This going to be quite abbreviated, as I'm completely wiped, and need to get back to Keene, NH tomorrow morning. Apologies, but that's the way it's gotta be.
- The old adage of 'NH voters change their candidate preferences more often than they change underwear' is SO true. A quick anecdote: one gentleman that was on my canvassing list had been listed as a 'definite' Dean voter as of earlier this month. As I approach his house, I see that he has a Clark lawn sign. Hrm. He tells me that he does like Dean, but now he likes Clark more. I say, that's fine, here's this packet of literature (that includes that Howie/Judy interview on DVD), think about it. He then asks me a couple questions, which I answer using the typical Dean talking points, after which he says, "eh, maybe I will vote for Dean after all". AGGGGH! How can a campaign operate with this kind of electorate?
- The Dean volunteer organization is very organized and it is massive in comparison to anything else. We have visibility in Keene like no other campaign -- at any single time, we have at minimum twice the number of people doing the sign-holding-hollering thing in the center of town, and no canvassers I talked to saw any other campaign's canvassers throughout the day. Obviously, that may or may not mean anything, given Iowa, and given the differences between Iowa's caucuses and NH's primary.
- The Dean volunteer organization is very disorganized. (Yes, like anything else in life, this too is a conundrum.) The prime example of this was when I was told before going on my canvassing route to always offer people rides to the polls if they need them, even if they aren't definitely for Dean or leaning that way. The logic offered was that they are confident that the packet provided to people is persuasive enough that any undecideds will be leaning Dean by Tuesday. Then, another staffer told me exactly the opposite -- to only offer rides after establishing the person's positive Dean status. In the end, I did what the second staffer suggested, simply because it made more sense to me. This is simply the downside that we must accept when relying upon a grassroots organization -- message will never been completely consistent, tactics will never be uniform, and people will often be taking their own course of action in the field based on (potentially unfounded) personal opinion. However you slice it though, the benefits clearly outweigh the downsides (at least in the realm of intangibles -- we'll see if it works for winning elections soon enought).
- Being this active in politics is invigorating, exciting, fun, and something that I would love to continue pursuing. I hope Dean sticks around so that I'll be able to ply this newfound passion of mine for him for years to come.
So, that's it. Hope it was not too boring :-) I'm off to it again tomorrow morning, and hopefully it will not all be for naught. I actually feel like 'I have the power'. That may be kool-aid, but it might also be one of the landmark occurrences in American democracy.