Today this guy came up to me in the campaign office and said he wanted to meet me. Turns out he was on the internet, looking up the address and phone number of our office. When he did a search, he saw my blog listed on several hits down the page, and clicked on it out of curiosity. He said that it was reading my blog that put him over the edge to come in and volunteer! Wow! Now my readership must be a total of 13! And like all the volunteers that get cycled through Sheila, Ash (that’s his name) said he was stopping in to sign up for another day, but ended up “just doing a few calls.” I’m guessing at least an hour or two later……we locked him and his girlfriend in for a canvassing shift tomorrow, as he was leaving.
In all seriousness though, we are starting to learn that all this work is paying off. We are seeing volunteers coming in to make calls who come in as a result of the recruitment calls we make. Plus people who come in because someone came and canvassed their door. And after leaving a voicemail or two with someone, a bunch of them call us back. Yesterday Dan had a guy who came in to volunteer because he said we had left him so many messages he figured that he really better just come in and volunteer after all. Of course, on the other hand, yesterday I had an angry volunteer read me the riot act because she called a few people to recruit them to volunteer, who were already regular volunteers. Ooops. Admittedly, we do have a glitch in our system, which is that some people who are already scheduled to volunteer with us, are getting cycled back into the volunteer recruitment call pool. Today I even crossed my own name off a volunteer’s call list, which I happened to notice as I was training her. But at the end of the day, the worst that can happen is that they get annoyed. Most of them still volunteer and they’ll all still vote- at least this way they won’t forget!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Dry Run GOTV Day 1 Saturday– Utter Downpour!
The entire second half of last week was spent preparing for the out-of-state volunteers to come work for us, plus the number of local volunteers we had lined up. We were still doing persuasion calls and neighborhood canvassing, as this was the last big weekend push to persuade the undecideds. But more importantly, it was our “dry run” for the big GOTV (Get out the Vote) weekend, November 1-4th, where we expect to have hundreds of volunteers, and have very specific and formal data we have to report about every hour in to the regional headquarters. So we had to get the system straight of how to manage all these people, and all the information. Basically, there are three teams being run out of Lansdale- Ben, Dan and Chad’s teams, all of which cover different portions of our part of Montgomery County. Within each team, there are canvassers and phone bankers. So it can get a bit chaotic, and it’s really important we keep all the information straight of who’s doing what and who’s already done what. So we spent a lot of time color-coding the 3 teams and everything in the office, and mapping out a floor plan and step-by-step process as to how to manage volunteers coming in and out. Each of the 3 teams identified key leadership positions as well, for this weekend and for the GOTV weekend as well. My job is Staging Location Manager, which means I’m like the conductor of the orchestra. I manage the canvass coordinator and the phone bank coordinator, and I make sure that all the numbers are correct and ready to be reported at regular intervals (almost every hour). Basically I’m managing the floor while Dan deals with his bosses and any other major fires. Thank god for Kelly, who is Ben’s Staging Location Manager, who has done this before in the primaries and knows a lot about how this really works.
So Saturday morning started with a record number of volunteers showing up for us, some from PA but many from out of state. We even had 2 dogs! Note the photo of the dog with a little sweater that says, “Bark for Obama!” And a little girl from NY who came with her mom made us a Barack gnome for the office. A bit weird, but I suppose it’s the thought that counts. By 10am Dan and I were high-fiving up and down the office, realizing that our marathon phone call stretches to potential volunteers all week prior had paid off, and people were coming in droves. We had a target 56 number of “turf packets” or sections of neighborhoods, to be canvassed for the day, and with approximately 30 people arriving in the morning (assuming 1 packet per person), we figured that we could hit 56 no problem, considering most people would come back to do another packet in the afternoon, plus some local volunteers were coming in just for the afternoon.
