Today, like many of my most recent Saturdays, I spent the afternoon canvassing for Judy Baker, MO-9's best shot at a progressive Democrat in umpteen years and an Orange-to-Blue candidate as of today. However, today I did not canvass my home city of Columbia, the main population center and blue stronghold of the district, but rather Holt's Summit, a small town just across the Missouri River from Jefferson City. My day there led me to an epiphany about approaching traditional working-class "values voters" as well as the single most exciting and emotionally gratifying experience of my canvassing career.
My partner on the journey was Marty, a good-natured older fellow who drove us there in an old pickup truck. Since I was the spry youngster, he would often drop me off at a cul de sac to knock a string of houses while he made stops along the 45-mph main highway, where the houses were both further apart from each other and further from the road. We made really good time and were finished shortly before 5pm, as we didn't reach Holt's Summit until 2pm. Besides our knocking strategy, the main reason we were able to hit 130+ houses in under 3 hours was the unusually low at-home rate. It was a pleasant but hot Saturday and there were farmers' markets and church-sponsored sales, as well as nearby pools that no doubt kept people away from home. Still, I had conversations with twenty or so people, and was happy to find the vast majority of them undecided but open to hear what I had to say. A couple were already firm Judy supporters; several more were straight-ticket Dems who pledged their support once they found out her party. I was surprised and heartened to find only one household leaning towards our opponent, Blaine Luetkemeyer, but what really made my day was the conversation I had with that particular voter.
My "target," as we say in the canvassing and professional killing biz, was a 19-year-old male, the only voter on my list in the household. Young voters at parents' addresses are almost never home, in my experience, and this time was no exception. His parents were home, though, and as I soon found out, traditional Republican voters (another common trend in this area, at least). The father answered the door, looking tired from work in worn-out, nearly threadbare overalls. After ascertaining that his son was off in college in Springfield (Missouri, the home of the state's second-largest university), I went on to ask him whom he was going to support in the congressional race. His response was one I had heard before since I had begun canvassing for her general election campaign: "We [referring to his wife, whom I could see behind him in the kitchen] can't support her because of abortion and stem cell research." Actually, he might have been the first to single out stem cells, but I've probably had about one person every other canvass cite abortion. This time, instead of graciously thanking them for their time and exiting the conversation, as I had done when unprepared for the question, or refocusing the conversation to concentrate on Judy's many health care achievements, as I had taken to doing lately, I decided to take the issue head-on. It was scary, but I had some talking points in my head and a slowly-formulated idea of how to best neutralize the issue.
I began with a statement of fact about Judy's record: "Judy cares about the issue, which is why she worked in the Missouri House to reduce the number of abortions." Then I offered the reasoning for her stance: "She realizes that abortion is a worst-case scenario, but she knows that if it were made illegal, abortions would still happen in back alleys with clothes hangers, which would be worse for everyone involved." I paused for a second to make sure that I hadn't lost him, and seeing him still attentive and not angry, ventured on to Judy's abbreviated platform, focusing on health care and the economy. I said that what she really cared about was getting every child in America insured, and getting every adult covered after that. I told him about her plan for a $1000 tax cut for middle-class families while raising taxes on corporations that outsource jobs. Amazed that he hadn't stopped me or exhibited so much as a frown of disagreement, I pushed on to a conclusion that I had never considered before, but seemed the obvious and perfect way to drive a point home and perhaps change this guy's vote.
"The thing is, Blaine Luetkemeyer doesn't care about any of that. It's not on his platform. He's just using abortion and stem cells as a wedge to keep you from voting your own economic interests."
I gulped as I realized that I had just given a self-proclaimed values voter the thesis of "What's the Matter with Kansas?", compressed and applied to his own personal situation and vote. There was a silence as he studied me for a moment, then looked down to the glossy pamphlet, smiling Judy emblazoned on the cover, looked back into my eyes and said "I'm going to go show this to my wife." I smiled broadly and shook his outstretched hand, unable to hide the pure joy I felt at really connecting with and helping change the perspective of one of the unknowingly-complicit-in-their-own-suppression values voters Thomas Frank describes. It was almost certainly my best and most memorable experience to date in my canvassing career.'
I hope some other people try this approach or a variation, because I would really like to see if it's effective on a broad scale. For example, it may not have worked at all with his wife, and for all I know she might have changed his mind back as soon as he shut the door. But I know what it looks like to get past someone's built-in ideological defenses, and I've never seen it anywhere like today, in that one conversation. So please tell me your thoughts and voter responses, fellow canvassers!
And, of course, this diary couldn't be complete without a call for donations to my candidate, the wonderful Judy Baker. Let's help catch her up to her fellow O2B candidates!