Campaigning for Change

This is the most important election of my lifetime, and essentially the lifetime of anyone alive. And because this is so important, I feel that it's my responsibility to do what I can to help determine the result I want. I don't want to wake up on November 5th disappointed with the result and feel like I could have done something and didn't. The states that are currently the most crucial are the "battleground" states: the states that will make or break the election for either candidate. While I will be placing my vote in NY for Obama, NY is a state that is pretty much in the bag. Campaigning here is a bit pointless. But Scranton PA is a quick drive to the south, so I looked up the campaign center there and decided one Saturday a couple of weeks ago to make the trip.

I had to run a 5K in the morning and I had plans in the evening but I was determinined to go to Scranton for at least a few hours in between to do whatever needed to be done since the registration deadline in PA was that Monday. Turns out one thing they really need help with there is "canvassing". I didn't really know what that would entail until I got there. Here's the agenda of my day...

9am Run a 5K

10:15am Head to Scranton

11:30am Arrive at Scranton campaign center

The place was PACKED. It was quite exciting to see.

11:45 am Begin Training Session

The training session was very interesting. First, the group in my session (~30 people) was from all over, only 2 people from PA. (Overall, I'd say 200 volunteers showed up all day. Also interesting to note I only saw 2 other black people.) Most people came from NY. Second, the training itself was quite informative as far as learning a few things I didn't know about Obama's background and a few additional disturbing flaws in McCain's policy plans. I'm pretty well-educated on both candidates but this training was pretty thorough. Aside from talking about the candidates, we learned exactly what canvassing involved. Basically you are given a neighborhood, names, and you knock on doors. If someone is strongly in support of Obama or McCain, you don't say much (other than to make sure the Obama people are registered and definitely voting), but if they are undecided or only leaning toward either candidate, you break out the listed strategies. These strategies were basically to be positive about Obama, talk about how his policies are relevant to my situation, and discuss how his policies are relevant to their situation. The only discussion of McCain was to be in terms of 1. he's more of the same failed Bush policies and if you haven't been happy the last 8 years, you need to vote for real change... McCain has voted with Bush 90% of the time, so he's no maverick, 2. McCain claims to put America first but picking a VP candidate like Palin who wasn't his first choice but a choice based on pressure from republicans is not putting America first, and 3. McCain is out of touch and has countless houses and cars, while Obama was raised by a single mother, put himself through college with scholarships and loans, and JUST finished paying off his and Michelle's loans 3 years ago. We had plenty to work with.

12:45pm Find a canvassing partner

After we finished the training session, we were supposed to find a partner, get our paperwork and location, and head out. I found a group of 3 people from Albany who needed a forth. They were very cool people who had all done canvassing in NY before but like me wanted to make a difference in a battleground state. They were also very useful as far as explaining some strategies they would use.

Interesting note: Once we hopped in the minivan, we passed the McCain campaign center. The lights were off and not a sole was there.

1:30 Arrive in Wilkes-Barre neighborhood and start knocking on doors

The neighborhood we got was pretty swank: huge houses with manicured lawns and bushes cut in shapes and all that type of crap. So I knew it might be a tad hard to talk to some of these poeple about tax cuts when they might actually be ABOVE that income line. But anyway, the way it works is you have a partner but your partner works one side of the street and you work the other so I was pretty much by myself. I was a bit nervous but my Albany friends made it seem pretty easy. So I spoke to the first person. As it turns out, the woman on my list wasn't there but her husband was. She's a registered democrat but he's a registered republican. I sat on that man's porch and we spoke for a good 20 minutes. While he was sure his wife was voting for Obama, he was undecided but hates Bush. We talked about everything from his uncertainty that Obama's campaign plans will end up being empty promises to his fear of what a possible assassination would do to the country to his decreased faith in McCain after his question VP choice. The man was very educated (he and his wife are doctors) and I really enjoyed talking with him, even though he wasn't even on my list and talking to him didn't help me fill out the response form I was supposed to fill out, other than writing down his wife wasn't home and she might vote for Obama. It was still a great way to start off.

The next house I went to was an older woman who was very pro-Obama. She talked about how she cried for a year after her grandchild died in Iraq. She talked about how she hosts debate parties at her place. She talked about how she thought Palin was an idiot (though I couldn't really joined her as we were specifically told not to talk on that, despite enormous amount of material). She talked about how she couldn't wait to vote and even named her voting place. The next house was a woman who was a registered democrat but was going to vote for McCain because she liked Palin. Mind you this woman doesn't even like McCain, but she likes that Palin is a relatable and she thinks McCain will listen to her. I asked her what issues were important to her and she said, "I'm not big on issues." Oy. So I went another route and mentioned how the VP doesn't have much power at the end of the day and if you don't like McCain, that's who you'll be getting if you vote for Palin. That actually seemed to sink in with her, so I'm hoping she might change her mind.

I won't go into every person I spoke to but I spoke to every type. I also now know what Jehovah Witnesses feel like. I had houses where there were 5 cars in front, 3 TVs on, and I still got no response. I had 1 or 2 people who were flat out mean to me or a bit short. I had people who claimed they were voting for Obama but I think it was just in order for me to leave them alone. I had McCain supporters who would work in references to black friends just to show me them not voting for Obama had nothing to do with race. I got it all. But the best conversations were with undecided voters and feeling like I may have swayed them.

5pm Done canvassing

So we hopped back in the minivan and began to share our experiences on the way back to the campaign center. A lot of stories were exchanged but the most interesting story was about how some people can hear all the reasons about why Obama is the better candidate and you can knock down every reason why they say they won't vote for him but at the end of the day, they still say there is "just something about him" that won't let them vote for him. And that thing is that he's black. These people aren't overt racists; just people who aren't ready to vote for a black man. And this topic was brought up by my co-canvassers, all white, but they still noted having to combat that subtle racism.

5:45 - 6pm Tally the responses and head home

When we got back, my partner and I had to fill out a form noting people who were not home and who people were voting for (Certain, leaning, or undecided). After that I said goodbye to my friends for the day. My Albany crew was actually staying overnight so they could go back out the next day.

I have to say the campaign center was incredibly efficient and organized. In the past few weeks, Obama has been gaining a lead in Pennsylvania according to polls and seeing how they are campaigning there, it's clear why. Since Gore had a double-digit lead in polls 8 years ago and still lost, I hope people don't get too comfortable and think anything is certain. I plan to go back and canvass again. I was hoping to help by doing something other than knocking on doors, but honestly, it wasn't bad at all and ended up being a great experience.


While I'm on the topic of politics, I have also learned that the best way to watch debates is in a group. The first debate I watched with a few friends (and mostly strangers) at a bar in Ithaca. There were 30 people crammed around one TV in the back of the bar, shouting at the TV and drinking whenever words like "maverick" were said repeatedly. It was so fun to watch and have the instant reactions of an entire room, expecially in a place like Ithaca where the store next to the bar had an "Obama is Gorges" t-shirt in the window. Since that experience was so cool, I decided to watch the VP debate with a group too. This time I went to the Obama campaign center in Owego. This time instead of drinking games, I arrived to Palin Bingo. As funny as that is, it's even funnier that we were actually able to fill the whole bingo card with what she actually said that matched the card. Again, it was cool to shout out comments at the TV, and laugh at her silliness with a group. Too bad the debates are over because debate parties are awesome.