And then the rain started coming down in droves, and everything went haywire! We finished off the day with a mere 26 or so packets complete (a far cry from our intended 56), as the rain really slowed people down. Well, that and the fact that everyone thinks canvassing is a fun thing to do with their friends and family together, but we had calculated it as one person-one shift, so that two people going out together would get two packets, with the idea that two people can go twice as fast as one. Yeah, except when both people go together to knock on every door- that’s HALF as fast! And the list goes on- we learned a lot about how our plans and calculations had been well made, but needing major tweaking in a number of areas. Oh, and we knocked our phone calling targets out of the ballpark since many of the cold, wet canvassers gave up by mid-afternoon and stayed inside to do phone calls instead. Can’t say I blame them.
What I can say is that I admire and continued to be inspired by the dedication of our volunteers. It’s hard to tell, but some of these photos are of soggy and cold canvassers who have come back to return their packets, finished. House by house, street by street, dozens and dozens of canvassers went out on Saturday to do their best at locking in any remaining undecided voters, reinforcing our reminder to vote with Obama supporters, and recruiting new volunteers like crazy. And many of them want to come back again next week! No wonder they say the Obama campaign has the best “ground game” ever. They say that Obama’s community-organizing approach to campaigning is revolutionizing presidential campaigns.
Today, Barack spoke at a rally just outside of Philadelphia. The weather here all of the sudden turned rainy and cold, an in fact we had snow flurries for a bit in the morning. Nonetheless, 9000 supporters came out for an outdoor rally for Barack and waited for hours to hear him speak. NINE THOUSAND PEOPLE! In the cold, sleeting rain! That’s just amazing. The first question is, how do we make sure they all show up to vote? And the second question, how do we keep this momentum going after the election, to capitalize on the volunteers’ enthusiasm and put other community issues at the forefront?
So Saturday morning started with a record number of volunteers showing up for us, some from PA but many from out of state. We even had 2 dogs! Note the photo of the dog with a little sweater that says, “Bark for Obama!” And a little girl from NY who came with her mom made us a Barack gnome for the office. A bit weird, but I suppose it’s the thought that counts. By 10am Dan and I were high-fiving up and down the office, realizing that our marathon phone call stretches to potential volunteers all week prior had paid off, and people were coming in droves. We had a target 56 number of “turf packets” or sections of neighborhoods, to be canvassed for the day, and with approximately 30 people arriving in the morning (assuming 1 packet per person), we figured that we could hit 56 no problem, considering most people would come back to do another packet in the afternoon, plus some local volunteers were coming in just for the afternoon.
And then the rain started coming down in droves, and everything went haywire! We finished off the day with a mere 26 or so packets complete (a far cry from our intended 56), as the rain really slowed people down. Well, that and the fact that everyone thinks canvassing is a fun thing to do with their friends and family together, but we had calculated it as one person-one shift, so that two people going out together would get two packets, with the idea that two people can go twice as fast as one. Yeah, except when both people go together to knock on every door- that’s HALF as fast! And the list goes on- we learned a lot about how our plans and calculations had been well made, but needing major tweaking in a number of areas. Oh, and we knocked our phone calling targets out of the ballpark since many of the cold, wet canvassers gave up by mid-afternoon and stayed inside to do phone calls instead. Can’t say I blame them.
What I can say is that I admire and continued to be inspired by the dedication of our volunteers. It’s hard to tell, but some of these photos are of soggy and cold canvassers who have come back to return their packets, finished. House by house, street by street, dozens and dozens of canvassers went out on Saturday to do their best at locking in any remaining undecided voters, reinforcing our reminder to vote with Obama supporters, and recruiting new volunteers like crazy. And many of them want to come back again next week! No wonder they say the Obama campaign has the best “ground game” ever. They say that Obama’s community-organizing approach to campaigning is revolutionizing presidential campaigns.
Today, Barack spoke at a rally just outside of Philadelphia. The weather here all of the sudden turned rainy and cold, an in fact we had snow flurries for a bit in the morning. Nonetheless, 9000 supporters came out for an outdoor rally for Barack and waited for hours to hear him speak. NINE THOUSAND PEOPLE! In the cold, sleeting rain! That’s just amazing. The first question is, how do we make sure they all show up to vote? And the second question, how do we keep this momentum going after the election, to capitalize on the volunteers’ enthusiasm and put other community issues at the forefront?
