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Part 1. Volunteers for Charlie
The younger generation: The Millenials are here, and we're so glad they're helping !
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982 
Nick P, Field Director, teaching canvassers how to assist new area voters with registration if they need to register for this election.
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Volunteer orientation
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Volunteers concentrating intently... we're supposed to do what with that?
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Nick Panagopoulos explaining how to fill out the canvassing paperwork
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Getting To Know You Before Phonebanking. That's Nguyen ("Win")in the dark jacket (standing, second fr the right side), helping to prepare the phonebanking volunteers
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Charlie Brown, Democratic Candidate, CA- 04 and that's Windows Vista, and the universal expression of puzzlement over why it doesn't always work. Charlie asked if I wanted to liveblog anything, I warned him that it is best if I don't go near any Microsoft products even if to just type Hi From Roseville. Just then a speaker phone in the room starting spontaneously chirping This Call Cannot Be Completed As Dialed. If You Wish to Complete Your Call, Please Hang Up and Start Again.
See? Poltergeists.
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Volunteer Phonebankers
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Kathy's doing her phonebanking in a quiet corner so she can hear better. What you don't see is that she's got her right arm in a sling because she recently broke it. Dedication.
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•part 2. Walking in Roseville
And They're Off to Begin Canvassing and Voter Registration ! Walking over the RR bridge in oldtown towards a nearby Roseville neighborhood Saturday.
995 That's left to right, Neal, Todd Stenhouse, Communications Director for the campaign, Charlie Brown in the blue shirt, and another Volunteer in front, me tagging after them. My brain is shifting into "photo mode." The MSM reporter has gone missing, I'm slightly annoyed with myself because I can't run today to position myself, but I will adapt. I just hope I can keep up. I love the view off that bridge, on a clear day one can see the Sierra in the east facing the camera, but today the air quality is very poor and the haze is hiding it. There is a pocket near the base of foothills which collects smog, I drove thru it this morning to get down to the highway, and nearly started wheezing. I have lots of spare batteries in my little fanny pack, and an inhaler.
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997 yellow house, green trim light strands, dad and kids
Charlie Brown Canvassing in Roseville Saturday.
This is a nice, really neat neighborhood of sturdy, older Craftsman style homes and some converted garage bungalows behind them, with a lot of shade trees giving us oxygen for the CO2. A lot of the houses have had work or are having upkeep work done on them, you can see this house has new siding but hasn't had the door trim installed yet. If this guy ever sees this photo, I don't want him thinking it was taken to make the house look bad.
See the next photo for what I mean about how tidy this block looks.
The light strands wrapped round the porch pillars in spring... that's a CA thing, some people leave them up all year, others for 2 or 3 months. I hate when the people on the corner of my street out in the boonies finally take theirs down in January, because sometimes it's so foggy out at night that's the only way I can find the turn onto my road.
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999 Charlie Brown (left) canvassing Saturday April 26. This older gentleman in yellow shirt grew beautiful roses in his front yard, and he and his son talked about remodeling and how wood was different now.
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Canvassing door to door in Roseville Saturday, Charlie Brown introduces himself to voters one on one. 1002 Notice how he's carrying voter registration forms. When was the last time you saw a potential Congressperson in CA- 04 doing that? Too bad Thousand Oaks isn't in the district. Or Elk Grove.
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Hey, would you like a drink of water? She asked...
This lady was really nice. At first she was slightly apologetic about not knowing that much about the current Congressional race in the district, when Charlie introduced himself. She talked to Charlie and us a long time about her family, her son, who has Cerebral Palsy, about how she had called the Incumbent about a problem, and how "nothing happened, which is typical" how they had just gotten back from doing a benefit Walk in Sacramento, about how she believed her kids should do civic volunteering work, her new grandchild. And then when we had finished, she came back out again and offered water.
What I learned:
Remember, when people come to the door barefoot, it's not what you think.
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Some people have symbolic statuary guarding the house
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Some people have the real thing. Hi guys!
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This is the largest canine companion Charlie encountered during canvassing Saturday. This is not a bear. This is a dog.
photo 1008
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This lady was very concerned about higher taxes and Charlie explained to her that he was against corruption in government, which caused big deficits which caused higher taxes because the government has to pay off the debt, too. And that the war, because of corruption, was so expensive that the debt was out of control and taking away money from other needs. (this is a paraphrase). She was also very concerned that the country not pull suddenly out of Iraq, "like what happened in Vietnam." This is when she looks more closely at Charlie and says, "you're probably that age you remember that? When the helicopters had to get those people out? That could happen again if we pulled out."
"I was there." he said quietly.
"Beg pardon."
"I was there. I was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam."
There was this pause, and then the conversation turned better, as Charlie spoke to her about the need for other countries to get involved in reaching a peaceful solution.
