...And we're back! With another diary covering Admiral, Congressman, Dr. Joe Sestak in his challenge against Tea Party crony and former George W. Bush lapdog Pat Toomey. Sestak needs our help to win this one.
Today, I wanted to report on my uplifting experience canvassing with the Sestak crew this Saturday in a particularly depressed part of Pittsburgh, PA.
Also, a reminder of what we're up against. Toomey is a Norquist Republican (h/t dizzydean, who convinced Karen Heller at the Philadelphia Inquirer to buy Toomey's book) as evidenced quite plainly in this article. Excerpts below the fold as well.
First things first - I wanted to point out that anyone, anywhere can help the campaign by Donating or Calling (through the campaign's virtual phone bank) --- this is one race the Netroots should get behind. Sestak challenged Republican-turned-Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter in the primary and beat him, despite a complete lack of support from the establishment, and is now in a serious contest with one of the most extreme right-wingers this election cycle.
My experience canvassing for Sestak on Saturday was very uplifting. I left the house right after my son went down for his nap, and high-tailed it over to Homewood, one of the most depressed places in Pittsburgh, to knock on doors and try to make sure people would come out to the polls in November.
We were only visiting registered Democrats - and this was a good neighborhood for that; population is largely black, Obama signs still hang in many windows, it's a low-income area. If we can just make sure people vote, they'll very likely back Sestak.
This was not my first canvass, though it was my first for Sestak, and it won't be my last. I came prepared, with a water bottle (the reusable kind), comfy shoes, and a banana for a snack. It was warm, and sunny, a perfect day to be pounding pavement.
Walking around, it was more obvious than in most neighborhoods how much Pittsburgh has - and hasn't - overcome in the last several decades. About a third of the houses on my walk list had been boarded up, one apartment resident told me the person I was looking for had been "incarcerated... for life."
Most people didn't answer their doors, so we left a lot of literature. I don't think anyone we did talk with, passers-by included, had been paying enough attention to the election to know who to vote for - most didn't seem to know who was running, though the fact that Sestak is a supporter of the president definitely won us some ground.
One of the people I canvassed with kept asking "HOW can anyone be undecided when the choices are SO clear?" I just smiled, shrugged, and said "I remember before I started paying attention to politics constantly. Now is about the time when I would even start to notice the election." I then commented that that's exactly why we were out there, to tell people this was a choice, and that even in the off-years, voting was critical.
We did talk to one very talkative, energetic 91-year-old, who didn't know who was running at first, and then my canvassing partner pointed out that Toomey wants to destroy Social Security by privatizing it. That instantly won him over. It's not a thought experiment for him - he was 9 when the Great Depression hit, and told us (at length :-) ) about the food shortages and suicides.
Despite the omnipresent reminders of how much people have struggled and continue to struggle, it was, as always, an uplifting experience to know that you're doing a good, important thing for a great candidate, for your state, and for your country. In my mind, there is nothing more important than that fight, for equality, for justice, and for a better tomorrow. It's always positive to be part of that fight.
Many people thanked us for coming out. I think we got a couple more Sestak votes on Saturday, and all in about one naptime.
Of course, there are two sides to every story. In this race, there's not only how fantastic a candidate Joe Sestak is, there's also how extremely awful Pat Toomey would be for Pennsylvania and the nation. From yesterday's Inqy:
Basically, Toomey wants to get government out of our business by giving it far less money to spend. He subscribes to the Grover Norquist maxim: "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."
[snip]
The candidate believes that "incomes and living standards have risen for people in all income categories. The mean income of the bottom fifth of earners has grown from $10,326 in 1980 to $11,674 in 2006 (in constant 2007 dollars)."
[snip]
Toomey endorses Steve Forbes' 17 percent flat tax on personal income and corporations. Fine. We better exit Afghanistan tomorrow. Slash the military budget until we can drown it in the bathtub. Kill NIH, the CDC, the Park Service, and regulatory agencies, though Toomey praises the last century's advances in "life spans, child survival, health care, scientific knowledge, sanitation" as well as "the state of our environment," all beneficiaries of government funding and oversight.
It's easy to say you hate taxes. Honestly, who's arguing the other side? And it's easy to say you hate big government until you ride the interstate or go to war or breathe cleaner air or . . . the list goes on.
[snip]
Don't be fooled. Reading Road to Prosperity, even at the distressed price of $1.52, there's nothing moderate about him.
--- Karen Heller, Philadelphia Inquirer
Sestak can't win this without our help.
Here again, are the important to-do items:
- Donate (I set up a new ActBlue page, it seems to me this series ought to be able to get at least 50 contributors - my email - feel free to cut-and-paste - got us several new donors!)
- Canvass --- getting out the vote is critical. You can also go to their contact us page --- they just opened four new offices!
- Call - they have a Virtual Phone Bank, so you can make calls from anywhere! (h/t angel65)
- Send email (link takes you to the diary yesterday with a template) or call or talk in person with those you know in Pennsylvania about this race.
- And, if you are in Pennsylvania, plan to vote, and bring as many people with you as possible.
Other diaries in the series:
#7 - The Admirable Admiral weighs in on tax cuts.
#6 - Sestak v. Toomey on crime
#5 - Mobilizing Pennsylvania's Progressives
#4 - Why is dKos advertising for a Tea Party Republican?!
#3 - Obama's other engagement today
#2 - Lies, Damn Lies, and Pat Toomey's ads.
#1 - Let's do better than the teabaggers in DE. Seriously, people, fight for it.
Thanks for reading, and make sure to check in tomorrow to see what a new day brings on the campaign trail.
Feel free to leave a comment before this scrolls away. And, if you can spare a rec, I'll take that too! :-)