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October 26, 2008 03:34 AM UTC

Exhausted, in pain, mentally wiped - loved it

  • 41 Comments
  • by: DavidThi808

I went out canvassing today. In the morning I got a list from the Obama office in Boulder and hit a boatload of houses in a middle class part of Boulder. Then in the afternoon I went with New Era/Democrats Work and hit a blue collar part of Longmont.

It is exhausting work, both physically & mentally. And you need to be on top of your game to handle any response. It’s brutal – and it’s also wonderful. If you haven’t volunteered yet – go do so tomorrow, next weekend, and the Monday/Tuesday after. You will feel so good after you have done so – I promise. (Republicans too – it’s a bi-partisian feel good effect.)

I get to the Obama office around 9:30 and have to wait about 10 minutes for a training “class.” They appear to be giving one every 20 – 30 minutes. There were 7 in my class, 3 pairs (I think husband & wife each) and me (Mrs. Blog is not politically active).

The class was all of 5 minutes long and gave the basics on how to hit the houses, how to fill out the forms, and what to do for questions we could not answer. It was very sensible in that it did not give us 40 things to remember as people can only remember 3 – 7 things. So they kept it short & sweet.

The people managing the office were very impressive. People came in wanting to do all kinds of different volunteer work (I walked in and asked what they wanted me to do). And in each case they talked up going door to door and in a very nice way got everyone who walked in set to canvass.

During the class there was an only in Boulder moment when a woman came in dressed sort-of goth/witch/??? – full white facepaint and a very weird outfit. She just wanted yard signs and then flew away on her broom with them.

Ok, so out hitting the streets. A bit over ½ the people were not home. The remaining ones were 100% Obama except one house where the residents were not home, but the cleaning person is a McCain supporter. Another only in Boulder moment – the rich homeowner is Obama, the working stiff housekeeper is McCain.

But the ground game does matter now – a lot of these people are Obama supporters, but I did not hear the comments that make one think they will cast that ballot no matter what. A supporter who doesn’t vote hurts half as much as an independent on the fence who votes for McCain. Getting those supporters to cast their ballot is the main job of canvassers in Boulder.

The list was solid, I think there were 2 people that no longer lived there. So they’re working with good data.

I would also ask about Udall and Polis. And the vast majority of those who have not voted said “don’t know” (for Udall vs Schaffer) and “who?” for Polis. Polis I understand as he hasn’t really been campaigning (and why on earth waste time asking about him) but Udall is interesting as this is his House district and he’s been advertising like crazy. The polls tend to be accurate but the people I hit are still officially undecided.

I also met one woman with an excellent reason to wait for election day. She’s taking her 4 year old daughter with her to show her voting the old way. I thought that was neat.

Ok, then off to Longmont to meet up with the New Era/Democrats Work group. Basically they bused up a bunch of students in matching New Era t-shirts from CU to hit part of North Longmont. It looked like an Up With People band.

Got my list and hit the street. They were pushing a number of amendments (58 at the top!!!) and asking how people are voting on Brandon Shaffer, Betsy Markey, & Barak Obama. They gave us 2 flyers, one with Brandon Shaffer on one side and the amendments on the other and a second for Betsy Markey.

Over half were not home and had a number where the person was no longer there (and one house which I think had been foreclosed on and the people evicted). Also one address that didn’t exist (or at least I couldn’t find it).

I talked to one person who is “51% McCain, 49% Obama.” Her big worry is that Obama might take away her right to carry a gun. I told her that my personal opinion is that the Dems aren’t going to touch gun control – but didn’t push. Hopefully I moved her 2% to “Obama 51%, McCain 49%.”

I also talked to a very nice older woman who told me she has already voted and that I wouldn’t like the answer. So a vote for McCain (damn!). But when I asked her about Markey/Musgrave she said that Musgrave was so awful that she left it blank. I think this is a major indicator for Betsy Markey – this woman bleeds Republican blood, she would never vote for a Dem. But she can, and did, leave the vote blank. And that helps Betsy. So Betsy not only pulls independents, but also gets Republicans to leave their vote blank.

So get out there and hit the street tomorrow. The walk list they give you will look a little imposing but it is about a 2 hour effort each. You’ll be a little slower at first. Once you get good at it, you can do them in 1½ hours each (that’s my speed). You plan your route carefully, walk fast between houses, and when talking keep it short & sweet as most people don’t want to spend even 2 minutes on this.

Some people clearly didn’t want to be bothered by me (including one C.U. student who I clearly woke up at the ungodly early hour of 12:05), some were ok about it, and a number were quite friendly & talkative. But no one was rude or mean.

Go do it, you’ll feel really good about it afterwards.

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41 thoughts on “Exhausted, in pain, mentally wiped – loved it”

  1. And on game-day no less! You know we’re worthless unless we get our 12-14 hours of sleep on the weekends, Dave.

    Good job on the canvassing, I will try to do it if I have some free time.