Friday, October 24, 2008
Obi the Cat
A black and white cat has just started coming into the office regularly. It's the strangest thing. He seems sweet. Everyone thinks it's a good omen- a white a black cat. After much discussion, we named it Obi- for Obama-Biden (Ob-bi). The other day, he just climbed into a box that we use to put completed canvass packs in. It was pretty cute, I have to admit. Everyone's very attached to Obi now, but when one of the volunteers offered to give him a home, we agreed that it was a good idea since it's getting colder outside, plus one of the regular volunteers is very allergic. So now Obi has a new, warm home and loving owner, but everyone in the office is sad and lonely and wondering if we should ask to have him brought back!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Preparing for the Invasion of New Yorkers
I’m not sure how much I should be writing on this blog- lately we’ve started to get paranoid about McCain spies and our strategy. We are, after all, in the heart of the ultimate battleground. And NO, PEOPLE, PA IS NOT IN THE BAG YET! I won’t get into details, but people who know a lot more than I do have reason to be concerned. We now have a security guard at our office at night. I actually can barely write most of this with a straight face because, I mean, come on people, it’s Lansdale. But on the other hand, all this ridiculous (and false!) terrorist talk has some ugly, ignorant rednecks pretty riled up and these days you just can’t be sure. However, considering I’m pretty sure my readership numbers about a full dozen or so, I think we’re good.
This weekend we have tons of out-of-state volunteers coming to work with us, a lot of them directly from New York City. There’s nothing like calling a riled up democrat in Yonkers to make sure they’re confirmed and have directions to our little town of Lansdale. It’s amazing though- all these people are giving us one or two whole days, driving down on their own, dragging their friends and family, and in some cases paying for their own hotel rooms, just to pound our streets to help us win. I’m so impressed! The campaign has a very elaborate system to sign up people, usually online, from solid blue states to travel to nearby battleground states to help them. Except that this elaborate system is a bit of a mystery to us in little old Lansdale. We just get these lists of names and we’re only now figuring out that most of them haven’t been confirmed by anyone else, and we’re not entirely sure what information they are getting in terms of where to go and when. So by now, Dan and I have figured out enough of what we need to do to confirm the list, and what information we know they need that we can’t be sure they got from someone else. So today and yesterday (and for sure tomorrow and Friday), I’ve been spending my time slogging through lists of names to try to confirm people, give them directions, leave voicemails, update our database, and take counts of where we are and how many more shifts we still have to fill.
This weekend we are also doing a “dry run,” which is basically a dress rehearsal, of how things are going to work for GOTV next weekend. GOTV being “Get Out The Vote,” or Nov 1-4 (Sat-Tues) right before the election. This is when we give up trying to persuade people and just make damn sure that every single Obama supporter votes. So tonight we had a meeting to figure out how we’re going to organize the “flow” of the office. Like where to put the tables, and taping the floor, and color-coded everything. During GOTV we’re expecting hundreds of volunteers for both phone banking and canvassing, divided into 3 teams each (Dan’s, Ben’s, and Chad’s – basically our area sub-divided, each with 25 voting precincts or so). And mind you, our Lansdale office, with our 3 sub-groups, numbering about, oh, 75 or so voting precincts, is just one of 6 offices in Montgomery county alone. It’s massive. And our office is just one huge open space. So it really does need to be organized. Luckily for us, one of Dan’s other leader volunteers, Peter, is an architect or planner or something, so he actually drafted a floor plan for inside the building, and oh yeah, outside for the parking lot and traffic flow!
