Now, I'm sure you all know that I don't have a wife, if you didn't I'm telling you I don't. But there is an article that was linked on the Huffington Post that I found to be really moving, and I think it would serve as a great motivator for you.
So who is the canvasser my title refers to? His name is Jonathan Curly (he's a banker) and he voted for Bush I twice, and Bush, Jr. once. He's a conservative. He knows his taxes will go up under Obama because of his tax bracket.
Let me make it clear: I'm pretty conservative. I grew up in the suburbs. I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, and his son once. I was disappointed when Bill Clinton won, and disappointed he couldn't run again.
I encouraged my son to join the military. I was proud of him in Afghanistan, and happy when he came home, and angry when he was recalled because of the invasion of Iraq. I'm white, 55, I live in the South and I'm definitely going to get a bigger tax bill if Obama wins.
So he's an older white guy, who's probably making over $250,000 a year. There's no way he'd be canvassing, right? Well, his wife had something else to say about it. He and his wife ended up canvassing a primarily African American community in Charlotte, North Carolina. The part that is so moving in this article is not the fact that he was canvassing, it's what he said he learned:
I learned in just those three hours that this election is not about what we think of as the "big things."
It's not about taxes. I'm pretty sure mine are going to go up no matter who is elected.
It's not about foreign policy. I think we'll figure out a way to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan no matter which party controls the White House, mostly because the people who live there don't want us there anymore.
I don't see either of the candidates as having all the answers.
I've learned that this election is about the heart of America. It's about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It's about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways.
THAT is what this election is about. THAT is "putting country first"-- having the ability to care about the whole and not just the individual.
Here's a really moving Obama ad that's being run by a third party nationally:
There are no words, it's Paul Simon's "American Tune" playing:
And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees
but it's all right, it's all right
for we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
road we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help it, I wonder what's gone wrong
Progressive Future is running the ad and had this tidbit to add:
RealtyTrac® reports that from October 2008, home foreclosures have increased 21 percent from September 2007; one in every 475 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in September 2008. The Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment numbers stayed at over six percent, or nearly 10 million, unemployed in September. The National Coalition on Health Care reports 47 million Americans are without healthcare insurance.
We need a new direction.
(emphasis mine)
It honestly made me tear up a bit to watch it.
Obama swung through Ohio on Sunday and hit up Nevada, Colorado, and Missouri on Saturday, here are some pics
Ohio:
I love the line about never seeing Dick Cheney delighted, and how it's kind of hard to picture. LOL.
Also, I caught the local coverage on the news here (well I missed ABC's). CBS opened with the Republican side, but they did get to Obama's rally and there was no way to really cover it unfavorably. People in the Obama crowd were described as "hopeful" and there was one lady who said she was concerned about people letting race be a factor. But remember, green matters more than Black-- even here in Ohio.
One thing I found funny was that NBC mentioned that Obama had a record crowd of 60,000 here in Columbus, but when they led into Palin's rally they said "thousands" greeted her. How many is "thousands"? 3,500. LOL! But whatever, she was in an airport hangar, so it was probably "at capacity."
And if you're wondering if we can really win Ohio, I say YES WE CAN!:
John McCain has targeted this wealthy area just north of Columbus as one of 15 counties in Ohio where he needs to drive up his vote tally if he is to beat Barack Obama on Tuesday in this must-win state.
But on Friday night, only nine volunteers manned the 24 phones in the McCain campaign office. The phone bank began operating on a daily basis just two weeks ago. And only five people have shown up on most weekdays since then to canvas local neighborhoods.
McCain's campaign JUST started daily phonebanking in Ohio TWO WEEKS ago? That's terrible. But it gets better:
Obama's campaign, in contrast, has flooded this Republican bastion with volunteers. Some canvassers first hit the winding streets of nearby subdivisions in March during the Democratic primary, and they have worked almost nonstop ever since in search of supporters.
Ohio is a battleground in the presidential race, and here's the view on the front line: McCain's get-out-the-vote operation has struggled to build momentum, and it appears outgunned by Obama's.
One of the Deans of my school lives in Delaware, her husband is a Republican. I remember going over her house in Spring 2007 for an event and her husband (the Republican) was PROUDLY calling himself an Obamacan. They had a yard sign, and he had some to pass out to us, in fact that's where I got my yard sign for the primaries.
Learning from the Bush effort, Obama has taken his fight directly into suburban and rural GOP strongholds in an effort to curb McCain's potential margins. Obama has 82 offices in the state, nearly twice as many as McCain. Labor unions are backing his effort with more than 12,000 volunteers.
"McCain does not have the kind of ground organization that Obama has, not even close," said Nancy Martorano, associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton.
