Thanks to Lydia and George for holding down the fort yesterday. And George even had a toddler to chase after --nice multi-tasking!
Team Sassy spent the afternoon knocking on doors for Obama in lovely, unfriendly Chesterton. A big change from our canvassing day's in '04 where most of the people you met were supportive and warm. Here, uh, not so much. Because you don't register by party in Indiana, it's one big guessing game where the D's and Undecideds reside. In fact, the NYT and Wapo both have articles in today's paper about Barack's strategy on the ground. In Indiana, were were given lists of people's names, ages, and whether they needed to be "persuaded" or just reminded to vote. Each name had a bar code under it. Hmm. Seems a little, well, big brother-ish. Turns out Obama does tons of research on potential voters--what magazines they subscribe to, what kind of car they drive, where they live, etc. and then makes an educated guess on where they might fall politically. I'd say they got it maybe 50% right. The goal of the ground game is to narrow it down (leaning towards Obama, strongly leaning etc) and to press hard on those leaning Obama.
We certainly pissed off a few Republicans when we knocked on their door. One guy just pointed to the road after we introduced ourselves. Message taken. Another guy said ominously that we should "be careful because that man associates with terrorists and radicals". Lovely. Guess someone watches Fox News.
No question the economy is hitting folks hard in Indiana. In fact, NYT has an article about Indiana today. We talked to a mill boss who said his crew is split about 50-50 but that he's voting for Obama. This is not a guy, if I saw him on the street, I would think would vote D. But he said, basically, McCain is too old and crazy. He did share that he thought a lot of the guys just couldn't bring themselves to vote for an African American. I think Dave heard that sentiment (or got it yelled at him) a little more strongly.
After four hours pounding the pavement, in freakin 80 degree weather, we were all hot, sweaty and grumpy (well, I was). Luckily the last door Prof. V and I knocked on was of a tattooed, good-looking guy who initially lost it when he thought we were from the McCain campaign. But then he showed us the love--said everyone in the house was voting for Barack whether they wanted to or not, that they were a bunch of good fascists, and that we were doing great work. Nice to end on a high note.
As for the kids, Dave and Bridg decided to take persuasion to mean something a little different. They split up their list according to gender and Bridget hit the men's houses and Dave the women's. Dave, of course, ended up in long rambling conversations that he was too polite to get out of.
My strongest impression, initially, was that this strategy would work better if the volunteers actually lived in Indiana. We found most people pretty reluctant to reveal who they were voting for (and many split decision households) but when we talked to one young woman who wasn't even planning to vote, she said that in this area you just don't talk politics, that it's all very private. So maybe it is a little easier to talk to someone from out of town. Dunno. I would implore those of you who live in swing states (PA, NC, VA) to get out and knock on some doors. I just think it's a little easier when you all come from the same place. And the Wapo article states that a face-to-face conversation increases the changes that that person will come out and vote 7 to 10%, which can translate into 3 % points in the race.
Despite having kind of an intense experience on the road, we did meet the most darling people at the campaign office. And one of them was a Flanagan!! In this respect, it was different from Wisconsin where the campaign workers were pretty aloof. Here, we could barely get rid of 'em! Plus they make dinner for everyone and just generally are gracious and sweet (and kinda cute). They begged us to come back and I think we're planning to do that. Let Sassy know if you wanna come along!
6 comments:
Really super dooper awesome of you guys to do this. In the best possible way it makes the great subheading of the blog misleading.
I do think, IF, that you are on target in thinking that non-Hoosiers aren't the best possible canvasers (is that a word?) there.
In NE Indiana, SW Michigan and SE Wisconsin, our demographic are known as FIPs (Fu*king Illinois People). It's been that way for the 50+ years my Chicago-based family has traveled through Lake and LaPorte Counties in Indiana en route to vacation homes in SW Michigan. And I don't blame the Hoosiers/Michiganders/Cheeseheads at all for feeling that way.
Still doesn't take away the awesome from your effort!
