Notes on Volunteering for the Obama Campaign
Several people have been asking me about what it was like to have gone on a "Get out the Vote" effort for the Obama campaign.
First: Why?
Last Saturday, some friends and I jumped into the Element and headed out for a three hour drive to Indianapolis. Here's the big question... Why?
I have not ever really been political, and certainly have never been motivated to do more than vote, and honestly, it is not in my comfort zone to be out talking to people about things like this. But, I felt that I needed to do something, anything, to help bring about Change. In my estimation, the "Change Maverick" in McCain sold out to the Religious Right, and though I know Obama scares Conservatives, Palin scares me.
I have had Republican friends, shake their head in a knowing way when discussing her and the reason why she is in that position. And I respect that. I do not respect the idea that there is some actual value and experience in her past. Though someone told me that "She is like Reagan." Mostly talking point stuff. I don't buy it in the least.
My issues are things like: religion impacting government, world opinion and interaction, a falsely trumped up war in the wrong direction, Rovian political methods, health care reform, and some others. I don't care about taxes, and think that helping people in various ways is better than not.
These I see as things that could change with the Obama vision, and not with the McCain approach.
So knowing that things can go any way, I wanted to at least do something to try and enable that change. If it doesn't happen, then I would feel a little better about having tried to be a part of it. And a part of history.
Second: How?
I had gotten a call from the campaign saying that Indiana was a focal point, and that they were mobilizing people in my particular zip code to go and help in Indiana. Specifically Marion County Indiana, which could help tip the State.
The plan was a "Get out the vote" effort targeted at registered Democrats to make sure they: knew where to vote, if they had voted, that early voting was still available to them, answer and questions and see if they wanted to volunteer.
So we signed up for two shifts on Saturday in Indiana.
The Campaign Organization
First, let me say, this was all very amazing. I got an email and a call Friday confirming what was going to happen. It asked us to meet at a central location here, so that they could get a count, and offer rides to others who wanted to go. There were different leaving times based upon your shift. They expect 4,000 volunteers to be doing this sort of thing that weekend.
We left at 8am, and experienced some issues getting onto I-65 with construction.... which we chalked up to Republicans trying to get us lost with signage.... but drove down in 3.5 hours or so.
We followed the directions to an easy exit off the highway and to a mostly abandoned strip mall. There we found the regional Obama campaign office. There were a lot of Illinois License plates, and a coach bus that we saw too.
We stood in line for about five mins and signed in. They welcomed us, thanked us, and gave us a map to our area that had been defined for our particular shift. It was about two miles away.
Off we went to that location to get started.
This was in a Ramada Inn with a very outgoing and enthusiastic proprietor. He was very happy to have us there and had set up the office in a meeting room.
In that little room there were about 4-5 main staff directing others, organizing sheets, stapling literature, and calling people on their cell phones.
We sat down and the main office person came over and gave us a brief orientation. They had a script, and a sample sheet of names with addresses, ages, voting location and some status indicators.
She took us through the script, and the paper, role played with us, and answered our questions.
She said that the list should be Democratic voters, but that it wasn't perfect.
She asked us that if we did find McCain supporters that we thank them for their time and move on. The line that resonated with me was "...and always present the best face of the campaign you can."
She advised us not to go anywhere we didn't feel comfortable, and thanked us again for coming all the way to help them.
They then gave us a map of a sub division with dots of houses on the streets to go with the list. Again, this wasn't going to each house, but rather specific houses. So if there were ten on the one side, you might only go to three.
The one thing they didn't have was clipboards. They had made their own "clipboards" out of the flaps of cardboard boxes. I guess McGuyver was a Democrat.
We started off on our adventure, stopping first at Target to get a few cheapo clipboards, which we left with them in the end.
We then arrived in the subdivision and split up the packet of addresses by odd and even addresses and off we went.
As you can imagine, we were a bit timid at first and didn't really go alone to houses, but after a few we broke up and set out on our mission.
Now here is the major beauty of this. We were starting the noon shift. That subdivision had already been done by a wave of volunteers from 9-12. So the sheets we had listed the people that were not home 9-12. We started down the list and if the people were still not home, we indicated that for the next shift. If they were, we updated the status and went from there.
