Yesterday I went to the not-so-great state of Pennsylvania to campaign for the next president of the United States, Barack Obama! I was there with my good friends Amanda, Ryan, and Smita, all of us willing to get off our asses and make a difference.
We went to Obama's local campaign headquarters, not far from where we were staying. As we approached the sign-in sheet I exclaimed, "Don't worry, Pennsylvania! The New York City elitist are here!" The Obama supporters were in such good humor, making jokes about how we all enjoy drinking tasty lattes from Starbucks. After introducing ourselves, we were then informed of our duties, and sent to another campaign station. It was already starting to feel like a scavenger hunt!
We ended up in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. The second campaign station was in a small office building walk-up, just a few people, a dog, and a few babies; nothing fancy. Again, the campaign workers seemed to be glowing that we were there to help. I'm sure my friends and I also brought great energy in the room, everyone was thrilled. We were explained that their campaign efforts were past the "persuading" stage. In these final steps before election their efforts were going to be focused on getting out the vote. We were going to a middle class neighborhood/apartment complex and put doors hangers on registered Democrats doors, informing them of their voting booth locations. No talking to people, just walking 'n door handles. This made sense, but I was hoping we'd be doing something on a larger scale, that we might be giving grand speeches on the Obama's leadership ability and the ills of 4 more years of failed policy; but alas, hanging things on doors was our assignment. Easy enough.
We start walking our assigned neighborhood, originally confused by where the hell we were, doing our best to figure out how to read the apartment building/door numbers. It was a cold, quiet, but sunny first day of November... Nothing too dramatic happened. Some old guy told Ryan that Obama was a "murderer." Some little kids on bikes responded harshly to us asking them if they were voting for Obama. Another guy talking on a cell phone stopped to tell me there was no chance in hell Obama was going to win (hmmm, I know the last time PA was a red state, Reagan was running for office, so their might be a chance in PA, if not Hell). Overall, though, I was surprised by the amount of Obama/Biden signs I saw in the neighborhood. Pennsylvanians aren't ALL bad!
Yesterday it felt good reminding Democrats to go vote this Tuesday, in a "here's something on your doorknob to remind you" way, Sen. Barack Obama, I'm sure, was very proud of us today. Between you and me, I'm confident he will win on Tuesday. The electoral college numbers are in his favor, and he's run one hell of a successful campaign. At this point John "My Friends" McCain is throwing Hell Mary's. Desperate, praying for the polls to be incorrect.
If PA and Virginia go blue, we're in for an early night Tuesday. Yes, we can (and we will).
