http://www.blackandwhiteisgray.net/blog/2008/09/22/community-organizers-unite/ "Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul." - Mark Twain Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:17:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.blackandwhiteisgray.net/blog/2008/09/22/community-organizers-unite/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Nancy Traver Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:11:21 +0000 http://blackandwhiteisgray.net/blog/?p=774#comment-11 I recently went to Iowa to canvass for Barack Obama and I wanted to encourage others to do so. I traveled in a car with three other people to Burlington, Iowa. We arrived about noon and headed to the local Democratic Party headquarters. The volunteers were incredibly well organized! They had set up maps of neighborhoods where we were to canvass. We headed off in teams. We were to talk to what are known as sporadically voting Democrats -- in other words, Democrats who don't vote in every election. It was not our job to try to convince Republicans to vote for Obama, since that would have been a waste of time. We talked to a lot of Democrats whose greatest concern was health care. Others wanted to discuss the economy. The war in Iraq didn't come up much, except to briefly dismiss it as a disaster for our country. Our main job was to identify wavering Democrats, who will be visited and possibly revisited by the local Democrats. As we were told by the volunteers there, eastern Iowa often goes blue, but the western part of the state is much more red. If we can get a big turnout at the polls for Obama, we can tip the balance toward blue on election day. As you've heard so many times before, every vote counts. Canvassing is one thing you can do that will really help Obama. It's fun and very gratifying. We enountered only two people who were solidly for McCain. They were not rude and did not slam their doors in our faces. Iowans are very nice people who are accustomed to talking politics because of their traditionally high-profile role in the presidential elections. They just made it clear they would vote for McCain and then we moved on. We returned to the local Democratic Party headquarters by about 3 p.m. Someone's mother had cooked us a hot, homemade meal in her crock pot. After we ate, we got back in the car and drove home, getting back to Evanston at about 8 p.m. It was a good way to spend a day, rather than worrying about who is going to win. I felt I had a hand in shaping the outcome of the 2008 election. If you would like to volunteer as a canvasser, call Toni Gilpin at 847.494.7302 or email tonigilpin.dpoe@gmail.com. If you are not from Evanston, she will give you a phone number to call. Go Obama! I recently went to Iowa to canvass for Barack Obama and I wanted to encourage others to do so. I traveled in a car with three other people to Burlington, Iowa. We arrived about noon and headed to the local Democratic Party headquarters. The volunteers were incredibly well organized! They had set up maps of neighborhoods where we were to canvass. We headed off in teams. We were to talk to what are known as sporadically voting Democrats — in other words, Democrats who don’t vote in every election. It was not our job to try to convince Republicans to vote for Obama, since that would have been a waste of time. We talked to a lot of Democrats whose greatest concern was health care. Others wanted to discuss the economy. The war in Iraq didn’t come up much, except to briefly dismiss it as a disaster for our country. Our main job was to identify wavering Democrats, who will be visited and possibly revisited by the local Democrats. As we were told by the volunteers there, eastern Iowa often goes blue, but the western part of the state is much more red. If we can get a big turnout at the polls for Obama, we can tip the balance toward blue on election day. As you’ve heard so many times before, every vote counts. Canvassing is one thing you can do that will really help Obama. It’s fun and very gratifying. We enountered only two people who were solidly for McCain. They were not rude and did not slam their doors in our faces. Iowans are very nice people who are accustomed to talking politics because of their traditionally high-profile role in the presidential elections. They just made it clear they would vote for McCain and then we moved on. We returned to the local Democratic Party headquarters by about 3 p.m. Someone’s mother had cooked us a hot, homemade meal in her crock pot. After we ate, we got back in the car and drove home, getting back to Evanston at about 8 p.m. It was a good way to spend a day, rather than worrying about who is going to win. I felt I had a hand in shaping the outcome of the 2008 election. If you would like to volunteer as a canvasser, call Toni Gilpin at 847.494.7302 or email tonigilpin.dpoe@gmail.com. If you are not from Evanston, she will give you a phone number to call. Go Obama!

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