"I've never seen anything like the Obama ground game," agreed Paul Beck, professor of political science at Ohio State University in Columbus. "It is light-years ahead of what the Democrats did four years ago."
I love the smell of change in November :o)
When the McCain campaign bragged about it's new technology that automatically target people, the article quickly points out:
But the campaign didn't send the high-tech phones to some vote-rich areas it needs on election day.
"We're still on cellphones and use pen and pencil," said Pat Hennessy, GOP chairman in conservative Muskingum County, about 50 miles east of Columbus. "I don't know what they're collecting. They don't tell me."
Equally important, perhaps, McCain's campaign still wasn't canvassing in many areas last week.
"We've mostly done weekends until now," admitted Linda Smith, GOP chairwoman in Clark County, west of the capital.
Oh this is RICH. Yet in the same article, the McCain campaign claims it's already contacted more people than Bush did in 2004. Working only on weekends, and just starting daily phonebanking two weeks ago.
And the resident GOP asshat Rep. Boehner had this to say:
"They've got people out there?" he asked. "So what? They don't have a candidate or a message that appeals to people in rural areas and exurbs."
But there was no sign that either congressman was stumping for McCain. Most supporters wore Tiberi T-shirts, and the two buses parked outside sported only Boehner and Tiberi signs.
I don't even need to comment on that. LMAO!
While they sat in a diner, an Obama volunteer was out there connecting with the people in the area:
Obama's campaign office was around the corner. Some 30 canvassers already were out knocking on doors, including Jenifer Burks, a former Republican and part-time worker at Pizza Hut, who began working at an Obama phone bank eight months ago.
On Hearthstone Drive, she knocked on Monica Thompson's door. The young mother's entry hall was a jumble of kids' jackets and boots. The house got five calls from the Obama campaign on Halloween, she said, and someone left literature on her door the other day.
"I'm voting for Obama," Thompson said.
"How about your husband?" Burks asked.
She replied that her husband, Jeremy, was an independent voter who had not made up his mind. But she added that they had not heard from anyone in the McCain campaign -- not by phone, by mail or in person.
Burks smiled and made a note on her clipboard.
"If you're undecided," she promised, "we're going to talk to you 'til we know what you're doing."
'Nuff said.
While nothing is promised until the last vote is counted, I we keep working hard here, we can DEFINITELY turn Ohio BLUE :o)
Now back to the pictures. . .
This weekend (from yesterday's diary)
Senator Obama was a busy man on Saturday! He started the day off in Nevada. . .
(Bonus, Michelle was in NV on the 27th. . . )
Then made his way to Colorado where he was reunited with his family. . .
before speaking in front of a over 15,000 supporters. . .
And ended to the day in Missouri. . .
Joe Biden had some fun with protesters at his rally:
About two dozen supporters of Republican John McCain wailed loudly outside an event next to Florida State University's football stadium, causing Biden to stop and say, "I thought it was a siren, it's just a whine."
Acknowledging the group, Biden said he would speak louder so they can hear.
"The economic policies of the last eight years are the cause of the economic crisis we find ourselves in now," Biden said, his voice rising. "John as my mother would say, God love him continues to cling, cling to those same economic policies."
[snip]
"We can't moan about the politics of division unless after this election's over, God willing we win, we reach out to the very people out in the outer parking. I mean literally, not a joke," Biden said. "I know you find some of that obnoxious, but ... we've got to end this. Somebody's got to be big enough to stand up and end it."
Have I told you guys how much I love Joe Biden lately? LOL
Howard Dean is spending his day in Arizona, the same Arizona that McCain will be heading back to defend:
On Monday, November 3rd DNC Chairman Howard Dean will spend the last full day of the 2008 presidential election helping to get out the vote for Democrats in John McCain's home state of Arizona. Dean will headline a Get Out the Vote Rally with local Democrats in Tucson, Arizona on the heels of Arizona being moved from "Leaning McCain" to "Toss Up" by Real Clear Politics.
I love being on offense :o)
So there you have it, that's kind of what you missed this weekend. Hope you enjoyed the diary!
We still have work to do, so please do what you can:
Honestly, this is the most emotional Hope Diary I've done. I've teared up a few times putting it together (that damn ad!), so I hope it inspires you. I have no idea what I'll do for Tuesday since that will be the LAST "Hope Diary."
Oh, and remember the man I opened the diary with? Well here's how he ended his article:
My wife and I went out last weekend to knock on more doors. But this time, not because it was her idea. I don't know what it's going to do for the Obama campaign, but it's doing a lot for me.
As always, tips, recs, and comments are welcomed and encouraged. 1 more day!