Phonebanking Thoughts and Strategies

I sure hope that I am not the only one spending my Sunday making calls to Indiana. What better way to use up free minutes? We have just 10 days to go and if we win Indiana this damn primary may finally be over. Please folks...hop on those phones!!

Things are going really well, so far. I have been looking up the early voting location for people, although I am really shy about asking for their address, but no one has been weird about it. No one has asked me if Barack is a Muslim. This guy asked me a really indignant question about border security that I managed to answer really, really well (pats self on back). I said, in my best Barack Obama impression "Border security is a goal that all of us can agree on. Where we disagree with is the execution, and we have to bring a common sense approach in order to finally get things done." Anyway, I was quite proud of that one and I think that dude now leans Obama.

I just wanted to ask for other people's experiences in terms of what they usually say. I am curious because I actually wrote myself a little script that I like to follow and I wonder what other people do.

My "script" below the fold.

Here is more or less what I say:

Hi Voter! I am a volunteer for Barack Obama's campaign. I hope you have a second.

[Pause. I really, really like to do this. If they say they are on their way out, I very graciously say "Oh, it's no problem! We'll try you back later!" I find this is much better than trying to talk to an unwilling person, and they always sound greatful. If they hang up, that's fine. I didn't waste any time. If they say, "Sure!" then I know they are very open to "being converted". If they are silent, I just go on.]

Well, I am calling people in Indiana today to ask who they plan to support in the Democratic Primary. And also, if you have any questions about Barack Obama's policies or plans that I could answer, I would love to do so.

[Pause. If they support Obama, I move on to the early voting question. If they support Hillary, I admit I that just thank them for their time. If they support Mccain/are undecided, I continue]

Well, I hope you will consider supporting Barack Obama. He is the only candidate that doesn't take money from the special interests that are controlling Washington. He was the only candidate that opposed the war in Iraq, from the start, wisely saying that it was distracting us from the real threat in Afghanistan. And he is committed to strengthening our economy and the middle class. (Pause) What are some of the issues that matter to you? (I ask this only if they are nice! Otherwise I just ask again if they have any questions.)

Well, thanks for your time! I really recommend you visit BarackObama.com where you can find extensive policy ideas for just about every issues. It's a wealth of information and I hope you will check it out if any questions arise.

Have a nice day!

This script works OK, but again, it's more me talking and them listening. It's hard to say at the end of it, whether they have budged one way or another. And I don't really try to reach Hillary supporters. What would say if I tried?

What do other people find works for them?

Update:

Oh! And one last thing! Do you leave answering machine messages. What do you say??? I can't figure it out so I never leave any.