I went back into the Obama field office in Ocala, FL this afternoon to spend another couple of hours working the phones.
And lo and behold, they had yard signs! Lots and lots of yard signs! Only $5 a pop, which I gladly paid. Yippee!
I made 69 calls, and the results surprised even me. More below the fold...
Last Sunday, I made 78 calls, with 43 "no answers" and 20 who refused to talk. Of the 6 who actually talked with me at some length, I had two for Obama (representing 6 votes), two for McCain also representing 6 votes) and two undecided who were leaning towards or willing to consider Obama by the end of the call.
Today was even better. Unlike last Sunday, when I was one of only two volunteers working the phones, today the joint was jumping with last-minute voter registrations (today's the deadline to register in Florida) and phone-bank volunteers.
Though I only did 69 calls, I had far fewer "no answers" - only 30 - and slightly fewer who refused to talk - only 18 - than last Sunday. There were also 9 wrong or disconnected numbers. That left me with 12 willing to talk, at least a little.
Since this was a daytime call list, all my targeted numbers were seniors, a demographic which Obama is supposed to be having problems with. That made the results of my phone time even more encouraging.
Only one of those said he wasn't voting. "I don't think either one of them are any damn good," he told me. No getting through to him. Time to move on.
Surprisingly, only one other said he was definitely voting for McCain. I will say that a couple of the ones who refused to talk at length said things to indicate they're McCain voters. One, for example, said, "you've called the wrong couple," and another said, "I'm not interested in those two, I'll tell you that." But they wouldn't say definitely they were for McCain, so I couldn't put them down as McCain supporters.
On the other hand, I had 3 strong Obama supporters (representing 4 Obama votes), and 2 leaning towards Obama.
I also had 5 undecideds. A couple of those, however, said that while they weren't sold on Obama, they would simply not vote rather than vote for McCain. Two others said they were following the race closely and were waiting for the last two debates before they made up their minds.
And the last undecided was one of my elementary school teachers!
I've lived in Ocala (off and on) all my life. I finished elementary school in 1971. Yep, 37 years ago! According to the info on my phone list, this lady is now 90 years old - and she remembered my family!
She said she probably wouldn't vote because her arthritis kept her from getting out very much. I asked her what she thought of the candidates. She said she likes McCain because he's a military man. "I was a military wife and mother through three wars," she said.
But she agreed the country was moving in the wrong direction, and said she doesn't really believe McCain represents enough of a change to get it back on the right track.
"But I just don't know," she said. "I'm kind of old and set in my ways. I just don't care for the idea of Barack and Michelle Obama in the White House." (Yes, we're still in the deep south. And while she never mentioned race, it seemed pretty clear to me race was what she was talking about).
As I did last weekend, I sympathized were her dilemma, and said I wasn't trying to tell her how to vote. I did say I thought Obama was more likely to change the direction and tone of Washington than McCain, and she admitted that was probably true.
By the end of the phone conversation, she asked me what she needed to do to voteby mail. I suggested she call the Marion County Supervisor of Elections ("Oh, Dee Brown," she said. "I know Dee!"). She thanked me for my time, and promised to at least think about voting for Obama.
All in all, a good day! Obama's ground game is definitely having an impact here in Marion County. I'm even beginning to think we can turn the county blue! If so, McCain's in deep doo-doo!