On Saturday, I went canvassing in Iowa, where a two year old boy offered me cookies on his front porch, a 75 year old retiree treated me to a discussion of the caucus system, and a 100 year old woman gave me a hug. TomP (yes, that TomP) and I decided to spend our Saturday away from the internets by helping out the Edwards campaign in the closest Iowa field office, which happens to be in Burlington, just a short 4 hour drive away. TomP and another dedicated local supporter pulled up at my house a little before 7am, and several CDs, a couple of pit stops, and a lot of coffee and conversation later, we arrived in Burlington.
We arrived in the field office right around 11am and met the head field organizer, Mike McCall. Mike is a spirited small town Ohioan whose last job was field director for Mary Jo Kilroy in 2006. (Kilroy lost by only 1,000 votes in her challenge to Deborah Pryce, the 4th highest ranking Republican in the House.) He introduced us to his colleague, Anthony, a Fresno native, and chatted with us as the speakerphone announced other field offices checking in for a statewide conference call. After a pep talk and campaign overview from the Iowa field director, Mike briefed the assembled canvassers, who ranged from high schoolers to retirees, on the basics of canvassing.
Now, if you've canvassed before, the briefing was nothing new. I got a clipboard with a map and a list of names and addresses. Mike had highlighted the streets on the map that I would be walking for my list. The object was to reach every house on the list and talk to each of the residents. If they were undecided, you could hopefully swing them towards Edwards, and the big prize was getting them to sign a supporter card pledging to caucus for John Edwards. The new wrinkle this weekend is the new policy book that the Edwards campaign had released, an 80-page booklet that lays out John Edwards' specific proposals on everything from health care to the peace process in Uganda.
After being cooped up in the car for a long drive, we were ready to do some walking. Tom and I partnered up and headed out to the location noted on our packet map. Most of the time we worked opposite sides of the same street, although on some parts of our route we split up to make more efficient use of our time. I'll let TomP speak for himself, but my experience was really positive (It didn't hurt that it was a gorgeous fall day). The people I talked to were all polite, at the very least. Many of them were still undecided and not necessarily eager to talk, but thanked me for stopping by. Others were quite free with their opinions, like a woman who talked with me at length about why she didn't like the caucus system, but still might stand for 3 hours on a cold January night to vote against Hillary Clinton. The highlight of my day was getting a signed supporter card and a hug from a 100 year old woman who has voted Democratic in every election since Franklin Delano Roosevelt!
The booklet was a big help. Here on the internet, if someone has a question for me about Edwards, Google is my friend, but when I'm canvassing, I've only got my own memory. With the policy booklet, I could hand them a tangible something that they could read for themselves, not just take my word for it. People really seemed to appreciate some sort of handy reference for their candidate's proposals and also to see more clearly where he stood on the issues.
The only other campaign presence I saw on Saturday was a couple of Obama supporters in their red "Fired Up!" shirts, which I understand that the Obama campaign has been giving their canvassers. I did hear from some in Burlington that Obama supporters (don't know if it was staff or just volunteers) have been spreading nasty rumors about Edwards, like that Elizabeth is near death from her bout with cancer. The people I heard that from were none too pleased about it. I also saw some Clinton signs and one Richardson sign, as well as a dusty Richardson brochure laying on a porch.
So do you live a car ride away from Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, or South Carolina? I'm going to take at least 3 more trips to Iowa before the caucus; will you make at least one trip to an early state to help those hardworking campaign staff? Sign up for more info on a Road Trip for One America today! (Remember, if you're in SoCal, you don't have to travel any further than I did today if you're driving to Las Vegas. If it isn't feasible for you to travel to one of the early states, you can also organize locally by joining or starting a local OneCorps chapter today!