I'm writing from Alfa's Bar & Grill in Joliet, IL. Alfa's seems to have become the de facto staging site for canvasses for John Pavich's Congressional campaign (IL-11).
Almost 20 volunteers came from as far as 75 miles away to circulate petitions and recruit volunteers, on what must be the coldest day of the year so far. As usual, I'm amazed and excited. My family and less-politically-active friends are always more than a little bemused at my optimism. I think it must be because I run into so many remarkable and committed people.
This campaign seems to be really picking up steam and making progress on all fronts, from fundraising to grassroots outreach, as well as with the media: see for example today's Kankakee Daily Journal piece (subscription required) on Republican incumbent Jerry Weller's ties to Duke Cunningham.
Click below for more thoughts on today, on volunteering, and on this race...
Much as I'm enjoying writing this, I have to admit that I'd rather be out knocking on doors. In addition to the guilt (here I am, in a nice warm room, stocked with a wireless connection and outlandishly delicious cookies baked by Nora, who's now freezing her butt off and trying to keep her walk sheets and maps from blowing away in the frigid wind), I actually love canvassing. I love meeting people, I love seeing new neighborhoods and towns, and I especially love every time someone's thoughtful comments prove wrong every out-of-touch political consultant who thinks that voters are a bunch of dopes who need to be talked down to and fooled.
It particularly amazes me that in my "other" life as a math professor, I constantly run into people ensconced in the academy, who never meet anyone who's not on a university campus, but are nonetheless sure that the country is populated by ignorant buffoons. They should get out more: canvassing is the best thing that ever happened to my faith in people and love for this country.
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Okay, I'm now back home. After I finished the last paragraph, people started trickling back in and I stopped writing. As always, the overwhelming sense was that people in the 11th are itching for a change.
It's easy to get the wrong idea, of course. In addition to the inevitably unscientific impression you get from a tiny, geographically biased sample, we were only knocking on the doors of strong Democratic voters. (This is because the nominal goal of the canvass was to gather petitions to put John on the ballot; Illinois law requires every candidate for any office to collect a certain number of petitions. The other goal was volunteer recruitment; in either case, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to knock on Republican doors.)
That said, most people ran into at least one person who'd voted for Weller and/or Bush in 2004, and already regretted it. And even among reliably Democratic voters, there was a palpably heightened sense of frustration. One volunteer, Ken, encountered a man who signed the petition and said "We really need more Republicans in the House." Ken explained that John was a Democrat, and the man said "Right. We need more Republicans in the House -- like a hole in the head!"
I run into this stuff everywhere. Every political experience I have confirms what we're reading in the polls. These Republicans are vulnerable and the opportunity is there for a massive Democratic tidal wave in 2006. We just have to go out and make it happen.
In later posts, I'll talk more specifically about this race and why John Pavich is a candidate I'm excited to get behind. But for now, I'll leave you with this. Today, I feel good about politics and optimistic about America.
