Sorry it's a short diary, it's a slightly older story but I didn't see it at all on here the last few days. Apparently a woman from Chicago was canvassing in Wisconsin and said she was assaulted by a man whose house she went to on Saturday (10/18). But for her efforts she was contacted personally by Barack Obama himself!
[Correction : apparently this was diaried and rec listed already here over the weekend, so I apologize. However there are a few new links in this that weren't in that one and some comments noted that not everyone may have seen it. So all you late night folks who missed it the first time, here you go]
From WISN
CALEDONIA, Wis. -- Police in Caledonia are investigating the assault of a campaign volunteer as she was canvassing for Senator Barack Obama Saturday afternoon.
In an exclusive interview with 12 News, 58 year-old Nancy Takehara of Chicago says she was going door-to-door when she came across a disgruntled homeowner.
"The next thing I know he’s telling us we’re not his people, we’re probably with ACORN, and he started screaming and raving," Takehara said. "He grabbed me by the back of the neck. I thought he was going to rip my hair out of my head. He was pounding on my head and screaming. The man terrified me."
The man eventually stopped and the Caledonia police were called. Takehara was asked if she needed medical assistance, but she was not seriously injured. Instead, she says she was shaken up by the homeowner’s reaction.
"This negative stuff has to stop," said Takehara. "We’re all Americans. This is all about protecting our democracy, not about attacking each other."
Takehara was encouraged when she had a message waiting at home from the candidate she is fighting for. Takehara called back and she and Senator Obama talked one-on-one.
Takehara said, "Senator Obama understood... it was wonderful. It made me feel wonderful. It made me feel connected to this government again."
The Obama campaign did not want to comment on the incident at this time.
Police tell 12 News they are still investigating the case and will forward the complaint to the Racine County District Attorney’s office after it’s completed.
The video news report of the incident is found here, also from WISN. It doesn't do embed that I am aware of.
Added information of what the police said from here
On Saturday, police were not releasing the identity of the suspect, or the exact location of the incident, because no arrest had been made and to ward off potential acts of retaliation. But [Sgt. Toby] Schey confirmed that the incident occurred in the vicinity of 4 Mile Road and Aberdeen Lane on the village’s east side.
Schey said a preliminary investigation reveals that two campaign workers had gone to the home just before 1:30 p.m. He said the homeowner apparently did not share the same political views as the campaign workers, and words were exchanged. The homeowner then allegedly forcibly escorted one of the campaign workers from his property.
Jeff Dorchin of Huffington Post has a few words to say about it here and here, as apparently her canvassing group was organized by friends of his.
Sidenote: Eileen B in the comments below suggested the following, so feel free to spread it in other diaries or in general:
I think we should start a response movement to these attacks:
Somebody steal your yard sign? Tell your story here, and put the sad metal post that survived the robbery up on ebay, pledging to donate the profits to Obama.
That way, every time they attack us, Obama profits.
That ought a piss them off, huh?