Volunteering for Obama: October 25th

I knew I had to volunteer for Obama when I realized that I was having difficulty sleeping. Just imagining him delivering his state of the union address, visiting foreign leaders, signing legislation made me so happy, so improbably giddy, that it was obvious that simply signing one measly vote for him was not going to be enough. So that’s the first reason – sheer enthusiasm and restlessness. I didn’t want to stand on the sidelines for this one. I wanted to participate more fully in the unlikely story of Barack Obama’s rise to the Whitehouse.
Had Obama been assured of victory, this desire could have been seen as an easy way to relieve myself of some guilt. But volunteering for the campaign wasn’t only important to me – it seemed necessary for victory as a whole. McCain and Obama were (and still are) neck and neck, and to lose a single Kerry state to McCain would probably doom his chances. Right across my border was Pennsylvania, swinging wildly, undecided. The possibility of it falling to McCain seemed very likely to my paranoid mind, and I had a horrible flash-foward of him being inagurated while I, consumed with guilt for not doing my part, commenced to hang myself (or at least flee to Canada).
So I decided to devote a day to travelling out to Pennsylvania to help the campaign register voters and make it that much tougher for McCain to win the state. This didn’t mean hunting down undecided voters on the street or tearing down McCain-Palin signs. It meant taking lists of voters who had pre-registered with the Obama campaign, knocking on their doors, and finding out who there were voting for November 4th. If for Obama, great – want to volunteer? If undecided, here’s some campaign literature, along with a personal pitch. If voting for McCain – that’s your decision, as long as you are voting. This isn’t about alienating people, it’s about getting them aware your side of the story. This campaign is a battle, and whoever can mobilize the most voters, wins. That was what I was going to do.
The Obama campaign made this process ridiculously easy. Going on their website I was able to arrange with a coordinator dates, times, and travel logistics. I wound up being assigned to Easton Pennsylvania, a medium-size town on the Jersey border. Riding shotgun with my dad, seeing suburbs turn to corn fields and SUVs morph into pickup trucks, I really did get a sense of adventure and challenge. I was a stranger here, with nothing but ideas and glossy brochures to sell a candidate. Needless to say, we worked on our pitches straight through the drive.
We arrived in the city at around 10:15, and drove down to the church basement that served as the campaigns outreach HQ (lack of space in the official HQ necessitated this move). I was expecting a well-run, crowded and good-natured operation, and I was not surprised. As soon as I was in I was registered, assigned a route and campaign literature, and met our partner John, and pharmacist from India who had been volunteering since Primary season. After some breakfast and a brief motivating spiel “don’t’ listen to polls. As far as I am concerned, we are down 5 points. Every vote counts!”, we headed out.
We got assigned about 80 doors to knock on, most of which were located in two retirement communities. About half of the apartments we visited were empty – no response to buzzers or knocks (and before you assume, yes we heard for footsteps. They didn’t avoid us because of our Obama buttons). Those that emerged, mostly women in their 70s and 80s, were greeted with the following introudtion: “Hello ____, my name is Danny, and I’m a volunteer for the Obama campaign. We were just checking up to see what your voting plans were!”
There were four basic responses to our inquiry. I am happy to say, most people smiled and said they were planing giving their vote to Obama. Even previously undecided folks had made up their minds by this time. One lady showed us into her room and revealed a trove of Obama-themed paraphernalia (magazine covers, buttons, posters) that she was hoping to save and give to her granddaughter. All of them stated why they were voting for the candidate in matter of fact, common-sense ways. He’s reliable. He’s going to help the economy. It was so heartening to see that Obama’s message has hit a nerve amongst Americans of every age, and not just a bunch of entitled twenty-something celebrities (and Barbra Streisand). Obama's message is one of substance as well as style. McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as running mate certainly didn't hurt Barack's chances out here (One lady, who hadn’t voted for anyone since Eisenhower, was motivated to vote just out of fear of a Palin presidency).
There were about five folks who remained undecideds. It seemed wrong to argue with them about the merits of either candidates, so we just gave them some campaign brochures and moved on. Only one lady outright said that she was voting for McCain, and before we had a chance to say anything she had shut the door in our face. Finally, a few people had assumed that it was too late for them to vote, since they hadn’t registered for this year. We had to explain that if they had already voted in a previous election they were already eligible to vote for this year, and that with absentee ballots they didn’t even need to leave the home. This was by far the most satisfying work we did, informing and helping worried voters that they were going to be able to vote for the campaign they supported.
Most of the drama that took place yesterday was from reactions of non-registered folks to our Obama regalia. Two old folks we passed by on the street, one of whom wearing a Sanitation Workers shirt, got in a heated argument with my dad over whether Obama was a socialist or not. Though McCain was a snake, the man insisted that Obama was going to destroy our economy. His friend stated that democrats were going to write in Hillary Clinton on their ballots as their choice, invalidating all the polls and deep-sixing Obama’s chances to win. When I stated that Obama was only 8 when Ayer’s attacks on the pentagon were begin planned (yes, this came up), he exclaimed “Obama wanted to blow up the pentagon when he was 8? He can’t run for president!” After about 10 minutes of slightly heated dialogue, we eventually moved on.
A few bystanders in the retirement home proudly stated that they were voting for McCain without instigation by us – one man in a wheelchair even tried to stop me from entering an apartment block, claiming I wasn’t allowed to solicit votes (after immediately responding that we weren’t soliciting, just checking up on likely voters, he sheepishly let me in).
Overall – we knocked on 67 doors, with 20 folks saying they supported obama (only 8 of which had said to previously), 4 people who were undecideds, and 1 lady who supported McCain. We left campaign literature at the rest of the doors. I can now rest a bit easier , knowing I did more than the bare minimum in helping out Obama. There’s still more to be down though – I am probably going to work phone-banks before the fourth. I encourage all of you to do what you can now, or forever hold your peace. Just voting in a "safe" state for Obama doesn't count. As special and wonderful as you are, he's going to win New York and New Jersey with or without your vote. Pennslyvania, however, is a close run thing, and our actions can make all the difference in the world. Don't sit this one out. Take a few hours, make some phonecalls, and change America for the better.