(This is a REPOST of Deanobama's recommended diary, with his permission. It's not my work, so I'm not leaving a jar, and I'm heading back out to canvass. If you are anywhere near North St Louis, go help! And rec this up so people see it.)
Saint Louis County - North County Office
9144 Pershall Road
Saint Louis, MO
(314) 327-5155
URGENT NEED: GOTV help in North St. Louis (4x Update)
by DeanObama
Sat Nov 01, 2008 at 08:22:33 PM PDT
"There are big boxes of walk packets sitting in the floor of our office that are totally untouched because almost no one came through the office today...and things are not looking good for election day."
For a complete want of GOTV volunteers, thousands of votes were lost.
For the want of thousands of votes, the state of Missouri was lost.
For the want of Missouri's 11 electoral votes, Obama lost.
For the want of President Obama, America was lost.
Why? Jump below the fold.
I am an Obama volunteer in Northern St. Louis, MO. As you know, MO is one of the big swing states this year. St. Louis is one of the parts of the state where there are lots of Democratic votes to be found. Unfortunately, there is a huge part of the STL metro area that has almost no volunteer help at the moment: the precincts around the airport and the old Ford plant on the north side of town. Right now, we only have about 10% of the volunteers that we need to reach all of the potential voters in our area. There are big boxes of walk packets sitting in the floor of our office that are totally untouched because almost no one came through the office today...and things are not looking good for election day. This is really unfortunate because (according to others in the office who know better than I do) there are lots of Democrats on our side of town who would vote for Obama but need some additional prompting or assistance to get to the polls. It would be a huge shame if Obama lost MO by a handful of votes just because north county was left to whither on the vine.
What can you do to help?
If you live in the STL area, volunteer for Obama in Northern STL. From what I am hearing, most other areas in the city are flush with volunteers. Consider doing an extra shift in north county or switch from your current location to north county. (Why the campaign isn’t sending folks our way from these other areas is beyond my understanding and "pay grade.")
If you are near STL, consider traveling here. Even if you can only give four hours to canvass on Tuesday, it would be a huge help. If you live four hours or so away, consider driving out here Monday night, staying overnight, canvassing on Tuesday, and going home on Tuesday night. (The main STL office can hook you up with a place to stay the night if you need it.)
If you can’t travel to STL, rec up this dairy. Call any Obama supporters that you know in STL. Beg or bribe them to volunteer some time in north STL.
This is the hour of our greatest need. If you don’t do it, there isn’t going to be someone else to take your place. It’s now or never. The difference between victory and defeat is in your hands.
Saint Louis County - North County Office
9144 Pershall Road
Saint Louis, MO
(314) 327-5155
Update 1 Thanks for putting this on the rec list. I hope it can stay up here for a few more hours so people near here can see it on Sunday morning.
Update 2 Moving up the list and almost at the top. If you are prepared to volunterr in North STL, I'll post your names on later updates.
Update 3 We do NOT need people to drive supporters to the polls. The Obama campaign is paying for cabs to drive people to and from the polls. We need people to canvass, remind people to go vote, and drop polling location literature.
These people are volunteering: ILeanLeft (4), Charliestl, princess k, The Angry Independent, No Coast Nate, Waterlaw99, stl dem
Also, please do NOT call to harass the paid campaign staff. They are working really hard over very long hours for Obama. They are doing a wonderful job. It's just that the supporters are not answering their call. I'm not trying to stir up trouble; I just want people to get off their butts and pound pavement in the airport area. No matter who is "at fault" for this situation, we need the volunteers NOW.
Just try to be like our candidate. Don't get mad (like McCain); get active! What would Obama do?
Update 4 It's 7:30AM CST, and we're still third on the rec list. Thanks everyone. Hopefully, folks in STL will wake up this morning and see this dairy. Please keep rec'ing if you haven't already. I'm going into the office now. No internet access. Darn!
Update 5 by On Puget Sound: reposting the diary since it has fallen off the rec list. Hope it's working.