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Big Dog leaning on Charlie.
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What I learned. Sometimes people have pre conceived notions about a lot of things. That a certain image of a past retreat is burned into the American psyche and driving a lot of people today to vote strange ways. Wasn't it Nixon who was President then. And always check lens for fur during shedding season.
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Sometime after this house on this street, (did I mention it's 88ºF outside, and not a dry heat ? I already mentioned the bad air quality) we encounter a slight glitch. Charlie, who has been doing all the talking, is getting slightly hoarse and coughs a few times. Uh oh. Todd knows that no voice = no candidate, asks if I would mind going back for water, I said of course not but I'm driving back with it. (I don't have my backpack, and I do have a pinched nerve in my leg which is causing me to gimp on it today, and the leg has to carry me the rest of the day whether it wants to or not. So I hike back to office, tell them I need water, they add in some pizza, try to feed me some (no thank you I can't eat that but appreciate the offer) and we carry the water out to the car and I drive back out with supplies and find them. Todd and Charlie won't eat the pizza but will drink the water, I'm eyeballing Todd and wondering if he has my camel ability and finally prevail upon him to take a protein bar. (I know from the 4th of July Parade last year in Auburn, at 107º, that Charlie Brown is the most heat resistant Democrat in district. ) Okay, onto more houses.
Sometimes nobody is home photo 1010
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Onto the next house. And when they were done, then they walked back. 996
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This was the funniest time of the day. I have my water bearing vehicle parked down the street. It has snacks in it. I've been up 8 hours. I intend to use it.
Todd. "Charlie, you should ride back with her,since you're doing more later, and I'll walk."
Charlie. "No, Todd, you ride back, I'll walk. I need the exercise."
"No, you go."
"No, you go. I'm fine."
"Why don't we both walk back and talk." (Todd, to me) "You drive back and take my clipboard. Is that okay?"
Me. "That's fine." (I was about to suggest they both drive back and let me walk if they didn't quit this.)
(I sit in the car a minute, sucking down water. They are a quarter of the way back already when I drive past them. )
My only regret was that I couldn't split myself into 20 and see what the other canvassing volunteer pairs were doing, but if any of them were wondering, Charlie Brown walks the talk. And he's going up to houses with Republicans in them, too.
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Part 3. The Home Improvement Fair, Nevada County Fairgrounds, Grass Valley, later that same Saturday afternoon.
He has to be here somewhere. It's only a... few acres of displays and people. 1013
After canvassing and a short rest break, Charlie Brown and Todd S. have driven up to Grass Valley from Roseville, I'm following behind, after calling my spouse to let him know where I'm going and to coordinate dinner, and after running a fast errand. This will be about an hour's drive and a 1700 foot change in elevation, and it should be cooler. I keep drinking water to rehydrate, as my ears pop. When I arrive, I stop in at the main fairgrounds building (restrooms!) and ask if anyone has a directory because I'm looking for the Democratic booth, they try to help but nobody can find it listed. Then I spot a picture of Charlie in the brochure... "this guy, have you seen him?" "he just went thru here." "which way did he go?" "that way" "was there a reporter following them?" "the reporter was looking for them, he went that way too."
Okay. Sighting confirmation, MSM may be in same area as Democratic candidate. Find.
Here's some of the sights at the Home Show this weekend. Once you see how pretty the Nevada County fairgrounds are, you see why everybody likes to go there. Did I mention that Charlie Brown won Nevada County in CA- 04 in the 2006 election?
1036
Girl Scout's "Fun draiser !" plant sale
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A dog napping in the shade at this plant nursery vendor's display. 1037
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This vendor, using a watering bucket, had beautiful red maple trees, plants, and roses for sale, too
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1017 If You Have Any Leftover Sawdust After Chainsaw Sculpturing, You Can Always Heat Your House With It.
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Alas, I do not see any real reporters & real photographers following around a huge political entourage, no Sherrif's dept. swat team vans, no private security detail, no undercover cops, no helicopters overhead, no Secret Service. Geez, this is a Democratic candidate, alright. This sure is different than some other times I've been up here.
At this point I had completed an entire loop of the fairgrounds vendors and looked in most the buildings, and was wondering what to do next, when the bears all seemed to be looking the other way... so I turned around, asked myself where he'd go if he was being Charlie Brown, and headed back in again, towards the "Green" energy vendors, and this time, look closely...
Aha. Found him. He's still talking to people. And listening to what they have to say. 1020
Nope. No MSM reporter.
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1023 This is Ray Darby of Sustainable Energy Group, Grass Valley. They are talking about solar panels.
