As noted in a previous diary (I'm Going to Ohio), I'm on a three week trip to help increase registration and voter turnout in the Buckeye State. With my usual impeccable timing, I arrived the day after a major windstorm knocked out power throughout the greater Columbus metropolitan area. Undaunted, I reported for duty at Obama Central across the street from the Ohio State campus and was given my marching orders. What follows is a whimsical summary of my first week of duty, along with a few observations that I hope will prove helpful to my fellow foot soldiers. Onward...
I'm 48 years old, although on a really good day I can pass for 47. The average age of Ohio State's Team Obama is, well, let's just say less than 48. A lot less. So right away, it felt like I walked into one of those bad Rodney Dangerfield goes back to college movies. But the kids were all very polite and they put me right to work. And here's the thing: you can be the uncoolest guy in the world but if you work hard, people will respect you for it.
My first assignment was "clipboarding", which means you walk up and down High Street, the busiest thoroughfare near campus, clipboard and registration forms in hand, asking (mostly young) people if they are registered to vote at their new campus address. If you are lucky enough to stumble across someone who is register-able, you fill out the form for them and later bring it back to the office for delivery to the elections board. What could be simpler?
After my first few hours of clipboarding, I found that I was able to dredge up only a small handful of new registrants. Possible explanations for my sub-par performance include:
- Surprisingly, many college students seem unenthusiastic about the prospect of a conversation with a middle aged man lurking on the corner.
- There is a small army of students doing this same activity and they are all very good at it, which is to say they are much better than I will ever be.
- Classes have not yet started!
I think the real problem, aside from my gross incompetance, is the inefficiency of having to individually connect with EVERYONE I PASS ON THE STREET, which brought me to Marc's First Law of Canvassing (drumroll): A sign is worth a thousand "Are you registered to vote?" questions.
But a sign implies a fixed location, which brings us to the problem of real estate. I was told that locating a voter registration table in public space is verboten in Columbus, so I looked for a high traffic private space in which to setup shop. A few blocks south of the Obama Office is a certain very popular nationwide chain coffee establishment on a high traffic corner and, lo and behold, the kind folks at this enterprise granted me permission to setup my table on the edge of their premises.
So now I had my sign and my table and everything should have been peachy but, oddly enough, those crazy kids continued ignoring me (see reason 1 above). That's when I hit upon Marc's Second Law of Canvassing: kids love the swag. So I began outfitting my little voter registration table with as many bright, shiny Obama-things as I could get my hands on (courtesy of the campaign office) and I sell those objects for a nominal $1 donation to the campaign. This seemed to do the trick - not only did it increase my traffic but I also started making a little money for the campaign.
So I've been sitting at my table every day for the past three days, and my production is up and overall I'm having a much better time. But I have to say the coolest thing about this experience has to be all the happy smiles I get from Obama supporters as they walk by. Every time that happens, it's like two people, who've never met, sharing a common secret. And the secret is this: "We're going to win." :)