On the Campaign Trail

I haven't blogged for a little while. Part of that is the rush that we all seem to be in to make up for the Lost September of 2004--you know, the one with two hurricanes. But I've also been devoting what little free time I have to campaigning for John Kerry through MoveOn.org.

This has been a new experience for me, going door-to-door and talking to people about the upcoming election. As part of the Leave No Voter Behind Campaign I've been downloading a list of streets to walk and names of people to talk to, then coming home and entering the results back into the MoveOn database. While I started out with some trepidation about the whole thing, and a vaguely icky feeling about intruding on people, in some perverse way I'm rather enjoying the process.

The people I'm targeted to contact are all registered Democrats, so it isn't a matter of trying to convince people on how they should vote, but more a drive to be sure that they get out and vote. The truth is that this may be the first election in US history where people turn out to vote just to get those DARN ACTIVISTS away from there door and their phones and their mailboxes. "For God's sake! Leave me be! I voted! I voted already!".

My standard line is that this is the most important election of our generation, and turning out the vote here in Florida is an essential part of the campaign to get George Bush out of office. Yes, it's that important. Important enough that people like me who have never been political activists in our lives are on the streets doing what we can to put our government back into the hands of people who think before they act, are honest with the American people, and who don't let there ideology outweigh good old American common sense.

So I'm on the street clipboard and fluttering paperwork in hand, with no small number of people in the neighborhood looking at me suspiciously. I don't blame them (not that I look particularly shady) for wondering what this guy is doing out knocking on doors. To a person though, people have been civil at the very least, and enthusiastic in some cases.

I have been a little surprised at the number of undecideds that I come across, and I wonder if they'll vote at all given that they mostly see little difference in the two parties or in the two men running. It's the old "It doesn't really matter. They're all liars anyway" attitude. My job is to gently steer them in the right direction, giving them a handout that compares the Bush and Kerry positions on things and ask them to look at the issues, find the man who most closely matches their own beliefs in what is right, and vote their conscience. But during last night's walk I also added this line: "But before you make your final decision ask yourself just what is that the Bush team has done right? If you can list enough to convince yourself that 4 more years of the Bush team doing the same thing is right for America, then by all means vote for Bush."

Just a few more nights, a busy weekend, and the election day itself to go. I've put in for a vacation day, and I'll be down at the polling place checking in my Kerry voters, making sure they've cast their ballots, and for those who don't turn out, I'll be ordering station wagons full of nice little old ladies to come to your house and sweetly order you to get in the car and go vote with them. Remember, it's that important, so we won't leave you Democrats alone until you can show us that "I Voted" sticker.