This weekend we have tons of out-of-state volunteers coming to work with us, a lot of them directly from New York City. There’s nothing like calling a riled up democrat in Yonkers to make sure they’re confirmed and have directions to our little town of Lansdale. It’s amazing though- all these people are giving us one or two whole days, driving down on their own, dragging their friends and family, and in some cases paying for their own hotel rooms, just to pound our streets to help us win. I’m so impressed! The campaign has a very elaborate system to sign up people, usually online, from solid blue states to travel to nearby battleground states to help them. Except that this elaborate system is a bit of a mystery to us in little old Lansdale. We just get these lists of names and we’re only now figuring out that most of them haven’t been confirmed by anyone else, and we’re not entirely sure what information they are getting in terms of where to go and when. So by now, Dan and I have figured out enough of what we need to do to confirm the list, and what information we know they need that we can’t be sure they got from someone else. So today and yesterday (and for sure tomorrow and Friday), I’ve been spending my time slogging through lists of names to try to confirm people, give them directions, leave voicemails, update our database, and take counts of where we are and how many more shifts we still have to fill.
This weekend we are also doing a “dry run,” which is basically a dress rehearsal, of how things are going to work for GOTV next weekend. GOTV being “Get Out The Vote,” or Nov 1-4 (Sat-Tues) right before the election. This is when we give up trying to persuade people and just make damn sure that every single Obama supporter votes. So tonight we had a meeting to figure out how we’re going to organize the “flow” of the office. Like where to put the tables, and taping the floor, and color-coded everything. During GOTV we’re expecting hundreds of volunteers for both phone banking and canvassing, divided into 3 teams each (Dan’s, Ben’s, and Chad’s – basically our area sub-divided, each with 25 voting precincts or so). And mind you, our Lansdale office, with our 3 sub-groups, numbering about, oh, 75 or so voting precincts, is just one of 6 offices in Montgomery county alone. It’s massive. And our office is just one huge open space. So it really does need to be organized. Luckily for us, one of Dan’s other leader volunteers, Peter, is an architect or planner or something, so he actually drafted a floor plan for inside the building, and oh yeah, outside for the parking lot and traffic flow!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Time Flies When…..
So yesterday someone from my office (like, my real job office) got ahold of me to remind me that a major report was past due. And that there were a few pending emails that people were waiting on…since last week. Ooops! When I got approval to take an extra long leave this year to work on the campaign, I agreed to do a couple of key things from home. And then proceeded to completely forget about them, or rather, forget what day, well, week, it was!
So, things have been crazy busy with the campaign, and I’ve been spending most of my time there, plus the 2 days I took off last week to spend with some old girlfriends and one new little toddler. I have noted eight different pieces that I meant to write since my last posting, and since I’m so far behind, I’m going to catch up by writing the headlines at least, and we’ll see how it goes whether I ever get back to writing them.
Starting in reverse order (top of the list is oldest, from last week) :
“Harleysville: The Ultimate Battleground!”
This one was meant to chronicle my first time “out,” when Dan and I flyered about 500 car windshields at shopping centers in some of the toughest Republican areas, but where we also know we have support. We were getting the word out about a big volunteer meeting we had last week.
Here’s a photo of Dan. Harleysville is a township in our area and is what we consider the holy grail of the election. As we say these days, “If we can win Harleysville, we can win Montgomery County. If we can win Montgomery County, we can win Pennsylvania. If we can win in PA, we can win the election!”
Volunteer Summit and Debate Watch Party
Last Wednesday night we had a huge volunteer meeting to start planning for what we call “Get Out The Vote” or “GOTV” weekend, which is basically Halloween through the night of election day. Then afterwards we all stayed to watch the debate. I had planned to describe all the crazy effort that went into mobilizing so many people. But I do have a few photos!
Phillies Phever!
