By the time we got down to Philly yesterday morning the city was already crawling with volunteers. We got our training at the Center City Obama campaign office, which was buzzing with all sorts of people of every age. We got our training, pep talk, one clipboard, one pen, 4 PA forms, absentee ballots, a Jersey form or two, a little literature.
On the street it took a while to hit our stride and find the voice and body language that got most people's attention without annoying the crap out of them. We did register a few folks, gave out an absentee ballot and a Jersey ballot. That's what we were told to expect - if we got a couple of registrations, that would be great - a bunch of people coming back with a few each, all together making a significant number.
Reactions from people on the street were great. Not always good, but great in the human range of hostile to curmudgeon to surprised to friendly to thankful to Hell Yes to I AM SO EXCITED! And then there were a couple of genuinely certifiable folks, very deep paranoids. Not being in the military or retail, I'm thinking I called more people Sir and Mam yesterday than in any other day of my life. A lot of Thank Yous in both directions. Lots of folks doing the head dodge until they actually hear what you're saying, then they make contact and, Yes, I am, thanks. And a lot of folks who clearly were excited by Obama, and felt completely connected to this election.
Any way, we had fun. It was a beautiful late summer, early autumn day, dry and bright blue, in a mostly blue city. Maybe we've gotten enough of a baptism now to go knock on doors and canvas for Obama.
And, you, Excuse me Sir, Mam, are you registered to vote?
Only a couple of weeks left to do it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment