Canvassing McMansions. - Democratic Underground

liberalmuse

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Sat Oct-11-08 07:45 PM
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Canvassing McMansions.

I showed up at the Democratic Headquarters located in the closest town next to mine at 10AM this morning. About 30 people showed up to volunteer in our group alone. Upstairs there was another group that was also volunteering for Obama. After I arrived, I found out there was going to be canvassing in my area at noon, so I phone-banked until 11:30 AM and took off. I arrived a little late because I got lost--I still don't know the area North of where I live too well and ended up in a town way north of where I meant to go. Anyway, I happened to meet up with a couple of people who had been phone banking earlier and arrived at the same time to canvass, since the office had plenty of volunteers to man the phones and enter data.

The 3 of us jumped into a car and went to canvass a neighborhood just above where I live where there are a lot of rather large houses in a wealthy area considered mostly Republican. We dropped the guy off because he had done this many times before, and I ended up teaming up with a very nice lady around my age who was a newbie. I'd done this before years ago for Kerry and Dean, although truth be told, I am shy and don't exactly excel at this kind of thing. The lady I was with was very shy, too. Normally I've been teamed up with very outgoing people, which was nice. Anyway, she asked if I could do the talking, and I obliged.

It was a gorgeous day, with a slight chill in the air, so not too many people were home. We met a guy doing some siding work on the first house we went to and he said he had always voted Republican but was going for Obama this time around. He was completely disgusted with 'those guys' . 'Those guys were wrong about the war and everything, so I'm voting for Obama this time around. No question about it!' He was the contractor, so we couldn't mark him on the sheet, and the family wasn't home, but it was a good start.

The next place where there were signs of life, we ran into a guy doing yard work, and he, too, was gung ho for Obama, as was his entire household. We had a nice discussion with him. He was Republican, but said we needed a change.

At the next house, we ran into a guy pulling out of his driveway. According to our data sheet, he was 85, and he definitely wasn't voting for Obama. "I don't trust him. I don't trust him." That's too bad, because McCain is going to cut your Medicare (no, I didn't say that, but wish I had). He was a bit of an angry fellow, and he was behind the wheel, we left it at that.

The next couple of houses we ran into some disgusted Republicans who said they weren't voting for Obama as they were Republicans, but they couldn't bring themselves to vote for McCain, and had no idea what they were going to do. I'm guessing they'll hold their noses and vote Republican. One of the guys answered the door shirtless. He was very pleasant, but as he told us, was Republican. Then he started on how there were studies that proved party affiliation was hereditary. It was an interesting conversation.

We walked by a house we had went to before when no one was home and saw a guy outside doing yard work (it really was perfect yard work weather). He told us he had always voted Republican, but was another avid supporter of Obama. He wasn't too sure about his wife and daughter, though. He didn't think they were on board.

Then we went to a gorgeous house that had a very long driveway and was surrounded by woods. The guy saw us coming and came to the door. He did not want to talk to us, and told us he didn't like McCain, but didn't like Obama, either, and would definitely not vote for him.

We got kind of lost because the map was a bit off, so we decided not to look at the map and found the next house. A young mother answered the door and before we could get much out was, 'I am SO voting for Obama! We have always voted Republican, but even my husband is voting for Obama. And my inlaws!' We went the next step and asked if she were willing to volunteer and she crossed her hands over her chest (uh-oh, don't push it!) and said she had a crazy job and wished she could, but was donating lots of money. Wonderful! I don't like to make people feel uncomfortable. We thanked her for her vote and moved on.

The next house was nicely decorated for Halloween. They really went all out. Cool! Well, we practically got the door slammed in our faces. "Nope!" One more house. We didn't want to end on that note, and as luck had it the lady who answered the door at our last house was enthusiastically Democrat and urged us to go to her sister's neighborhood just across the highway where we would find a ton of Dems, as there weren't all that many in this 'hood.

Afterwards, my new friend and I dropped off our data and went to grab a bite. Turns out we're both peri-menopausal vegetarians. What are the odds of that? We exchanged numbers and plan to get together again to exercise and canvass.

I started the day with finding a giant toadstool like you see in the fairy tale books (red top with polka dots) while walking the dog. It was knocked over so I brought it home and planted it in some dirt. I looked it up in my mushroom hunter book that I bought as soon as the markets started tanking because it might come down to having to forage. Turns out it is Class F poisonous and hallucineogenic (no, I will not be eating it). I even bought some Obama/Biden swag while phone banking, and came home to find a YouTube up of Palin being booed. Nice! All in all, it was a very good day. I'm going to canvass again tomorrow, and find a way to discreetly dispose of my giant, psychedelic mushroom so I don't get busted.