As I stood on a porch of a run down mobile home, my eyes scanning the odds and ends used to make it unique, I was standing at the door of someone's home. It was mid-day in Vegas and the campaign had sent us out with two to a precinct and my area covered the Miracle Mile Trailer Park.
I looked over to my left and saw the most beautiful sight, hovering in the air was a humming bird, a bright red throated being flapping it's wings so quickly and in perfect quiet. It was a moment that struck me as so calm, so peaceful and so beautiful. Even in the most run down places that seemed so lonely and dingy, beauty still remains.
No one was home, but I saw the hummingbird and I felt a bit better about my journey from California to Las Vegas to canvass for John Edwards. It was a long weekend. The moment of peace gave me a bit of clarity, every little thing is important, the things we notice, the people we speak to and the causes we chose to champion.
(Disclaimer - I did not take this photo)
We arrived to quite a bit of activity on Saturday, there were volunteers from the Carpenters Union and the Steelworkers Union, they all had great t-shirts (I got a steelworkers t-shirt which made me my trip alone) and it was so great to see the unions coming out for John. We got an amazing pep talk from a California assemblyman who also took a photo with the California volunteers in front of the amazing Edwards sign (Scroll down, you won't believe it). He sent us out there to fight for John and I'm so sorry that I don't remember his name, but I would really hate to put the wrong person, he's endorsed Edwards and also went to Iowa to work for him.
A lot of the staffers were young, not young like me, I'm only 36, I'm not nearing death, but like YOUNG. Everyone was under thirty and a majority had to have been under 25. Amanda welcomed us and said Hi, we had exchanged some emails and I met Aaron, another campaign volunteer/staffer who was working so hard. I didn't know if they were paid or not, but you would have thought paid, they were up early and done late. After we had spent the day canvassing just as they had, they spent the evening phone banking and entering data. The office was a mess and I thought, good for them, who has time to tidy when you're working your ass off for John? It just felt well, like everyone was there for the right reason.
Our first day was spent canvasing in a trailer home park, a couple actually. Some were well kept and some where quite run down. Many of those who made it to the door were too sick to travel to caucus and had no interest in politics. The narrow roads had so many cats wandering them and a lot of people owned dogs. I was shocked by the number of people who came to the door smoking, I just don't see that much here in Southern California.
It was discouraging for one thing. I had very few Edwards supporters, mostly Hillary and Obama. Most people had no intention of going to the caucus even if they were able, just didn't care much for that stuff.
After we finished our first three precincts we went back for some BBQ, they had burgers, I wish I had waited to get a Bocha Burger! but I was so hungry I went for plain old beef, a few of the women are not meat eaters so it was great that the campaign had prepared for them and they were happy too!
So we were fed and then given another precinct. It was getting dark out so we had just an hour to knock a whole area out with six women. We did it, but it was interesting. This area was middle class homes that had a smattering of houses that were also run down. The area was predominantly African American and I met many Obama supporters. They were polite, they were patient and they listened, but they weren't budging. One older gentlemen did refuse to reveal who he was going to caucus for because people "just don't discuss those things!". I was wondering what this was a by-product of, he seemed a bit unnerved that I would even ask such a question. I finished my area and sat on a curb to rest my legs and think about the dinner I'd brought with me from home. I was on a budget.
The next day was totally different. We took two districts in Henderson, it was a new development with a golf course and lots of stucco homes with rock lawns rather than grass and. I loved it, the colors went so well with the natural landscape and it was a life saver on water, why plant grass in the desert?
This was a totally different group of voters since the area was a 55+ restricted community. There were mostly retired home owners who were not originally from the State. I had more conversation with the people I spoke to, although one guy was pretty peeved I had interrupted his football game. He asked about nuclear power and I told him where John stood compared to Hillary and Barack, he said he didn't know that. Oh and he was for nuclear energy, "So where does he stand now?". I almost laughed but caught myself and said, "He's still not favoring the building of new plants". Maybe he thought I was playing him, I don't know. He did keep reminding me that I was keeping him from his game. I gave him a flier and put him as undecided.
I came across a few more Edwards supporters but it still felt overwhelmingly Clinton or Obama. I met people who wouldn't even open the door and others who at least opened the screen door and talked a bit. I met one woman who adores John, "He just speaks to my heart" but she wasn't going to caucus, she said she thought he had no chance. She had also mentioned that someone at work was upset he was campaigning with an ill spouse, she had heard that Elizabeth's health wasn't doing so well. Hm.
