A lot of firsts for me...
First time phonebanking.
First discussion with an undecided, swing-state voter.
First diary on Daily Kos.
Yesterday, I joined a wonderful crew of volunteers at the Bowery Hotel in New York City to call Ohio voters and urge our supporters to vote early.
I expected a lot of wrong numbers, answering machines, and hang-ups, and I got 'em.
What I wasn't expecting was Angela.
As soon as Angela mentioned that she was still undecided, the butterflies began doing barrel rolls in my stomach. After dozens of answering machines and brush offs, I had almost forgotten that I might find myself speaking with a real, live human being. I began by asking her what issues mattered most to her. She began by talking about her dismay at the greed and corruption of corporate America. I knew we had a chance.
We talked about deregulation and the savings and loan scandal; about corporate tax cuts and the floundering middle class; about rising health-care premiums and sinking wages. She told me that she used to work in childcare, which she loved, but had been forced back into a non-unionized factory job when she couldn't pay the bills. She told me about walking into a welfare office once, years ago, after a split from her husband caused her to lose her insurance. She felt so guilty that she crept through the lines with tears streaming down her face. Now, years later, she and her husband are back together, but the plant he works at just closed down.
At 52, she feels forgotten. The promises made to her by Bush and Clinton and Reagan went nowhere. She told me about her father, who left school to mine coal at the age of 12; he slaved away so that she might have a chance, but that chance never came. She told me that these setbacks have left her disillusioned and disappointed.
"How old are you?" she asked.
"22."
"Oh, I felt so much more hopeful when I was your age."
We talked about feeling hopeful again, about recognizing the real issues at stake this year. She mentioned listening to the radio at work, and the disgust she has begun to feel over the non-stop barrage of negative ads approved by the McCain campaign. She wanted to talk about who offers a fairer tax plan. She wanted to talk about jobs, and social security, and helping one's own community.
At first, I simply offered the idea that McCain's own campaign warned "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose." But then I began to realize a wider truth: if we keep talking about the issues, all issues -- ANY issues -- Barack Obama is going to win. People like Angela across the country know that times are too tough to spend even a second talking about anything but.
So we talked about the issues. And talked. And talked. Finally, I caught sight of a clock. We'd been on the phone, Angela and I, for nearly half an hour.
My script lay by my feet.
As the conversation wound down, talk turned briefly to issues of character. Faced with the daunting prospect of confronting McCain's long record of service in the military and in Congress, I bit my tongue. Wise move -- my undecided Ohioan knew best.
"What good is experience," Angela asked, "if you don't learn from it?"
No good at all.
As we said our goodbyes, I asked Angela if our conversation had helped in any small way to clarify her important decision.
"Yes," she said. "Tomorrow, I am voting early. And I am voting for Barack Obama."
Keep up the fight! We're almost home.