Martha Gamez has twenty grandchildren and
six great grandchildren.
Martha lives in Tracy, CA in the house she and her husband bought in 1992 knowing that they would host frequent visits from their large and loving family.
Martha is a pleasant, kind woman. She has a winning smile and a friendly disposition that can make a stranger feel like they've made a newfound friend. She also has the organizer's touch. She knows just how much to visit and interact...but she also knows when to gently send her volunteers out into the field equipped with maps, clip boards, and literature tucked into handmade fabric shoulder bags.
You see, on top of being a great grandmother, Martha Gamez is also Richard Pombo's worst nightmare. Her one-woman Tracy organizing drive is turning block after block of Richard Pombo's home town blue.
I'd like to invite you to read below to learn more about Martha. I'd also like to tell you how you can join her organizing effort...
It takes a bit of
intestinal fortitude to muster up the courage to knock on the door of a stranger and ask them how they'll vote.
The payoff, however, once you get past the fear, is immense.
I spent last weekend canvassing in Tracy California for Democrat Jerry McNerney running in CA-11. One of my co-canvassers, Ernie, a union carpenter, described the process of learning to precinct walk this way:
At first you're feeling like maybe you're in over your head. Then, after about three doors, you get the hang of it...and you start getting a rhythm and wanting to make an impact.
That first lawn sign you put up feels real good. The second, even better.
Appropriately enough, Martha's story begins with a canvasser. Martha had been politically active in the 1960s and 70s before family and work took the majority of her focus and time. This spring...the spring of 2006...that all changed with a knock on her door.
A canvasser from Jerry McNerney's primary campaign arrived to ask Martha how she was going to vote. Martha was enthusiastic about Jerry and eager to oppose Richard Pombo. She seemed willing to get her neighbors involved. The canvasser asked Martha if she'd like to volunteer for Jerry.
The rest is history.
One way or another, Martha's been working every day on the campaign in CA-11 ever since.
Volunteers who come into contact with Martha come away impressed. Shoshana and Richard, both first-time Tracy canvassers, were happy with the literature and the care with which it was targeted to different voters. (Martha has separate piles of literature for seniors, military families, Republicans and those who just want to know "why they should kick their home-town boy Pombo out.")
Ernie, my first-day canvassing partner, liked how the script let him speak in his authentic voice and was focused on voter interaction, not robotic reading. Penny, my second-day partner thought the maps were amazingly clear and well laid out. She went from thinking we might never finish our assignment to realizing that Martha had given us just the right number of homes to target and provided us with clear cut maps and diagrams on how to get to them.
I spoke personally with about 15 different canvassers who worked out of Martha's house last weekend (there were many more I missed)...a common theme was just how important it was to speak with voters face to face. Judy, a quiet and reflective volunteer, spoke of her encounter with a veteran just back from Iraq. (Tracy is home to a large number of military service personnel, and Judy had made a point of thanking him for his service.) You could tell that the conversation had meant something to both Judy and the returning veteran.
You see, knocking on someone's door to talk about politics isn't an imposition or an intrusion; it's what our democracy is about. When you volunteer to canvass...you literally become the face of the Democratic party: you become democracy in action. Citizen to citizen. One citizen at a time.
Now, some folks are grumpy. Some don't come to the door. Hey, it's a free country...and your home is your castle. But every single volunteer I encountered at Martha's came away with a redeeming personal story from Tracy California. Something special that made it worthwhile.
Now, much of that had to do with Martha. Some of that had to do with the genuine friendliness of our fellow canvassers. But most of that spirit came from the genuineness and openness of the citizens of Tracy themselves. These are the folks who are going to choose whether to kick Richard Pombo out of office, or not. It pays to remember that. This election is in their hands.
If I could boil down one moment that expressed the core of what Martha's work in Tracy is about it would be this. Towards the end of our conversation I asked Martha if she realized that even if Jerry won in CA-11, the district would be high on the GOP target list the next time around.
Martha looked at me with a smile on her face. "Of course," she said. And then she pointed out her window to a tract of land West of town where they are building a new development on farm land called Mountain House. Mountain House is soon to be residence to tens of thousands of recently transplanted voters, all of them needing to reregister. "We've got a project there in Mountain House." Martha said to me, "Those are voters we are going register. Folks who aren't even on the books now."
And then she smiled again and I realized that what Martha was doing in Tracy California was bigger than Jerry McNerney's campaign. It was a bigger story than the latest buzz from DC or NY.
You see, I can't think of a more pure expression of renewed grassroots citizen involvement and revitalization of our democracy than what Martha Gamez of Tracy California is doing in her home town.
We all owe Martha a huge debt of gratitude and thanks. Our democracy rests on shoulders like hers.
Thank you Martha!!!
::
Postscript: I want to specifically ask every single Bay Area/NorCal/Central Valley kossack to consider canvassing one day in CA-11 before this election.
If you want to go to Tracy, Martha's home is open every single day till election day. She will find you something to do. And, yes, if you go, you can meet Martha yourself. She explains that she's got at least 60, if not 70, walkable precicts that could use four people apiece this weekend.
It would be so great to max that out in Tracy this weekend. You can help.
There are, of course, many other zones that need attention in CA-11. You can find something near you, even inside the Bay Area, on this list.
For those who are nervous about it...don't be...if a great grandmother...or a city kid like me can do it, so can you!
Update: Here's Martha's response to this diary, from the comments:
Dear Kid Oakland:
Thank you so much for your kind words -- but especially for encouraging others to come out here to Pombo's hometown to help Jerry. There is so much to be done -- but, together, we can all make a real difference.
You know, things can get pretty hectic out here -- running a field operation out of your home. But, the best part of every day is talking with volunteers after they're come in from a precinct walk. I love listening to the stories -- and seeing the excitement and sense of possibility!
Thanks to you, I'm thinking there will be a lot more people coming out here to find out how fulfilling it can be to work on a campaign like this one! I'm expecting to see you out here again, too!
Regards,
Martha
Smile.