We just can’t talk about what’s going on in this part of Pennsylvania without talking about Phillies Phever! On the same night as the final debate, the Phillies baseball team clinched the national league title, and made it into the World Series. We now know they’ll play Tampa Bay, starting tomorrow night, instead of the Boston Red Sox, much to my husband’s dismay. But at least we’ll have peace in our family, at least until my brother-in-law in New Hampshire opens the care package packed full of Phillies goods I sent to my nieces and nephew! One thing any candidate could do right now to help his cause in PA is to get a little bit of Phillie Phever! And lucky for us, the World Series will take place this week and next week, and no matter what, be finished before GOTV weekend, so we can have our Phighting Phils Phans back to volunteer for us for the election. Oh, and here’s a picture of the coolest mascot ever, the Phillie Phanatic.
Hitting the Streets
I took my first stab at neighborhood canvassing last Friday with Barb (see photo of Barb), another volunteer. For almost 4 hours we hoofed it to over 60 households. It was an amazing experience and is 100% at the heart of what’s going to help us win this election. I’m sure I’ll talk more about this incredible phenomenon in the days to come. The important message is, anyone can do it- it’s so much easier and more rewarding than you’d think. So get off your butt and sign up ASAP- don’t risk waking up on November 5th thinking you could have done more!
The Irony of Volunteerism
I will, for sure, revisit this topic again soon in the coming days, as it’s a thread woven deeply through every hour I spend in this office. My experience here is so interesting to me because my regular job is working for an agency built around volunteerism, and it’s been a long, long time since I’ve been on the other side of things like this. I’m amazed at how many assumptions us managers make about volunteers, now that I’m a volunteer myself. Many members of my team reading this will chuckle to themselves as they realize I’m being supervised by a guy nearly a decade younger than me. Ah, the irony! I am sure there are many more lessons and reflections to come on the subject of volunteerism and civic engagement.
Yard Signs, O How I Love Thee!
Dan and Ben (the only 2 guys who get paid, though barely) HATE yard signs. As do their bosses, and their bosses. And lately, so do the rest of us regular volunteers. Every day we have dozens and dozens of people who come by asking for yard signs, even willing to pay for them, and we rarely ever have any. We don’t get even a fraction of what we need in, and as soon as we get them in they fly out the door. And man, are people in this community wound up about their yard signs! They’ve just gotta have them! Lately, we’re getting a lot of people coming back, complaining that theirs has been stolen- can you believe that?? Damn Republicans! And it only makes the demand for yard signs higher. But don’t listen to me, here’s a great piece from a new website I’ve learned about, on yard signs, titled, “BREAKING NEWS: Obama campaign organizers trying to win election instead of get you yard signs” You should really check out the article- it sheds new light (and some laughs) on ye old yard sign phenomemon.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/breaking-obama-campaign-organizers.html
The Barack O’Lantern
In my 2 days off with my girlfriends and one’s 18 month old, we went to a local farm and got some pumpkins. Believe it or not, there’s this crazy website called www.yeswecarve.com which is all about Barack Obama-related pumpkin carving. I kid you not- you should check it out. It’s really something else. So we did one!
Bring it on, McCain! PA is Ready! You can’t have Montgomery County!
Which brings us to Sunday, when a number of things happened. Colin Powell endorsed Obama, as did the Philadelphia Inquirer and a number of other papers, including some very traditional Republican ones. Don’t quote me but I want to say one in Houston, even. It was also a lovely morning after Saturday Night Live made a complete ass out of Sarah Palin the night before. You gotta love Amy Poehler rapping about Palin with her sitting right there (live! for real!) when a huge mascot-sized guy in a moose costume bounded in front of the set, only to hear gunshot sounds and have it fall overdramatically to the ground. I was absolutely roaring. I have to give the woman credit for showing up and staying, with a smile- I just cannot believe she would have consented to that!
But the thing about Sunday, and Monday, and today, is that it seems that McCain is giving up on several key, though smaller, battleground states and redoubling his efforts in PA. Like, in Montgomery County. We are suddenly sitting in the middle of one of the hottest battlegrounds in the state, maybe in the country. From what we can tell, McCain thinks that taking back PA (where Obama is currently in the lead), he can make up for the smaller states that he’s now losing in. Although PA did go blue for Kerry in 2004, it was just barely, and PA has a long Republican history before that. And as I’m now learning, especially large parts of the exact area where I grew up. No wonder I went so crazy when I finally went away to college…. The good news is that during the most recent voter registration, the democrats did such a knock-up job that suddenly now there are actually more democrats registered in PA, including Montgomery County, than Republicans. So we’ve actually got the numbers!! The trick will be making sure they all show up to the polls on election day. And our goal is to avoid being another contested Florida, so we have to win by a healthy margin.
