So I went out canvassing this afternoon. Just to give you some context, I was canvassing in Southwest Philly which is one of the most diverse areas in the city. To put it bluntly, "we got everybody." African Americans, Africans, Asians, Whites and a lot of immigrants. Most of the area is economically depressed but there are many middle class people who live in the area. I live in the area and earlier this week, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, Mayor Nutter and Governor Rendell held a rally in our area. Southwest Philly has had its share of racial animus and from what I hear there is still some undercurrents of racism. When I was growing up, two black families' homes were fire-bombed for moving in the area (early 80's). There is also tensions among some AAs and the African immigrant community culminating in a vicious beating of a young boy from Liberia.
For the PA primary the southwest turnout was fair and it went 80 - 20 in favor of Obama. The 40th Ward has the largest number of registered Dems in the city and the land area is huge. I suspect there are some Hillary supporters that will not vote for Obama. I requested a walk list for the areas where turn-out was low for Obama in the primary. Primarily this area has a lot of "hard-working white people." Since the area I canvassed also has a lot of immigrants, most people were not home (working). In addition, the canvass area has a lot of mixed commercial/residential areas and it is tough to find the residences.
However, I had a pretty good day. The overwhelming majority were Obama supporters. Unlike the last time I canvassed this area, I did not run into any McCain supporters. The highlight of my day was on one street. I was knocking on one door and these two women called me from across the street. They wanted to know what I was doing. I explained to them and they told me the person I was trying to contact was not home. The older of the two women called me over and we started talking about Obama. The younger (middle-aged) woman was very non-committal but the older woman was a big Obama fan. As a sidenote: today, the most enthusiastic supporters were middle-aged to older white women. I ran into two more that were gushing about Obama!
But I digress. So I had about a five minute conversation with the older woman and got her contact information because she needs a ride to the polls. She was very concerned about being left at the polls but I assured her, we would get her back home safely. She tore into McCain and his debate performance and had no words for Sarah Palin. While we were talking, one of the residents of the home I originally canvassed came out and so I went across the street to talk to him. This guy was leaning towards Obama and I continued my canvass. The older lady that I was speaking to called me back over to her porch. Why you ask? She needed help taping up her Obama-Biden sign that I gave her when we were talking. She had went into her house to get her tape. It was wonderful to help her put up her sign! She was so excited!
So she made my day!