Join me as I make calls to Wisconsin.
If you want to do the same tomorrow, sign up here. They want to get people signed up one day in advance.
Make your pledge to participate in my diary here. Or in this one.
Updating with a link to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin phone bank, which lets you call into a wider variety of races but does not use "smart technology," so you'll get a lot more no-answers and wrong numbers. (Still, like many lower-tech alternatives, it's also relatively stable.)
(Wouldn't it be great if the Democratic Party kept in touch with voters 3-4 times a year so that the phone lists would be fresher? Wouldn't it be great if we built a long-standing relationship with such voters? It's just a dream of mine....)
Updates about calls below the fold.
1:04 PM PT: Advanced dialing technique -- no busy signal or non-answers! Sweet!
1:11 PM PT: Stumble out of the gate! Hang up before I say a word.
Then one man says yes, and two women say YOU BETCHA! Nice convo about GOP dirty tricks.
1:13 PM PT: Don't be intimidated by the script! The scripts are usually stilted and this one is no exception. I'm just being very excited and enthusiastic -- it works, even though it makes me sound like I'm about 35 years younger than I am.
1:14 PM PT: Sadder news -- a couple of hang-ups, one even before hello. Not my fault -- we just keep on picking the lower-hanging fruit!
1:15 PM PT: Boy, the "pro" voters (in this case for Schilling) are REALLY enthused!
1:19 PM PT: One guy says that this is about his 400th call -- so that a problem to prepare for. I always just apologize, note that different organizations can't coordinate, and tell them that we're really worried because of the Republican dirty tricks on saying it's the wrong week. Then people generally understand and accept why so many calls.
1:20 PM PT: Another nice trick at the end? Let someone who says that they're voting for the right person that they've "brightened your heart" or "lightened your day" or something like that. That makes it more likely they'll show -- now they've made you a promise, it made you happy, they have to come through.
1:21 PM PT: Phone banking is SOOOOO MUCH EASIER than it used to be even a couple of years ago!
1:24 PM PT: You can also call through the party itself, at this link. I don't know if they are doing more than just Schilling (vs. Kapanke.) That is the one where we're furthest ahead, so personally it would not be my top priority. I'd rather call for Pasch (against Darling.) Maybe others are!
1:33 PM PT: Beware of the infinite loop! The "please continue to hold" guy is relentless. I had to sign out and restart things. Still continuing to hold.
1:42 PM PT: OK, switching to the Dem Party of WI website -- and the Pasch versus Darling race! (or any other one I prefer!) -- at the link provided at the 1:24 p.m. update. Let's see how that goes!
1:52 PM PT: I'm now working off a non-automatic -- my guess is that the first method I tried may just have been overwhelmed -- which means that I'll be leaving more messages. Now that I know that they're getting lots of calls, I will be leaving more messages. I start out with the empathy right away: "I realize that you're probably getting a lot of calls right now and I appreciate your patience. At least this will be over on Tuesday!" Don't let yourself be rejected out of hand!
2:00 PM PT: And the analogue when there's a live person: "Have you been getting a lot of calls about the election?" "YES!" "OK, I'm sorry about that; I won't take up your time -- can I mark you down as voting for [candidate's name]? It's a critical election and we need every vote." MUCH shorter and less obnoxious if it's their 20th call!
2:01 PM PT: Cheeseheads are friendly! I've been preparing myself for this with cheddar snacks. Makes me talk a little funny sometimes, though.
2:05 PM PT: Note to WI Dem Party: a few more choices on the "Call Result" area, please! For example, "Not a working number"!
2:09 PM PT: The phone banker must sometimes be thick-skinned -- especially when trying to explain that, "no, I CAN'T take you off of our list. I'm not in charge of this thing!" You just get used to it and move on. People understand, at some level.
2:16 PM PT: HEY! Anyone else who's calling, please feel free to put your own experiences into comments!
Remember: leaving personalized messages is GOOD! You are not a robot. I've been know to remind people of that on calls.
2:43 PM PT: Do I leave a different kind of message for someone who is 19, 39, 59, 79? Absolutely. Listen to the voice on the answering machine/voicemail. You're having a conversation with that person. Talk slower or faster, brighter or more solemn, as you think is appropriate. You're better at that than you might think!
2:46 PM PT: 75-year-old couple both have already voted for Pasch. The man was matter-of-fact. But when I say at the end -- "thanks, hearing that keeps me going!" -- he softens and brightens a bit. Now he feels that he's on the team too, encouraging me to the finish. It's true, the good comments help. Let people know that!
2:55 PM PT: My pitch to a self-proclaimed "non-committed voter" (who I doubt really was one, but you never know): "We just want things to go back to the way there were before." If he's conservative, let him chew on that one!
2:59 PM PT: By the end, I find that my pitch changes quite a bit from the script. My latest call: "Hi, I'm _ with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. You probably know about the election this Tuesday." "Yeah." "Do you know who's running?" "Sandy Pasch -- we're voting for her!" "Great, you saved yourself 45 seconds of hearing me convince you!"
3:05 PM PT: And another lovely call with an elderly Pasch-supporting couple. As close to verbatim as I can get:
"Have you been getting a lot of calls about the election?"
"Oh, yes."
"Well, I'm sorry to add to that, but --"
"That's fine. It's an important election!"
"I hope that that means you're voting for Pasch!"
"We are, both of us."
"That's great. You're the last call on my shift; that means I can go home happy."
"Then you can go home happy. Have a nice weekend!"
Wisconsin Democrats: they're all right.
3:13 PM PT: And, as promised, that will be it for me today. I'd guess that I put in about a dozen calls through the automated dialer and my phone says more than another couple dozen by hand -- let's call it 40.
I have no idea how much I accomplished -- in electoral politics, you rarely do. Let's say that I pushed only two people to vote my way out of those 40 calls in two hours (which may be optimistic.) Would I stand in line for two hours to vote in this election? You bet I would. And that means that I just got to vote twice, in an election in a state in which I'm not even registered, but which will help decide my country's fate tomorrow.
You have the links you need, right up there. Anyone else want to start their own liveblog for evening calls? Just put the link to your diary onto the tip jar and I'll come back and update to it.
Work works! Let's take away the Koch Brothers' rattle. Let that be your motivation.