    1. With a late-afternoon game, we’d get up at about 2pm to start the beerification process.  Of course, that was in the Reagan years, before the Reign of Terror by the Office of Judicial Affairs, which will suspend students for a second instance of underage drinkin’.  

      1. If you knew anything about college football and were also a CU fun, the last thing you’d want to watch is CU versus a bonafide top 25 team.

        Sleep in or get up early and canvass for Obama, but whatever you do, don’t waste a perfectly good Saturday watching CU football.

          1. alcohol, even then, wasn’t allowed into the games.  But a pride of Florida, a nice orange, no problem!  An orange with the juice hypo’d out and vodka hypo’d in.

  2.  6-8 hrs per week (10am-5pm today).  I’m still integrating all the different experiences, I agree it’s intense.  For my day job I am Univ faculty–for me, street canvassing demands every bit as much focus  as giving a classroom or research talk.  I did about equal amount in 2004 and 06 elections too–I find that just sitting around, by the end of the election all I do is waste my time obsessing on blogs like this one.  Getting out canvassing gives a feeling that at least I am doing something constructive about the outcome.  

    The overall feeling I am getting over the last month is that (1) the Obama ground organization is tighter and more effective than Kerry 2004, and (2) the Dems in NW Denver are motivated to get those ballots out.

  3. Barnum Rec.  Well run with an experienced supervisor.

    No Hijinx, but the late mail in ballot drops are really freaking people out.  Lots of provisional ballots are being cast because of the mailing problem.

    (My wife just happens to be in the bad 10K batch and she got 2 robo-calls from the DED)

    I am concerned that the denver count will be significantly off on the first count.  And this will throw off the return checks the media uses to check their exit polling.  Given the number of mail in votes and early votes, exit polling could be difficult anyway, add this provsional problem and the prognosticators have a real chance of calling the election wrong.

  4. Good work, folks!

    Today I joined my co-precinct committee person and volunteers for my precinct, as well as the committee people for 601, and 605 and HD 6 candidate Lois Court and put door hangers/sample ballots on the door knobs of Democrats in four precincts on Capitol Hill.

    It was a beautiful day for politics and we were not alone.  The McCain/Palin folks were out as well as teams from the Obama campaign.

    BTW: for those who live in Capitol Hill, we have started a group called the Capitol Hill Democrats.  You can check out our My Space and Facebook pages:

    http://www.facebook.com/group….

    http://profile.myspace.com/ind…

    The idea is to build a neighborhood based group so that in two years, and four years and even in between, we don’t have to start over regarding mobilizng and organizing. We had a kickoff event on October 1, and it was a full room!

    If you’d like to get involved, let us know.

    Peace, Love & Understanding,

    Rick VanWie

    Pct. 604 Committee Person

    Democratic Party of Denver

    3. Every Dem I know who’s seen it thinks that the “reporter” made a complete ass of herself, not only asking some real stupid questions that have no basis in fact, but then being shut down by Biden on each and having no follow-up or come-back.

      But those of the right love the fact that she asked these off-the-wall questions. The “brave questions” that the major journalists won’t ask (because they know they’re stupid).

      So everyone’s happy. And Obama got some more votes.

      1. Not every Dem thinks that.  My mom who has been a life long FDR era Democrat and has NEVER voted for a Republican for President in her life voted McCain because she likes Sarah.  I showed it to her and she thought Biden looked argumentative and defensive. But then she doesn’t like Biden since he said something stupid a while back about immigrants and Dunkin Donuts. Go figure.

        Not every Republican thinks that this was a great interview either..

        While I admire someone willing to ask the tough questions, it was painful to watch.  It seemed mean spirited.  Now if Hannity had asked these, he would have done it with a smile, and had several follow ups.  And Biden would have expected it from Hannity, and would not have been blind sided. I don’t think this interview will benefit either side.

        I will agree on this, it was unexpected.

        Don’t assume just because I post something that I am cheer leading.  I post things I find interesting, not necessary those I like or agreed with. And this was interesting.

        As to what I did today (Yesterday), and why I wasn’t out walking the precinct.  Already done.

        I recall seeing about a dozen Obama signs, and a few more houses had no sign, but cars with Obama stickers.  About the same as 2004, with Kerry signs.  Same houses for the most part.  

        There were noticeably MORE McCain and McCain Palin signs than BUSH 2004.  The Go Sarah bumper stickers were numerous as well.  Don’t remember a single GO Cheney sticker or sign in 2004.

        Other than that, if my precinct decided the election, it would be McCain 60% Palin 70% Obama 30%.  I know that doesn’t add up, but you get the point.

  6. Took a walk to the bay with my daughter, hubby, and new Madeline.  

    Overwhelmingly Obama.  One family, by a year’s observation, is hard core Dem, so that’s no surprise.  One McCain sign in the yard of Yvonne and Miles.  Yvonne has two sons in the military and is hard core evangelical Christian, so there’s that illogical combination once again.