Generally, if they were not at home at 9 there was some literature there, so we would just indicate the status and move on.
We did that until our lists were completed and met back at the car.
We went back to the Ramada, where new people were coming in, and other shifts were returning and got another set in another subdivision. So though a group was coming back from that one, we, another group take over and go back to address the ones not home.
This was happening in our little area, and all over Indianapolis.
The result is that people listed to vote were contacted, called, visited and encouraged to vote.
People Interaction
For the most part, anyone we met was cordial, sans one. People were either excited and had voted, knew where to go, and seemed committed. One lady yelled "Go Away" from the house, but we didn't know if she even knew what we were there for.
It was a beautiful day , the sun was shining and we just walked around for a while.
All in all, I probably went to 60 houses, 25 of which were not home, 15 of which didn't want to open the door, and the rest I talked to in some fashion. I only found one household that had voted early for McCain. And just a handful that backed McCain at all. We did get at least one young volunteer sign up to help out that weekend too.
When we got back to the Ramada, we found a new set of people coming in for the next day. Some of which had come from Michigan City Indiana because they had too many volunteers there. They were staying overnight and would pick up where we left off with the missing houses the next day.
We gave them our new slightly used clipboards and headed home.
Overall
What I saw was a very organized and committed organization. I wish companies worked this well. People knew what they were doing, their time was maximized, resources were valued, and it was just a little piece of a larger puzzle.
I just imagined a hundred of these Ramada locations, buzzing in the same fashion throughout the area, all with a clearly defined method and purpose.
This was just on Saturday, there were still a few days to go.
One of my friends commented that he had not seem one person doing anything like this for the McCain campaign while we were down there. The most we saw was a sign or two.
This just really seemed to be the grass roots type of effort as advertised. It's something that was organized and involved the community.... hmmmm... implementation and execution of experience in something like... ummm... what is that called... "Community Organizing."
I'd like to think I mad a tiny little difference, and it was a good experience that I would do again. As anything like this, I wish I had done it earlier.
Now as Ryan Seacrest says on American Idol.... it's in your hands America!
Several people have been asking me about what it was like to have gone on a "Get out the Vote" effort for the Obama campaign.
First: Why?
Last Saturday, some friends and I jumped into the Element and headed out for a three hour drive to Indianapolis. Here's the big question... Why?
I have not ever really been political, and certainly have never been motivated to do more than vote, and honestly, it is not in my comfort zone to be out talking to people about things like this. But, I felt that I needed to do something, anything, to help bring about Change. In my estimation, the "Change Maverick" in McCain sold out to the Religious Right, and though I know Obama scares Conservatives, Palin scares me.
I have had Republican friends, shake their head in a knowing way when discussing her and the reason why she is in that position. And I respect that. I do not respect the idea that there is some actual value and experience in her past. Though someone told me that "She is like Reagan." Mostly talking point stuff. I don't buy it in the least.
My issues are things like: religion impacting government, world opinion and interaction, a falsely trumped up war in the wrong direction, Rovian political methods, health care reform, and some others. I don't care about taxes, and think that helping people in various ways is better than not.
These I see as things that could change with the Obama vision, and not with the McCain approach.
So knowing that things can go any way, I wanted to at least do something to try and enable that change. If it doesn't happen, then I would feel a little better about having tried to be a part of it. And a part of history.
Second: How?
I had gotten a call from the campaign saying that Indiana was a focal point, and that they were mobilizing people in my particular zip code to go and help in Indiana. Specifically Marion County Indiana, which could help tip the State.
The plan was a "Get out the vote" effort targeted at registered Democrats to make sure they: knew where to vote, if they had voted, that early voting was still available to them, answer and questions and see if they wanted to volunteer.
So we signed up for two shifts on Saturday in Indiana.
The Campaign Organization
First, let me say, this was all very amazing. I got an email and a call Friday confirming what was going to happen. It asked us to meet at a central location here, so that they could get a count, and offer rides to others who wanted to go. There were different leaving times based upon your shift. They expect 4,000 volunteers to be doing this sort of thing that weekend.
