If so, I'd like to hear about your experiences.
What you're hearing, seeing and thinking.
E-mail me...
Confidentially assured unless you intend to confess to a felony.
« On The Ground: Obama In Ohio | Main | The McCain Resurgence Plan » Are You A McCain Or Obama Canvasser?08 Oct 2008 10:19 am Comments (15)
I did some canvasing last weekend for Obama in suburban St. Louis, MO. My wife went on Obama's website and downloaded a neighborhood canvasing packet complete with a map with the targeted addresses, voter names, ages and voter histories...etc. I was most impressed with how organized and user friendly Obama's website was. It reflects a very professional and innovative operation. Some experiences: I was in a section of West County, St. Louis that probably trends more Republican and upper income. I think that many people were surprised to see someone canvasing the neighborhood. At many of the locations, a person answered the door and would say something to the effect of "all Obama voters here," I had a few elderly people suggest that they were leaning Obama, I had a few enthusiastic Obama supporters and out of the all of the homes on my list, I encountered one friendly guy who said I was at the wrong place (his neighbor suggested that he was strongly anti-abortion). and just one slightly irritable man who said, "I really wish you wouldn't do this." I said no problem, have a nice day and moved on - I don't know what his issue was though. After I got home, I went on line and reported all of the data I collected, very user friendly and efficient. 
I have been phone banking for Barack and the experience has been humbling. Connecting with 60+ year olds, mostly African Americans, who are totally energized by the potential that Barack can be president. One woman began crying because she was so touched that I, as a white younger person, was calling on, in her words, "a brother's behalf." She said it was a dream that she never thought would actually come true in her lifetime - that a black man could be the president. I've never been this publically political before but I have felt the need to do it. It has been an experience I won't soon forget. Together, we are stronger! follow me http://twitter.com/smartwoman
A common theme experienced during the canvassing is that republicans are mostly voting for McCain, Democrats are energized and are voting for Obama, and independents are breaking for Obama because of two reasons: 1. McCain has changed. One telling quote from an independent who voted for Bush before was, "McCain is not the same McCain that he knew from 2000" and "Palin scares the sh*t out of me".
I canvass for Obama every weekend in the Arlington area in Virginia. I also make a lot of phone calls during the week. I'd say my experiences have been mixed. Half the time, the door is slammed in my face as soon as I mention the word 'Obama.' My favorite experience was knocking on this old woman's door - I think she was 86 or so - she was listed as an SD (Strong Democrat). Her son opened the door and he was this big, burly white guy and he started telling us about how he was a working class, white guy who was all about Obama. So was his mother by the way. It was very touching. Least favorite experience - talking to this working class, 72 year old white woman who lived right across the street from him, who was really plugged into the campaign, but had decided that she was voting for McCain regardless of what he stood for. She was rationalizing her choice in all sorts of weird ways, for e.g. "McCain's campaign may be run by lobbyists, but they won't be running his White House because White House employees are picked by the Federal Govt." She also didn't like the way Michelle dressed the girls at the convention, "their dresses had spaghetti straps..." which was apparently too scandalous for her. In any case, she had decided and nothing I could say about the ISSUES mattered to her. Depressing.
Excellent point about Palin. I've been surprised at the number of soft Republicans and Independents who've broken to Barack by citing her as the reason.
I have done some canvassing in Atlanta and have had overwhelmingly positive experiences, doubtless because I'm in the city. We've had great luck registering huge numbers of folks here. But recently I have noticed Republicans in the area starting to doubt McCain out loud (which has not been apparent, at least to me, until now). One example: I overheard two middle aged, white, well-to-do women from the northern suburbs of Atlanta talking at a coffee shop yesterday (it was clear where they were from because they were mentioning their town; it's as politically "red" as it comes). They were both lamenting that they and their husbands (and their friends) are conservatives, but feel uneasy about Palin and for that reason will vote for Barr. I was shamelessly eavesdropping because it was so shocking. They both hinted at their disdain for her, and then once it was clear they agreed, they both mentioned that their families and friends were all in agreement as well; she would be dangerous for the country. It was astounding to hear; some of the conservative base seems very energized by Palin, but this was the first I heard of social conservatives voting against McCain simply because of her. I would have guessed any beef would be with how "liberal" McCain supposedly is.
I've canvassed for Obama a few times in Omaha in lean R and lean D neighborhoods (my estimations based on income). I still tend to think the 2nd CD in Nebraska is too Republican for Obama to pick up (I'm not sure it will matter anyway), but we're certainly out-working the Republicans on the ground. The campaign has people canvassing virtually every day. As far as I know, Republicans have only organized one canvassing weekend here. Several people didn't know that Nebraska could split its electors--"you're in the wrong state" one Obama leaner told me. We've been pushing everyone we can to vote early. Despite her claims otherwise, I take Sarah Palin's visit last weekend as a sign that we're doing some damage. The target lists I've been given have been at least 50% registered Republicans. Some of those have been undecided, many are for McCain, and a few for Obama. Most of the Democrats I've met are very enthusiastic. A handful (yes, mostly older, white, female Democrats) have seemed hesitant. I haven't done any canvassing in minority neighborhoods of Omaha yet. I assume those areas are more fertile ground for Obama. The campaign just opened a second office in North Omaha, which is heavily black (well, I guess it opens tonight officially). I don't do phones, but every time I've been in the office, there are 10-15 people making calls.