And boy are we fired up. Another thing we have going for us is a fabulous team of people, and though slightly annoying to us, some seemingly smart people in Norristown and Philadelphia, and I guess Chicago, and other management areas of the campaign, who are very in touch with what we’re doing everyday, and constantly adjusting and changing our game plan to reflect the shifting battleground. And let me tell you, there’s no way in hell we’re going to give up this county to McCain.
NO WAY, NO HOW, NO MCCAIN IN PA!
Just where is Montgomery County, and the borough of Lansdale?
Here are a few maps to give you an idea of where we are. When I get a chance, I’ll try to post a few factoids about the area.
Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2000, the population was 750,097. A 2005 U.S. Census estimate placed the population at 795,618, making it the third most populous county in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia and Allegheny counties), and the 69th most populous county in the United States. The county seat is Norristown.
The county was created on September 10, 1784, out of land originally part of Philadelphia County. It is believed to have been either named in honor of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 1775 while attempting to capture Quebec City, Canada, or for the Welsh county of Montgomeryshire (which was named after one of William the Conqueror's main counselors, Roger de Montgomerie), as it was part of the Welsh Tract -- an area of Pennsylvania settled by Quakers from Wales. Early histories of the county indicate the origin of the county's name as uncertain.
Montgomery County is a suburban county northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Delaware Valley and marks the region's northern border with the Lehigh Valley region of the state.
It is the 44th wealthiest county in the country. (wonder how many total counties there are in the country? 44 sounds higher than my county feels wealthy- it's really just a lot of farms and housing developments!)
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 487 square miles (1,262 km²), of which, 483 square miles (1,251 km²) of it is land and 4 square miles (11 km²) of it (0.89%) is water.
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 750,097 people, 286,098 households, and 197,693 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,553 people per square mile (599/km²).
Most people commute to “Philly,” as its called, or one of the major corporations with centers in the county, such as Merck, Johnson and Johnson, Quest Diagnostics, Lockheed Martin, Aetna, Motorola, Prudential, etc.
North Penn School District (where I went, and incidentally, was student government president, in case you were interested) spans an area of 42 square miles, and covers the majority of our campaign area. There are 13 elementary schools (grades K-6), three middle schools (grades 7-9), and one high school (grades10-12). Enrollment at the elementary level is 6,599, middle level is 3,029, and high school level is 3,318, making a total district enrollment of 13,000. These figures represent the 90th day enrollment of the 2007-2008 school year. (My understanding is that North Penn High School is the largest high school in the state of PA). Our campaign area includes North Penn and also a little of Souderton High School’s area. If you are from the area and went to a religious school, you might also know Lansdale Catholic High School or Christopher Dock Mennonite High School (where my sister graduated from).
Yep, this is the heartland. Anytown USA. Suburbia at its best. Hence my title photo at the top.
So, things have been crazy busy with the campaign, and I’ve been spending most of my time there, plus the 2 days I took off last week to spend with some old girlfriends and one new little toddler. I have noted eight different pieces that I meant to write since my last posting, and since I’m so far behind, I’m going to catch up by writing the headlines at least, and we’ll see how it goes whether I ever get back to writing them.
Starting in reverse order (top of the list is oldest, from last week) :
“Harleysville: The Ultimate Battleground!”
This one was meant to chronicle my first time “out,” when Dan and I flyered about 500 car windshields at shopping centers in some of the toughest Republican areas, but where we also know we have support. We were getting the word out about a big volunteer meeting we had last week.
