less bothered by Bush misleading us about WMD than about the fact that to this day the Bush administration still seems to connect 9/11 and Iraq when there is no connection. (I was glad to see that everyone seemed to know there was no connection.) They could forgive the WMD as an honest mistake, but continuing to connect 9/11 and Iraq was just plain lying.
- Many were upset by Bush's say-one-thing-do-another record. Others who had watched the debate thought that the sitting president should know more about the issues than he seemed to.
- Regarding the debate: They thought Bush repeated the same thing over and over, as if having nothing to say. One woman said that Kerry didn't tell enough specifics about his Iraq plan. He talked about it generally, but she was never clear on exactly what his plan entailed (I printed it off his website for her at the end of the party).
- The discussion about education/NCLB got a lot of people involved, as it also led to discussion of rising college tuition costs. With several former and current educators in the room, this was a long discussion. One of them explained NCLB's major points for the others in the room. Most agreed that its intentions are good, but its execution is bad. In addition, many were frustrated by the fact that the mandate is unfunded and ultimately raises their property taxes to pay for it.
- Most agreed that they're happy to pay taxes if the money is going for the right things. No one wants to pay taxes where the money goes for nothing, but no one was horrified at the prospect of higher taxes. Every homeowner in the room had gotten property tax hikes this year, so they saw it as the same thing.
- On the topic of health care, we had a variety. Some had fine health coverage. The couple with the new baby talked about how even with good health benefits they had been surprised at some of the costs. Another couple had only had catastrophic coverage for the past 2 years after one of them had been laid off and the other didn't have a benefitted job. Luckily, there had been no major problems but they also hadn't had any preventative check ups, etc. in two years. The currently unemployed people talked about being in a similar situation, because both COBRA and individual health plans are too expensive.
- With a suprisingly high number interested in the environment, we also talked about that. They were upset about Bush not signing the Kyoto Agreement (some knew what that was - others had it explained), and were worried that Bush's ruined relationships with foreign countries would hurt efforts to global environment problems. Female #1, who voted for Bush in 2000, said that she almost voted for Gore because of his environmental stance. Other issues made her vote for Bush. But she has been increasingly alarmed at Bush's environmental stance - not that he doesn't do anything, but that he's actually rolling back a lot of the programs.
- I'm not sure if the one man leaning Bush was swayed at all, but he seemed to agree with some of the reservations, especially about NCLB. He said one of the things he sees as Bush's faults is the fact that Bush continues with policy that is failing instead of adjusting it. (I found this interesting, seeing as most think this is a Bush strength.) He liked what Kerry said during the debate about how its not just making a decision, it's making the right decision. His problem with the Democrats (not specifically Kerry, though) is that many of them just want to throw money at problems.
It was SUCH A GREAT PARTY! By the end of it, those who had been leaning Kerry (including Female #2, who had never voted and was undecided until the debates) not only registered to vote but took a Kerry bumper sticker! She came mostly to learn about the issues because she didn't know much, and took copies of all of the information I had! I also got people really energized - many of them said they had never been to a party like this before (which would make sense, since they're not very political) and enjoyed talking about their viewpoints since they never had the opportunity. They also thanked me for giving them the information, because otherwise they probably never would have looked and found it.
The best part was that the people who were only moderately or not at all engaged told me that they felt so much better about voting and knowing what the issues were. And that they would definitely remember to vote this year (as opposed to past years).
Anyhow, I just found it to be a really positive experience, made me feel even better about being a Kerry supporter, and I hope added a few Kerry votes to the tally on November 2nd. I've got all the emails, so I'll be sending Election Day reminders!
GO KERRY!