Folks, the felony remark is not just lame idle humor. You may not realize it's a felony, but if you are too detailed (or not detailed enough) in your description of efforts to register voters, you can count on Marc to forward this to various Republican AGs, secretaries of state, and or the McCain campaign. Voter fraud is a felony. Marc is playing neighborhood watch here.
I was in the Hampton Roads area of VA for a few weeks last month for work and thus was staying in an extended stay hotel with nothing much to do in the evenings. With nothing better to do, I decided to volunteer at the Hampton Obama office pretty much every evening of my stay there. I had volunteered for Obama before in my home state, but I had never done general election volunteering/canvassing and I did much more volunteering those few weeks than I had done before. Anyhow, here are my two most interesting stories. The first was when I went canvassing I got to talking to a 30-something small business owner (former military, who now does contract work for the federal gov't). He was very anti-McCain. In fact he was pretty annoyed with the entire Republican party of the past few years. He loved the Palin pick. But the strange thing was: he was very informed about issues (if a little tin-foil hat on a few). He could not vote for Obama even though his ideas seemed to line up better with Obama than McCain. He said that he had worked for the NSA before and still knows lots of people involved in national security and he was certain that Obama would be shot before inauguration day and that race riots would take hold in the cities of America. My canvass-partner walked up in the middle of this discussion and as we were leaving told me of his brother who had foiled an assassination plot against McCain as part of a security detail in Alaska just a week or so prior. Here's my other story: As far as the overall tone of the people I canvassed, I'd say most were pretty positive. I certainly got some doors slammed in the face. But there were many people who were encouraged to see people involved in politics. One guy even said "I disagree with your choice completely, but I'm glad to see you out there working for what you believe in"
Mike has driven me from lurking: Marc is not a secret agent of the Election Commission. The last line is light humor to deflect the "Har har we're registerin' all those people in the graveyard" jokes. This blog likely follows on this very interesting post at 538 about the two campaign's gotv volunteers. It's a great topic, I'm really interested, and I've enjoyed everything posted by canvassers to date. I hope some McCain canvassers are heard from, too.
I've been canvassing in North Virginia--Springfield area--for an independent expenditure campaign. The reaction is definitely mixed. With no party id, it is hard to know how independents are reacting, and the doors we are knocking on break evenly. But one major point stands out: this election is all about Obama. People are either excited about him or disgusted. No one is talking about McCain or expressing any sense of enthusiasm for him. It is a lot like 2004, only reversed: it was all about Bush.
Shannon -- I agree it's all about Obama. There was a brief time when Palin intervened, but that's over. Here in Dallas, I see a few Obama stickers a day. I see 0-2 NObama stickers a day. And I've seen a grand total of 2 McCain stickers. When I moved here in 2006, I had the impression that about a tenth of the cars around me sported a "W" sticker. It seemed like I couldn't stop at a light without seeing the "W". Now "W" is nearly gone, and those people haven't stuck McCain on their cars yet.
I've been canvassing for Obama for three weekends now, and I have two observations. First, Southern PA is thin ground to plow. We get a list of undeclared Dems and Indies and our job is to find out how they're leaning and persuade the ones who are completely undecided. I'm getting more Obama voters than McCain voters, but it's not a groundswell. I get one, maybe two voters per shift who are undecided enough and willing enough to talk where I can spend some time persuading. So I've generated what, maybe 3 or 4 votes in three weekends? Second, this is an incredibly well run operation. My only other experience was with the Kerry campaign, which didn't get out of the cities and the suburbs, didn't give us any training, didn't give us a weekly update and pep talk from the Field Organizers, and certainly didn't organize volunteer team leaders.
The highlight of our day spent canvassing door-to-door for the Democratic party in the San Diego highlands was granted to us by a crotchety old Republican lady. Here is the transcript of our encounter: *Ding dong*. Door swings open, and she snaps: "Make it quick, the football's on!" She can't see us clearly at this point, partly because we're standing behind the big metal barricade that forms a 10 foot "no man's land" between us and the actual entrance. We begin speaking, but she's come close enough now to see our blazing Obama stickers... her eyes grow wide, and she releases in a torrent of words, all the while backing up towards the entrance, and in the door, the following tirade: At this point it's Shock and Awe 2.0 for us, but I manage a feeble.. "uh, sorry ma'am, but he's not...", before she slams the door with a "Get OFF my YARD!!". So, yeah. Stellar performance. She must be a friend of Gayle Quinnell's. I wish ol' McCain had been around to explain this one away as well.
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"Confidentially assured unless you intend to confess to a felony."
So you're waiving confidentiality based on your assessment of our intent to confess a felony at some undetermined point?
I'll need to have my lawyer take a look at this and get back to you.
Posted by Virginia Centrist | October 8, 2008 11:09 AM