Here’s a photo of Dan. Harleysville is a township in our area and is what we consider the holy grail of the election. As we say these days, “If we can win Harleysville, we can win Montgomery County. If we can win Montgomery County, we can win Pennsylvania. If we can win in PA, we can win the election!” Volunteer Summit and Debate Watch Party
Last Wednesday night we had a huge volunteer meeting to start planning for what we call “Get Out The Vote” or “GOTV” weekend, which is basically Halloween through the night of election day. Then afterwards we all stayed to watch the debate. I had planned to describe all the crazy effort that went into mobilizing so many people. But I do have a few photos!
Phillies Phever!
We just can’t talk about what’s going on in this part of Pennsylvania without talking about Phillies Phever! On the same night as the final debate, the Phillies baseball team clinched the national league title, and made it into the World Series. We now know they’ll play Tampa Bay, starting tomorrow night, instead of the Boston Red Sox, much to my husband’s dismay. But at least we’ll have peace in our family, at least until my brother-in-law in New Hampshire opens the care package packed full of Phillies goods I sent to my nieces and nephew! One thing any candidate could do right now to help his cause in PA is to get a little bit of Phillie Phever! And lucky for us, the World Series will take place this week and next week, and no matter what, be finished before GOTV weekend, so we can have our Phighting Phils Phans back to volunteer for us for the election. Oh, and here’s a picture of the coolest mascot ever, the Phillie Phanatic.
Hitting the Streets
I took my first stab at neighborhood canvassing last Friday with Barb (see photo of Barb), another volunteer. For almost 4 hours we hoofed it to over 60 households. It was an amazing experience and is 100% at the heart of what’s going to help us win this election. I’m sure I’ll talk more about this incredible phenomenon in the days to come. The important message is, anyone can do it- it’s so much easier and more rewarding than you’d think. So get off your butt and sign up ASAP- don’t risk waking up on November 5th thinking you could have done more!
The Irony of Volunteerism
I will, for sure, revisit this topic again soon in the coming days, as it’s a thread woven deeply through every hour I spend in this office. My experience here is so interesting to me because my regular job is working for an agency built around volunteerism, and it’s been a long, long time since I’ve been on the other side of things like this. I’m amazed at how many assumptions us managers make about volunteers, now that I’m a volunteer myself. Many members of my team reading this will chuckle to themselves as they realize I’m being supervised by a guy nearly a decade younger than me. Ah, the irony! I am sure there are many more lessons and reflections to come on the subject of volunteerism and civic engagement.
Yard Signs, O How I Love Thee!
Dan and Ben (the only 2 guys who get paid, though barely) HATE yard signs. As do their bosses, and their bosses. And lately, so do the rest of us regular volunteers. Every day we have dozens and dozens of people who come by asking for yard signs, even willing to pay for them, and we rarely ever have any. We don’t get even a fraction of what we need in, and as soon as we get them in they fly out the door. And man, are people in this community wound up about their yard signs! They’ve just gotta have them! Lately, we’re getting a lot of people coming back, complaining that theirs has been stolen- can you believe that?? Damn Republicans! And it only makes the demand for yard signs higher. But don’t listen to me, here’s a great piece from a new website I’ve learned about, on yard signs, titled, “BREAKING NEWS: Obama campaign organizers trying to win election instead of get you yard signs” You should really check out the article- it sheds new light (and some laughs) on ye old yard sign phenomemon.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/breaking-obama-campaign-organizers.html
The Barack O’Lantern
In my 2 days off with my girlfriends and one’s 18 month old, we went to a local farm and got some pumpkins. Believe it or not, there’s this crazy website called www.yeswecarve.com which is all about Barack Obama-related pumpkin carving. I kid you not- you should check it out. It’s really something else. So we did one!
Bring it on, McCain! PA is Ready! You can’t have Montgomery County!
