For those of you who are wondering if you are either preaching to the converted or just speaking into the wind when trying to convince others of the need to vote for Barack Obama for president or any of the Democratic challengers in the down ticket races, here is a little piece of good news for you.
Now, I'm not as articulate as I would like to be when trying to explain the positions of the candidates I am supporting. As much as I am tempted to do so, the fact that I am not phonebanking is having a positive effect for the Obama campaign. Recently, I have felt like I've made no progress at all in convincing any friends or relatives who might be wavering and planning to vote Republican. Then, I got a call tonight that made me feel like all my efforts were worth something.
I'm originally from Maine and my mother still lives up there. She decided a long time ago that she would vote for Obama -- she likes the man and there was no way she would ever vote for McCain. As far as she is concerned, he is a sleaze and "borderline senile."
The same can't be said for the Senate race. As many of you know, Republican Senator Susan Collins is up for reelection and is facing off against Democratic Congressman Tom Allen. My mother is a moderate type and has voted for Collins in the past. She just likes Collins. Mom is a moderate type person, has always felt Collins fit in that mold, and had every intention of voting for her again this time around.
Over the course of the summer, every time I've talked to my Mom, I've tried to tell her of the tack rightward Collins has made, about how many times she has voted in lockstep with the Bush administration. I knew some of this was making an impact, because she would qualify her support of Collins with her disappointment for the Senator's strong support of the war. That still wasn't quite enough for her to change her mind and vote for Tom Allen, despite all my argument for him and the articles I sent her that described his positions as compared to Collins'.
So, last night, the phone rings, and I see from my Caller ID that it's Mom. We say hello, and then she says, "Well, I just did my civic duty, and voted." Because of the long lines at the polling place, she likes to do the absentee route and as a naturalized citizen, she takes pride in the fact that she has voted in every election, no matter how small, in the almost 40 years she has been a citizen.
She jokes around about voting for McCain and then I ask her if she minds telling me who she voted for for Senate. She says of course she doesn't mind telling me, pauses, then says, "I just couldn't vote for Susan Collins."
I was a little surprised because just a few weeks ago, she was still pretty much leaning in Collins' direction. She said that she just didn't like her voting record and thought that Allen would do a better job. Then she said, "I know Collins is probably going to win, but I didn't want my vote to help with that."
I told her that if enough people feel like that, we might all be surprised on election day. Living as I do in Massachusetts, I know that my vote is kind of irrelevant, except for the referendum questions, so it makes me feel good that I might have had some sort of influence in another important Senate race. It was my mother that made the decision, but I like to think that my efforts at poining out the positions helped her to make the choice. It may be only one vote, but if we all convince one person and then they tell someone else their plans, who knows? We all could be pleasantly surprised once all the votes are counted on November 4!