    The most surprising were the signs in the gated yards of some bayfront properties.  We are talking mega wealthy here, traditional Republican voters.  

    There they were, Obama.

    1. in some traditionally Repub neighborhoods near my little slice of Denver, e.g., Littleton (including the hardcore ‘pub area in Jeffco), Columbine Valley, Highlands Ranch… Still plenty of McCain signs too, but I can’t recall seeing so many signs for a Dem candidate.

      Hank Eng, the guy running against Coffman for CD-6, is surprisingly well represented too, far more so than Mike. I highly doubt he’ll win but it would be interesting if the margin is close.

      1. Up in Vail Ali Hasan has the giant signs everywhere and the joke was large sign, small…

        But up in Longmont Katie Witt has giant signs everywhere. She’s female so we can’t use the Ali reasoning.

        Maybe it’s large sign, discreditd policies.

  7. In Hawaii every candidate is out on the side of the road, morning and evening rush hour, for the month up to the election sign waving. For the last couple of days they get all their volunteers out there too. It’s a major effort – and required of politicians.

    I saw 2 people doing it for Brandon Shaffer yesterday by Twin Peaks Mall on Hover. I honked & waved and it made me smile. But does it get votes?

    1. In giving the candidate something to do so that the rest of the staff can get the important work done.

      As it gets closer to the election, candidates get nervous and you have to give them something to do to get them out of your hair.

    2. …fairly often.  He had full size cutout signs of himself made, and going along you would see these spaced out for a few hundred feet.  Only after you passed the last one did you realize that one was him!  

      It was so funny, one time I backed up and told him that if I lived in his district I would have voted for him even though I was a Dem.

      We could use some creativity and humor in politics was my reasoning.  

    3. I’ve been doing sign waving for 2 weeks now, and have noticed a big UPGRADE in name ID and positives, based on feedback

      however, if you’re going to sign wave, do it for a long time —- don’t spend just one hour of rush hour…. go out 3 PM and stay until 7 PM, etc

  8. Much more so than yard signs, imo. Everyone loves to vote with people who look excited and like they’re having fun. Isn’t politics so wonderfully rational?

  9. The list the office gave you was more than likely of “lazy Dems” and pure undecideds. In other words, the bottom of the barrel of the coordinated Dem campaign’s targets. The period just before the final GOTV scramble is always like that. These folks follow politics like I follow NASCAR. Which is to say, NAS-what? It’s not at all surprising they don’t know Jared and haven’t thought twice about Udall and Schaffer.

  10. At this point, targeted phone banking is very important.  This chases down Dem voters who have received mail-ins but haven’t mailed them in or dropped them off yet.  Important to make sure new young voters who were aggressively pursued and walked through registration and applying for ballots actually get the damn things in.  

    Phone banking going forward will also target voters who haven’t voted, haven’t requested ballots and urge them to go to early voting sites. Of course  in the final days it will be about getting people to polls on election day.

    You can call your county party or favorite campaign to volunteer.   They’ll provide  up to date lists of people who haven’t voted yet.

    This is a great way to get your feet wet as a volunteer as you won’t have to debate with anybody, just remind Dems to vote.  Pretty painless.

      1. Contact rate is not the same as contacts per hour.

        You can dial a lot more numbers than you can knock on doors, especially in non-base precincts where a walk list might have you hitting every 5th or 6th house.

        Bottom line is we have to do both.

    2. I think there were 1.6 million mail ins sent out and a little over 500k have been returned.

      Its going to be a giant nag-a-thon this week.

      2. And he said that he had been contacted 2 days earlier. I told him they would probably keep hitting him every 2 days until his ballot was in – so the best thng to do was vote it and mail it.

        I figure the nag threat is a good motivator.

        1. The El Paso County Republicans seem to be fired up and working hard.  They call my house every 3 or 4 days whether I need it or not.  Then the campaigns, and even a pollster or 2.  We have been told to vote Obama to the pollsters, so I dutifully say I am definitely for OBAMA. Which is true, I am for him going back to the Senate.

          It’s just soo much fun to see your faces on election night.

          My prediction: McCain /Palin will carry El Paso County by a wide margin, Doug Lamborn and Bob Schaffer ditto.

          1. McCain, Lammy, and Schaffer win EPC…no way!  🙂

            Seriously though, if this election is closer nationally than the polls suggest, even as a Dem I’ll find it kinda funny…

            1. It’s amazing how much the dialog has become so post-election Obamatopia (I am guilty of this too.)

              And I don’t buy Newsie’s “Intentional Bradley Effect Booster/Poll Manipulation” theory. It might be closer than the polls are saying, but that has nothing to do with EPC lying to pollsters.

            1. McCain alone would get at least 60% of the vote.

              McCain/Pailin will get close to 70%

              Obama will be lucky to break 30% in my precinct, county wide not much more.

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