Thanks Ilsa for the great pics and summary of the day. One of the things I find so interesting is how different my experience was just a few blocks away. While there were definitely a few sour points (Ilsa mentioned a particularly nasty one for Dave), most of the people I talked to were pretty friendly. Even the one hardcore McCain supporter I talked to was quite nice. I also experienced, though, that most people were reluctant to reveal who they were voting for. I talked to a lot of "undecideds" and I had to wonder if that was code for either "McCain," or "non of your business." Having grown up in a household where it was considered rude to ask someone about their political beliefs, I always feel a bit uneasy asking the "can we count on your support" question.
Still, I definitely agree that people are likely to be more receptive to canvassers from their own community. Dave wore an IU t-shirt, playing up his IN roots, and he got into some pretty long discussions (also, ladies of a certain age can't resist Dave's charms).
But I can't wait to go back (and the volunteer coordinators in Chesterton can't wait for Ilsa to come back - there was some serious crushing going on there).
So maybe it was the IU shirt, but I feel really good about the canvassing experience in IN. It may have been luck of the draw, but I talked to several Obama supporters. One lady mentioned that she and her husband had already voted for him. Another gentleman told me that both he and his daughter (for whom I was actually looking) were definitely voting Dem. A nice guy who intially didn't hear us because he was mowing his lawn actually called to us to see if we wanted anything and then told us that he and his wife were definitely voting for Obama. And, at our second to last house, a young woman told us that her son is going to turn one on Election Day and she was hoping to give him Obama's win as a present.
And, as for my two long conversations, I felt good about them. Both of them seemed to have interests that fell more in line with Dem policies. One of them said that if she had to vote today, she would support Barack. She was nervous about doing so, though, because she is a life-long Republican and because of some of the rumors she had heard about him. Thus, I felt that my time chatting with her was really well spent as I got the chance to tell her the truth about them. In the end, she may not believe me, but she was interested in getting the campaign materials.
I agree with Ilsa that the lists we had needed to be scrubbed. I didn't get too many McCain supporters, but did ask for a couple people who'd moved years ago. Yes, I did hear the "N" word from some gomer, but he was not really threatening like some of the folks Ilsa and Penny's list. And, there were definitely houses I was happy were not on my list, based on the less than friendly looks I got from the folks working in the yard. But, if we are the foot soldiers doing the list scrubbing, I think it was time well spent.
I had a really good time canvassing yesterday, and am eager to pound the pavement in Northern Indiana again.
dave and bridg--thanks for adding your comments, esp since you did have such a different experience from us. i should say, not one person said anything about us being from chicago (though, certainly it must have seemed obvious. we got lots of stares on the street. i think we had a little ellen-portia thing goin on) and the few people we talked to who were obama supporters made it a point to thank us for volunteering. unfortunately, there just aren't enough volunteers in each of the swing states to do all the work that needs to be done. and, if nothing else, we were cleaning up their lists in time for election day. it was good, hard work and i'll definitely go back.
plus next week is the spaghetti dinner and arlene is expecting us! (next time i'll dress like a soccer mom, though.)
Time to whip out those mommy jeans buried deep in your closet, and how about some white tennis shoes?
Ooo, I'm totally digging this -- Sassy goes undercover!! Fanny packs all around!
But really -- it was a fascinating experience and I'm so glad we made the trek. Despite the less than warm welcome that Ilsa and I received, I really do think we did some good. (I can't believe it doesn't leave a positive trace when a couple of earnest people show up on your door step, people who have decided to spend their time on an absurdly beautiful fall day walking from door to door talking to people about the election in support of their candidate.)
And even if we didn't, it did some real good for all of us -- it's so great to get outside of our little sphere and talk politics with people who live very different lives than we do. (Believe it or not, most of these people had never even *heard* of Sassy!!)
Plus, Ilsa didn't even mention the ice cream truck we flagged down when our spirits were especially low. When's the last time you got a sno cone (yes, that really is the way it's spelled) from a 90 year old chain smoking granny? I thought so. (And I personally think that Ilsa was even more persuasive than usual while wielding a sno cone. Blue lips notwithstanding.)
Post a Comment