We left at 8am, and experienced some issues getting onto I-65 with construction.... which we chalked up to Republicans trying to get us lost with signage.... but drove down in 3.5 hours or so.
We followed the directions to an easy exit off the highway and to a mostly abandoned strip mall. There we found the regional Obama campaign office. There were a lot of Illinois License plates, and a coach bus that we saw too.
We stood in line for about five mins and signed in. They welcomed us, thanked us, and gave us a map to our area that had been defined for our particular shift. It was about two miles away.
Off we went to that location to get started.
This was in a Ramada Inn with a very outgoing and enthusiastic proprietor. He was very happy to have us there and had set up the office in a meeting room.
In that little room there were about 4-5 main staff directing others, organizing sheets, stapling literature, and calling people on their cell phones.
We sat down and the main office person came over and gave us a brief orientation. They had a script, and a sample sheet of names with addresses, ages, voting location and some status indicators.
She took us through the script, and the paper, role played with us, and answered our questions.
She said that the list should be Democratic voters, but that it wasn't perfect.
She asked us that if we did find McCain supporters that we thank them for their time and move on. The line that resonated with me was "...and always present the best face of the campaign you can."
She advised us not to go anywhere we didn't feel comfortable, and thanked us again for coming all the way to help them.
They then gave us a map of a sub division with dots of houses on the streets to go with the list. Again, this wasn't going to each house, but rather specific houses. So if there were ten on the one side, you might only go to three.
The one thing they didn't have was clipboards. They had made their own "clipboards" out of the flaps of cardboard boxes. I guess McGuyver was a Democrat.
We started off on our adventure, stopping first at Target to get a few cheapo clipboards, which we left with them in the end.
We then arrived in the subdivision and split up the packet of addresses by odd and even addresses and off we went.
As you can imagine, we were a bit timid at first and didn't really go alone to houses, but after a few we broke up and set out on our mission.
Now here is the major beauty of this. We were starting the noon shift. That subdivision had already been done by a wave of volunteers from 9-12. So the sheets we had listed the people that were not home 9-12. We started down the list and if the people were still not home, we indicated that for the next shift. If they were, we updated the status and went from there.
Generally, if they were not at home at 9 there was some literature there, so we would just indicate the status and move on.
We did that until our lists were completed and met back at the car.
We went back to the Ramada, where new people were coming in, and other shifts were returning and got another set in another subdivision. So though a group was coming back from that one, we, another group take over and go back to address the ones not home.
This was happening in our little area, and all over Indianapolis.
The result is that people listed to vote were contacted, called, visited and encouraged to vote.
People Interaction
For the most part, anyone we met was cordial, sans one. People were either excited and had voted, knew where to go, and seemed committed. One lady yelled "Go Away" from the house, but we didn't know if she even knew what we were there for.
It was a beautiful day , the sun was shining and we just walked around for a while.
All in all, I probably went to 60 houses, 25 of which were not home, 15 of which didn't want to open the door, and the rest I talked to in some fashion. I only found one household that had voted early for McCain. And just a handful that backed McCain at all. We did get at least one young volunteer sign up to help out that weekend too.
When we got back to the Ramada, we found a new set of people coming in for the next day. Some of which had come from Michigan City Indiana because they had too many volunteers there. They were staying overnight and would pick up where we left off with the missing houses the next day.
We gave them our new slightly used clipboards and headed home.
Overall
What I saw was a very organized and committed organization. I wish companies worked this well. People knew what they were doing, their time was maximized, resources were valued, and it was just a little piece of a larger puzzle.
I just imagined a hundred of these Ramada locations, buzzing in the same fashion throughout the area, all with a clearly defined method and purpose.
This was just on Saturday, there were still a few days to go.
One of my friends commented that he had not seem one person doing anything like this for the McCain campaign while we were down there. The most we saw was a sign or two.
This just really seemed to be the grass roots type of effort as advertised. It's something that was organized and involved the community.... hmmmm... implementation and execution of experience in something like... ummm... what is that called... "Community Organizing."
I'd like to think I mad a tiny little difference, and it was a good experience that I would do again. As anything like this, I wish I had done it earlier.
Now as Ryan Seacrest says on American Idol.... it's in your hands America!