What I learned. The angle of mounting of a solar panel is important. There are fixed position solar panels and "trackers," or movable solar panels that are mounted on devices that can orient them to the sun during the different seasons. By adding a few more panels to a display, the fixed position grid can provide very nearly as much energy as a tracking one. The efficiency of a solar panel degrades one quarter to one half of a percent .0025 to .0050 % per year. Modern panels have warranties of about 80% of available output over a 25 year period. There is concern that the Federal government may only be temporarily interested in tax rebates for installing solar. We are at a critical point of public interest and willingness to consider alternative energy.
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1039This man and his wife have a small business making lovely dried flower pictures and mounting them in glass.
What I learned. That they suffered $500 in bad credit card losses at one festival, which prompted them to get the new and exotic, tiny, palm sized wireless credit card reader they were now using. And they grow some of the flowers and trade with neighbors for the others... isn't that neat?
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This is the Thermal Solutions booth. They do Thermography, which uses a device that looks like a big camera to measure temperature differences between surfaces and therefore shows where a building or house is leaking heat, rain, or a/c. What you can't see is the cutest bulldog wagging his tail at Charlie, who looked down at it just then. Then another dog came up, and I thought, quit with the dog pictures today or people are going to think you're making this stuff up.
Have I mentioned we like animals in Northern California.
1040 Inside The Narrow Gauge Rail Road Historical Exhibit Building. This is the not the best picture, but I wanted to show the people watching the miniature model train display, and the space inside is very tight. Yup, that's Charlie on the left.
(Todd, watching Charlie spot the building, walk up the steps, and place a little donation in the box on the door before entering... "go ahead, you can write about this. he's a history buff. he loves this nerd stuff.")
What I learned (because as much as I've been up to the fairgrounds, I've never been in the Narrow Gauge Rail Road building... ) is that this is a "historical, not historic," according to the guide, built to scale model narrow gauge rail road diorama of the old railroad line and scenery between Nevada City, Grass Valley, and Colfax. It's all volunteer built. And there is a little model train that runs around the little track, illustrating how people in the era of 1876 to 1942 moved mining ore, lumber, material goods, and themselves between the Gold Rush mining towns. The other thing I learned is that when you take photos of this little tiny train and scenery, the slightly odd looking display suddenly looks very realistic because it was done so meticulously to scale. So I have a really cute photo of the miniature train trestle, which goes over a river that many miles downstream flows about a mile from my house. The original train trestle was demolished during the Reagan administration. Figures.
So they talked about Train History for a bit.
After this, they went to the local Natural Foods Co Op booth, where Charlie talked to them for a while, and got something to drink, and then back to the main fairgrounds building where they got some popcorn, and still walking around like completely normal human beings, met more people to talk to, one couple of which was very... ah, right wing. They reminded Charlie Brown that the world is a Very Dangerous Place, and that people have No Idea about the Terrorist Threats to our country. 9/11.
The older woman is lovely, immaculately groomed, yet not so fancy in attire as to be out of place, the older man is wearing a polo shirt with "War College" embroidered on it, and I wonder if they have any idea who they are actually talking to, because Charlie's introduced himself as a Candidate for Congress, but it doesn't seem to be registering at all, that we are 3 grown adults here with more than a slight passing interest in such things. Or maybe he knows exactly and is trying to make a point. Maybe he was here in this building the last time the Incumbent showed up with The Entourage, videotaping prohibited, maybe he likes it that way. Charlie Brown takes it very gracefully. Because we do have Very Dangerous Threats to our country. He learned that during his career as an Air Force officer, who served in Vietnam and the Mid East.
I remember what he told me back in December, about how people to start engaging people in finding solutions, sometimes you don't tell them they are wrong, they're not, you find the point you agree on, and then ask them how to find a solution. That takes away the point of conflict, if you don't have to agree on the exact cause of things from a political standpoint.
So as I'm driving back towards home from Grass Valley that evening, I know what I want to say to people like that. The danger is from what we are not doing for ourselves now, while we still have the chance. The gift is to find ways to change this, the inspiration is to see it being done.
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edited to add:
(Lt Col,USAF, retired)Charlie Brown, Democratic Candidate for Congress, CA- 04 in 2008, website is here:
http://www.charliebrownforcongress.org
Upcoming Events, click here:
http://www.charliebrownforcongress.o...
(Charlie and Max Cleland, fmr Senator, Veteran, and Veteran's advocate, will be in Sacramento May 1 )
To sign up to volunteer, click here:
http://www.charliebrownforcongress.o...
To donate to the campaign, click here:
https://secure.charlieforcongress.co...
Charlie Brown's ActBlue page:
http://www.actblue.com/...
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if you want to read some more about Charlie Brown, you can read this diary I wrote here:
A Gathering In, a Promise Kept
http://www.dailykos.com/...
click on the CA- 04 tag for more stories about the incumbent Republican in our district and the ones he wants to replace him
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oh, almost forgot. all photos by diary author. patience provided by diary spouse. and if you're the AP,... bite me.
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