From Alaska: What are YOU doing for Obama today?
Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 07:14:17 AM PDT
Like many people here, until now I've kept most of my political activity behind the quasi-anonymity of the Internet. It's comfortable. And in 2004 I was satisfied with that. I didn't want to get out and "bug" people in person about politics. I thought that would be hard. It isn't.
Now I'm doing something.
I haven't become as dedicated a foot soldier as many on this site. I'm a long-time spectator, inspired by Obama to really participate, if only a little. When enough people do a little, they can bring a lot of change.
If you are, like I was, watching this campaign from the sidelines, it's time to get involved. It's now or never. The things America can do with Barack Obama at the helm are worth taking that plunge!
Here in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska -- 100 miles north of the high peaks of the Alaska Range, and a few short hours from the Arctic Circle -- it's 34 degrees below 0 tonight, and the only sun rising more than a little ways above the distant peak of Denali is this one:
But the cold and darkness aren't stopping Obama volunteers!
There aren't a lot of delegates at stake here, and it's likely to stay that way until the census starts counting these guys as citizens:
But Obama's 50-state strategy means fighting for every delegate in every state, and I've met some great volunteers in Fairbanks who are determined to deliver and are doing a lot more than I am, no matter what the weather. (Hi, Nadeane!)
Here's what I'm doing, besides sending Obama money I can't afford:
Meeting other supporters
Last week, I went to an organizational meeting. Obama's Alaska Caucus Director, Chris Farrell, was there, and he sure knows how to get an audience fired up! I pledged to bring 5 other people to the caucus. Others pledged more. One volunteer is organizing UAF, including rides from campus. Another offered up his house for a phone banking operation. These aren't political operatives, just regular people going all out for Obama.
Also, join Obama's website and look for groups for your state or region. Those groups have email lists and a fair amount of ground game coordination goes on through there.
If there's a meeting or an Obama office near you, GO TO IT! The other volunteers will motivate you to push your own boundaries. Enthusiasm is contagious, and Obama gatherings are overflowing with it.
I've been talking to my friends to fill my 5-person pledge. I'll be bringing more than 1 vote in my car. Will you?
Also, I got my yard sign up. It's the only non-Ron Paul yard sign I've seen around town. But I put one up anyway. Have you?
Phone banking
At the organizational meeting I promised to do a bit of phone banking, cold calling other students at my school to identify supporters. This was a big step for me, because I have a visceral repulsion to any kind of "telemarketing" when I'm on the receiving end, and I'd never done this before, so I expected the worst. I had to repress a lot of instinct to dial that first number.
On that very first call, I found a supporter who hadn't been planning to caucus, but agreed to come when I described how easy it is. Score one vote! I worked down the whole list and didn't get a single "go to hell!" Some people didn't want to talk. More were friendly. Some were fired up!
Have you tried phone banking for Barack yet? You can join his national call team online and make calls to Super Tuesday states from home.
Once you see for yourself that people don't mind hearing from you, it gets a lot easier -- trust me!
Making and posting flyers
Before I got in touch with the campaign, I had trouble finding the information about where and when to caucus. What are the rules? Who can vote? Alaska's not like Iowa where everyone's used to caucusing, and this is the first time in more than 20 years that Alaska has caucused before the nominees were decided. The information is hard to find.
How many people, I wondered, kinda like Obama but aren't going to go to all this trouble to look up how to caucus?
So I made a flyer to post around campus. I spent a few hours yesterday spreading it in the most visible spots I could find. When it's this cold, taping things to metal posts isn't fun. I built up quite an icicle mustache over my beard, too. It's not the only thing covered in ice up here:
A couple guys stopped me to ask what I was posting and I told them. It turns out they were undecided. 5 minutes later they're coming to caucus for Obama. I spent half that time just trying to write down the caucus address for one of them, because the ink in my pen was freezing. I came away with a great lesson that should help some people here, too: Votes aren't up for grabs in the arguments between political junkies on the Internet. Votes are out there in the millions of people who waited until this week to tune in. Get out there and grab them!
Now I modified that flyer, with info from the state party website, for most of the other big towns in Alaska (big is > 5,000 people). I made a website where other volunteers can download the flyer, and sent it out on the mailing list. Any other Alaskans out there -- download it! Print it out! Spread it around your town!
The flyer has info about when and where (with a map) to caucus, the rides we're giving out, why our caucus really matters this time, how the caucus works, and the closing crescendo of Obama's S.C. victory speech:
Out of many, we are one; while we breathe, we hope; and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people in three simple words: Yes. We. Can.
Yes we can get people to pay attention to politics. Yes we can take that leap from spectator to foot soldier. Yes we can get off the computer and pound the pavement, even as the mercury drops past 25 below and a fog of ice hovers in the air:
Two weeks ago, a continent-sized wave of cold air, which had Fairbanks down to 41 below, swept south from the real frozen tundra and covered the nation in a deadly deep freeze. This Tuesday, Alaska will send the lower 48 something warmer, a wave of hope and change that blankets all America with the boundless echoes of Obama's rallying cry: Yes. We. Can.
Yes. We. Can.
Yes. We. Can.
Let's hear it in the comments: What are you doing for Obama for America today?
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