my battleground state that starts early voting tomorrow.
well, it happened. I am (happily) privately financed to work for Team Obama from now thru Nov 4th, whereas two weeks ago I could barely afford gas to get to the nearest Obama office. conveniently enough, last week a brand new Obama office opened up much closer to my home, that will make my funding go farther.
I have filled various volunteer political roles. in the 60s, I worked from my friend's garage to help elect his dad mayor; I protested the Viet Nam War as a college student.
(fast forward) more recently, I helped MoveOn and the Progressive Movement oust Tom DeLay, organizing media coverage of petition deliveries at the local congressional Republican's office, organizing Iraq War protest marches, Peace Vigils, street corner "Honk 4 Peace" gatherings, in my Red county of our Southeastern swing state.
evenings in 2006, I made GOTV calls from home after work, into Western states for MoveOn to turn Congressional seats from Red to Blue. (woot, woot!!!)
I stopped by an Obama office to ask about Obama pins and yard signs, was invited and joined Team Obama at their debate watch party on Wednesday. after much telephone tag with the volunteer coordinator, I arrived at the newly opened, closer Obama office Saturday at 4 p.m. to learn the job they needed me most for, a job I hadn't done before, canvassing.
in short order, I was handed an amazingly well organized folder, with a map on top with 30 dots at locations of registered Dems and some "No Party Affiliation" addresses I was assigned to canvass. on pages underneath were detailed lists with the address, age, gender, and party affiliation of the voter I would speak to. inside the folder I found information about early voting dates and locations, a suggested script, and some nice color fliers about early voting, mail voting, and why candidate Obama was the better choice for president. an experienced canvasser went out with me. after listening through a couple of her front door conversations, she observed me (at my request) at the next one, and then we knocked on doors on opposite sides of the street, each on our own, within sight of the other, to get through the lists more efficiently.
mostly we were VERY well received. well, mostly, there was no answer, but when people came to their doors, the locals, appearing to be working class white, Asian, Middle Eastern, African American and Hispanic voters, were enthusiastic and welcoming.
one well-spoken woman explained her husband's problem with registering. she turned in his registration form at the main Voter Registrar's office, then when he called to confirm he was registered, the clerk answering the phone couldn't find him on the voter rolls, and declared he must've turned in an "old form" and therefore didn't get registered properly. this voter was on my partners list; she took detailed information, and followed up when we returned by logging the voter problem, to be followed up Monday morning.
an African American man took a good long time to answer the door at a house with 4 registered voters on our list, then angrily told us he was going to "switch this time and vote for McCain."
a beautiful sunny crisp afternoon, many doors; unfortunately I tripped in a deep crack in a driveway part way through the afternoon, landed on the knee I damaged in a YMCA basketball game as a kid, further abused in a stairway fall years later; adding insult to injury, I painfully twisted the opposite foot. the knee was now swelling and painful. the twisted foot hurt too, my pegs, now injured in the line of duty.
I eventually gave up on the walking. my partner and I returned to headquarters with my sad story. I was still able to sit with ice on my knee and make GOTV phone calls. I stayed home today to see how these injured parts would shape up. knee and foot improved with rest (the knee) and a supportive shoe (the foot.) I will make calls from headquarters tomorrow, and canvass when the knee and foot are well enough; I am a registered poll watcher on Nov. 4th.
I remain thankful my injuries weren't serious, that I wasn't accosted and physically assaulted like Nancy the Chicago canvasser in Caledonia, WS, or a victim of Spit-and-Run (and a week earlier, road rage) like New Castle County, MD, Obama volunteer lollydee, as she handed out bumper stickers from a Biden rally she attended earlier.