I told her Elizabeth was fine, but more importantly, she really needed to go caucus for John. I explained the delegate count and she told me about her frustration with the Culinary Union. She was worried about people having to caucus near their workplace rather than where they live. Would it skew the results, would people worry about retaliation if they didn't vote the way of the Union? She said she would caucus for John and it made my trip worthwhile, one vote. One voice added to the many and I was happy. I had told her that her voice mattered too.
I also ran into some other characters although my favorite story was a friend who walked up the door to knock and the home owner was sprawled in his flower bed quite pissed out of his mind. Hm. Okay. (This was on Saturday by the way in the middle class neighborhood). And then there was the lady in her Packers wear telling me that gun control was her big issue, so much she thought she would switch to being a Republican. I tried very hard to explain to her that Democrats don't want to take her guns, but that the need for automatic assault weapons is probably not as great as some might think.
We turned in our last two precincts and I walked the office to say thanks to those who were helpful and we drove home that night. I gambled exactly fifty cents when we stopped in Jean and had dinner at a buffet. Not my favorite way to dine, but I ate some and went on my two quarter gambling spree. I guess I could say I really had been in Vegas now.
I came home tired but hopeful. I had met some great people and it was nice to hang out with others who support Edwards so much. I got a couple of John Edwards 2008 tattoos for Charlotte, can't wait to put them on and take her Edwards photo, she says she thinks she ready to endorse.
Aaron, Amanda and Stacey were just a few of the staff and volunteers who made me feel welcome and who shared by enthusiasm for this campaign. The good news yesterday was the new poll in Nevada showing that Edwards was doing much better than I would have ever guessed. How is that? Oh, yes! The whole State votes!
Sarah was happy to see me, which was so weird, oh my, a Daily Kos person. She talks up the Edwards diaries to the staffers and it was so nice to meet her in person, IN PERSON, how weird.
I know that with every person I met, no matter what their personal story was, I knew that John could help them, so I kept that in mind with all those I encountered. Isn't that it? He wants to help us all? And I learned that my myopic view of one city, a handful of precincts was not the whole state. So seeing as though Vegas was not John's strong area, I was glad to have added one more caucus goer for him, in fact each of us in our group had a case like that, so six more in John's corner, your corner then :)
This whole experience has been those ups and downs. So much news, polls and so much to follow, no wonder most people get tired of it, it's just too much. But it keeps me going to know John is still in the race and I'm looking forward to helping him do better in California. I volunteered my home for the campaign, I do have a futon in our spare bedroom but I did say that they would have to walk the dog, that's fair isn't it?
And speaking of the Sophie, I called to find out that she had been throwing up all day and wouldn't eat. My husband was at a gig and my Mother was at my house with my daughter Charlotte. When I got back Char was fast asleep but puppy was so not herself, so off we went to the vet at 9:30 at night after a full weekend of canvassing and traveling, oh, tired doesn't even begin to explain it.
And I had another lesson. I stood there as the vet explained the different options. Sophie had some rocks in her intestine and she thought she felt something else, but wasn't sure, the best thing to do was to operate. Since it was an emergency vet hospital, we were looking at $4,000 if everything went well not to mention aftercare. If we did the barium study to see if there was another object, that would be $1,800, then the other option was to keep Sophie overnight with meds, $800 and the option I chose, to give her fluids and send her home with me. $500. I took my chances and I felt so guilty, but the vet was quite nice and she objected to me using the term, "Is it ethical for me to take her home?", she said it was just an informed choice. She also told me she wished everyone was so easy to talk to as I was. I just wanted to take my puppy home and have her be okay, it was very frightening to think that if I made the wrong choice she might not make it.
They put fluid under her skin and a shot to help calm her digestive track. I took her home and let her curl up with me on the couch. I would pet her and read a bit and I thought, what if you had to make this choice with your child? What if you had to weigh options like this for a person? What if paying were not a choice? I know this is different, by law no one has to treat my dog, but still, I felt so, overwhelmed by the decision.
Sophie passed those rocks and the huge clump of undigested grass. I told the vet that's what I thought the other mass was and was rather proud of myself. I mean, wouldn't operating be more traumatic than passing some stones and grass? She's eating more and fighting me, so she must be feeling better and she's mostly out of the woods. Sophie was all herself this morning and as hungry as a small horse. Another disaster averted.
Here are the two photos I took at the Las Vegas headquarters before my batteries died. Yes. I can't seem to catch a break sometimes! But better my batteries than my puppy :(