Headquarters is fairly empty. Everyone is out doing visibility, driving folks to caucus, providing child care, getting ready for the post-caucus activities, be they happy or sad.
I have aggressively helped myself to a loose ethernet connection--almost all of the volunteer registration computers have been pulled out here in the Storm Center. Advantage marcopolo in getting on line.
Today we started early, 6:45 a.m. doing visibility on busy street corners and at strategically good locations: retirement homes, large office building, etc...everywhere you go on the streets in downtown Des Moines there are orange volunteer hats, as well as the yellow volunteer coordinators and red staff hats...those folks have a little more breathing room to go out now...
After the morning visibility events, we went out and did once last bout of door knocking from 11:30 to 4:30. Same results as yesterday: lots and lots of indecision. However, having spent a little more time around Des Moines today, I have been told that the precincts that out of state volunteers have been knocking since Saturday have been the non-Dean leaning ones. Considering that, I feel a heck of a lot better about all of the indecision out there. This is strictly rumor, but the source of that information said that the Dean precinct captains of the Dean leaning areas have been doing all of that work themselves.
I am also a little bit more cognizant of the extent of the Dean organization now. There are babysitters (excuse me, childcare providers out there in most locations, there are drivers, Dean supporters are meeting even now (at 5:30) at the precinct locations prior to caucus. I am having a better feeling for how things will turn out tonight.
And now, since the campaign folks are giving me hard looks, one final note...it is extraordinarily cool to see folks like Joe Trippi and Trisha Enright wandering around the streets here...especially having only seen them before on c-span and the Dean dvds.
Gotta go, folks here are upbeat, out on the street, waving signs and being vocal and visible...it is my turn to either join them now or go do some last minute phone banking...
If you are a Deanista somewhere out there...get actively involved in your own state or a state near you. The one thing I have learned over the past three days is that when folks hear Dean's message, they have been receptive, even when I have gotten an initially grim response to identifying myself as a Dean supporter. The fact of the matter is, there is nothing like personal face-to-face contact to let people know how this campaign is changing the face of politics in the United States.