A neighbor and I were out canvassing our neighborhood tonight, in the first blast into our precinct since the primaries. I am tired and wanted to get to sleep, but this is bothering me so much that I thought perhaps I could get some help, via all of the experience represented at here at DailyKos.
I live in a low-income area of a relatively liberal Oregon town. I believe we are still considered a swing state, as Obama's majority may be well under 10%. It is polling under 7% right now, and with all the smears, it could get close.
So, now I come across people who are too progressive to vote for Obama, and a couple of mellow but firm republicans, and I can't sleep. I don't know what to say to convince them to help us to get this thing done. I watched the video about McCain promising more wars, and I can't sleep without asking for your help. More below...
This is my first season canvassing. As is the case with so many others across the country, Barack Obama is the first candidate who has inspired me to get out and do what I can to help us collectively take our country back. I started voting, oh, about 30 years ago. Not like I didn't care, I just didn't participate in any other way besides voting.
I nervously started making calls across the country during the primaries. Then I started working the streets to GOTV for the primaries in my precinct (and then some). Now I am coordinating work in our precinct for the general. I just like working in my neighborhood.
It started yesterday, when I was calling potential volunteers to get our first general election canvass going. I called "A.", and he told me politely but firmly that he is voting for a third party candidate. He said that he was upset about Obama's FISA vote. I told him that I agreed with him about that; I also was not happy about that. Then he said that he will no longer vote for the lesser of two evils, and he will be voting for a third party candidate; thank you for your call, good-bye.
I did not know what to say, nor was there really an opening to say anything in anyway. However, he lives a few blocks from me. I intend to spend some time with him before the election. Today I asked a neighbor who knows him to tell him that I am concerned and would like to talk with him in person.
Last night, I was with someone who was a Green and voted that way for some time. He said he noticed that it was not effective (Ya think?). As he put it, there cannot be an effective third party in this country until there is an effective second party, and if McCain wins, that will put the nail in the coffin of our barely effective second party.
His wife suggested to ask him to consider the supreme court and the effects of decades of a neocon majority on various laws. Back alleys, anyone? (Technical question: would it be a neocon majority or a fundamentalist right wing majority? What are the distinctions between them?)
Please advise on "Exhibit A"...
Today, on the streets knocking on doors, I went to the house of another neighbor, "C.", and found some of my favorite herbs and berries filling his front yard. I remember him telling me that he was not going to vote in the primary. C. now told me that he probably will not vote in the general election, and he certainly will not vote for Obama or McCain. This time, I stayed to chat, and good-naturedly tried to nudge him. After all, he has a great garden, and if he really would like to see a better world, like me, then I ought to be able to get him to take some responsibility for making that happen by voting, right?
We went back and forth for awhile. Basically, C. is one of those guys who is so unhappy with the system as it is that he would rather not legitimize it by taking part in it by voting, or something like that. He also, it turns out, just does not believe what Obama says, because he is a politician. I said, of course, that I think that by not taking part, he is leaving it to others to decide, and he might not like that decision. But like many others in this town and across the country, protest by silence is a heartfelt tradition.
What can we say to these people? There are so many of them, and it pisses me off so much. I know I will encounter many of them in registration drives in our precinct, when we will plead with the "progressive" silent protesters to register and vote, this time, just this once?
Please advise on "Exhibit C"...
Finally, I met a couple of chillin' rebubblikins. They were sipping on beers, and literally hanging out over the fence, listening to a band blasting from a private shindig at the micro-brew company down the street.
We chatted, and I asked them, like, seriously, why are you republican? I didn't get much of an answer. The reason given was, well, because that's what they always were, and you gotta stick with your family.
So I threw my opinion at them, that these guys just do not have our best interests in mind, they are just not for the little guy. "M" agreed with me on that. But family, ya know, you gotta stick with them...
The other guy, it turns out, just does not like war at all. We agreed about that! I mentioned that it seemed McCain was open to being in Iraq for, oh, maybe 100 years. He threw that back with, well, he really said that he expected most of the troops out within four years. And besides, didn't Obama give some unrealistic timeline, like, 6 months? I said, "Sixteen."
So we parted. I walked away thinking, here are these guys on the other side of the fence, really quite personable, and much more approachable than most of the folks who say "Not interested!" and shut the door quickly while they fade back into the darkness of their cells. I wonder, what do these guys need to know to vote for Obama?
Please advise on "Exhibit R"...
So I will leave this to you as I fade into dreamland, and see what wondrous perceptive fish are on my line in the morning... I won't get much chance to respond, but I will read what you say as soon as I can...
And FYI, so that you are not left thinking that these folks were representative, there were new volunteers, new voter registrations, good conversations with undecided voters, and plenty of Obama supporters.