Today my 16-year-old daughter and I got up at 5 am to leave our home in Westchester County, New York and head for Scranton, PA. We had seats on a bus shared by 49 Obama volunteers from Mt. Vernon and Chappaqua (home of President and Sen. Clinton), and we joined hundreds of others in an all-out canvassing effort.
When we left Scranton tonight we were told that altogether the volunteers had knocked on 7,000 doors today, and groups were still trickling in, so the number was expected to near 10,000.
We visited more than 55 homes ourselves, and enjoyed a warm, friendly welcome in the blue-collar neighborhoods we visited. The most common refrain -- even from those who were still not 100% sure how they would be voting -- was that this country can't afford another 4 years with Republicans in charge. We also found unanimous disdain for Sarah Palin among the women we spoke to, all of whom felt she was unqualified and that her selection was an insult to women everywhere. Most of them used the word "scary" to describe her.
One of our nicest conversations was with an 82-year-old lady (and I do mean lady -- such a gracious person) and her neighbor, whose name was not on our call sheet but turned out to be an Obama supporter. The lovely octogenarian said "It's time for a new generation to take over." She nodded toward my daughter and added "We've had out turn, now it's their turn, and Obama is the one to do it."
Despite the front page article in the New York Times this week about abortion being a big issue in Scranton, nobody in our sampling of registered voters brought it up. Their number one concern was the economy, and they loved what we had to tell them about Obama's plans to cut taxes for the middle class and provide tax credits for energy and college.
We are footsore but happy tonight, proud to have been part of a really great effort. And after a little sleep we will be fired up and ready to go again!