As I write this, it's 10:42 AM in Austin, Texas. I'm sitting on the floor of my one bedroom apartment, flipping through various news websites, pundit responses, images of celebration, et cetera. I'm skipping my first class of the day because in a minute I'm going to have to complete an assignment I neglected yesterday. Why didn't I do my homework, you might ask? Because for the first time in my brief twenty-three years on this planet, I was campaigning for a candidate for President.
I arrived at a large warehouse off interstate-35 around 10am Tuesday morning and made calls to voters in Nevada, Virginia and Pennsylvania on behalf of Barack Obama until 6:15PM, only broken by brief breaks to snag some of the free food the Obama staffers had kindly set out for us. Most of the calls I made went to voice mail: I took this as a good indicator that people were out and voting. Most of the voters I got on the phone told me (somewhat tersely) that they had already voted or were on their way to vote. Only two voters gave me extremely negative response: One fellow hung up when I told him I was calling from the Barack Obama Campaign for Change, and one woman, when I had identified myself, shouted "I'm not voting, I think they're all assholes, stop fucking calling me!" before slamming the receiver down.
But for those few negative incidents there were a slough of positive ones. Several times during my calls I was interrupted when young black voters would wander into the office trying to find information on their polling place. I was more than happy to point them to somebody who could help them find out where to vote and get them a ride to the polls. Perhaps the most uplifting moment of the day came when I called an elderly couple in Pennsylvania. The sheet listed their ages as 89 years old. When I asked the husband if they had gotten a chance to vote yet, he responded with barely contained pride: "My wife and I were at the polls at 5:30 this morning to cast our votes for Barack Obama." I thanked him so much for his support and he thanked me in kind. Another call went to voice mail, and as I was leaving my message the phone clicked on and a young man said "I've been listening to your message. I just wanted to say that I voted today, and to thank you for everything you're doing for Barack Obama." I tried to be humble and said I was just trying to do my part, thanked him, and hung up.
When I got home around 6:45, I spent a good hour and a half constantly updating msnbc.com, cnn.com, cbs.com, dailykos, and foxnews.com (only because I figured if there was good news for Obama on faux noise it was probably GREAT news everywhere else). Eventually I calmed down enough to change and head to my favorite pub, the Draughthouse, to celebrate my friend Zack's birthday and to watch election results roll in on the TV.
It was fairly quiet at the Draughthouse, even though it was their pint night special, the place was only about 1/2 full at any given period. As the blue column piled higher and higher, people smiled more, got friendlier, but for the most part it was calm. I will never forget the moment I glanced up at the TV and saw the words on the screen: CNN PROJECTS OBAMA VICTORY.
I had been waiting for this moment for a long, long time, and now that it was here, I didn't know what to say. I thought an awful lot about all the historic firsts this year, but somewhat self-indulgently, I had to dwell on my own personal firsts:
It was the first time I have ever donated money to a political campaign.
It was the first time I have ever campaigned for a political candidate.
It was the first time I cast a vote that I passionately believed could help the country that I love.
Soon after the word was official I bought a victory cigar that we passed around our table. We raised our glasses and toasted: "To the President of the United States of America."
Thank you President Obama, for making me into a believer again.
Where were you guys when Obama was elected? You're not going to forget it. Not for the rest of your lives.