Hey folks-
Not a lot of time here, but I am sitting in the Dean local headquarters after finishing canvassing one of three precincts here in Chariton, about an hour south of Des Moines.
First, it is cold here...about 5 or 10 degrees right now with gusty 20 mile per hour winds. But considering I am from Fairbanks, where it is 36 below, that is not too bad.
Now for the details: three of us picked up our canvassing packet from the Des Moines headquarters and then drove down. We checked in with the local Dean folks and then went out to canvass at 11:30, the earliest time we were supposed to start.
We just finished (including a break for lunch where we ate incredible Iowa grilled pork tenderloin sandwiches) at about 5:15. We knocked about four hundred doors with about a 35% contact rate. Lots and lots of undecided folks with 24 hours to go. Among those who were decided, support Dean had the majority, then Kerry, and one or two Edwards folks. No Gephardt supporters.
Also, another group of Deanistas from Texas did another precinct here. The Dean campaign is the only one doing door to door in the county and also the only campaign making personal phone calls. I personally, since I could say I came from Fairbanks, talked to several folks who were blown away that people from out of state were here on a cold cold day asking them to support Dean and explaining their own reasons for doing so. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that the polling is not particularly accurate, but I guess we will all find out tomorrow night.
As for message, telling folks that Dean was a doctor, was the only candidate with governing experience, and emphasizing his healthcare record were the best things to talk about. Talking about his early childhood programs (Success by Six) was also persuasive.
Am going to have to run now, we are driving back to Des Moines to drop our completed canvassing forms off, but a few words about yesterday when I could not get on line.
Dean Des Moines headquarters was a madhouse. Hundreds and hundreds of volunteers. We were all processed and put to work pretty effectively. I canvassed in West Des Moines with a guy from SF and two folks from St. Louis and we knocked about 400-500 doors. Once again, lots of undecideds. Also fairly equal support for four. I was surprised at how few folks really had any good knowledge of who Dean was considering how much campaigning has gone on here. After canvassing, a few dozen of us stayed around phone banking. We did that through nine, and this is where I learned that most if not all of the other campaigns are using taped messages--several people said they were shocked they were talking to a real live human being. Once again, hope that makes a difference.
That's it! Gotta go.
Hope to be able to catch up on the blog as of Tuesday as tomorrow will be busy till we leave the state.