Which brings us to Sunday, when a number of things happened. Colin Powell endorsed Obama, as did the Philadelphia Inquirer and a number of other papers, including some very traditional Republican ones. Don’t quote me but I want to say one in Houston, even. It was also a lovely morning after Saturday Night Live made a complete ass out of Sarah Palin the night before. You gotta love Amy Poehler rapping about Palin with her sitting right there (live! for real!) when a huge mascot-sized guy in a moose costume bounded in front of the set, only to hear gunshot sounds and have it fall overdramatically to the ground. I was absolutely roaring. I have to give the woman credit for showing up and staying, with a smile- I just cannot believe she would have consented to that!
But the thing about Sunday, and Monday, and today, is that it seems that McCain is giving up on several key, though smaller, battleground states and redoubling his efforts in PA. Like, in Montgomery County. We are suddenly sitting in the middle of one of the hottest battlegrounds in the state, maybe in the country. From what we can tell, McCain thinks that taking back PA (where Obama is currently in the lead), he can make up for the smaller states that he’s now losing in. Although PA did go blue for Kerry in 2004, it was just barely, and PA has a long Republican history before that. And as I’m now learning, especially large parts of the exact area where I grew up. No wonder I went so crazy when I finally went away to college…. The good news is that during the most recent voter registration, the democrats did such a knock-up job that suddenly now there are actually more democrats registered in PA, including Montgomery County, than Republicans. So we’ve actually got the numbers!! The trick will be making sure they all show up to the polls on election day. And our goal is to avoid being another contested Florida, so we have to win by a healthy margin.
And boy are we fired up. Another thing we have going for us is a fabulous team of people, and though slightly annoying to us, some seemingly smart people in Norristown and Philadelphia, and I guess Chicago, and other management areas of the campaign, who are very in touch with what we’re doing everyday, and constantly adjusting and changing our game plan to reflect the shifting battleground. And let me tell you, there’s no way in hell we’re going to give up this county to McCain.
NO WAY, NO HOW, NO MCCAIN IN PA!
Just where is Montgomery County, and the borough of Lansdale?
Here are a few maps to give you an idea of where we are. When I get a chance, I’ll try to post a few factoids about the area.
Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2000, the population was 750,097. A 2005 U.S. Census estimate placed the population at 795,618, making it the third most populous county in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia and Allegheny counties), and the 69th most populous county in the United States. The county seat is Norristown.
The county was created on September 10, 1784, out of land originally part of Philadelphia County. It is believed to have been either named in honor of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 1775 while attempting to capture Quebec City, Canada, or for the Welsh county of Montgomeryshire (which was named after one of William the Conqueror's main counselors, Roger de Montgomerie), as it was part of the Welsh Tract -- an area of Pennsylvania settled by Quakers from Wales. Early histories of the county indicate the origin of the county's name as uncertain.
Montgomery County is a suburban county northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Delaware Valley and marks the region's northern border with the Lehigh Valley region of the state.
It is the 44th wealthiest county in the country. (wonder how many total counties there are in the country? 44 sounds higher than my county feels wealthy- it's really just a lot of farms and housing developments!)
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 487 square miles (1,262 km²), of which, 483 square miles (1,251 km²) of it is land and 4 square miles (11 km²) of it (0.89%) is water.
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 750,097 people, 286,098 households, and 197,693 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,553 people per square mile (599/km²).
Most people commute to “Philly,” as its called, or one of the major corporations with centers in the county, such as Merck, Johnson and Johnson, Quest Diagnostics, Lockheed Martin, Aetna, Motorola, Prudential, etc.
North Penn School District (where I went, and incidentally, was student government president, in case you were interested) spans an area of 42 square miles, and covers the majority of our campaign area. There are 13 elementary schools (grades K-6), three middle schools (grades 7-9), and one high school (grades10-12). Enrollment at the elementary level is 6,599, middle level is 3,029, and high school level is 3,318, making a total district enrollment of 13,000. These figures represent the 90th day enrollment of the 2007-2008 school year. (My understanding is that North Penn High School is the largest high school in the state of PA). Our campaign area includes North Penn and also a little of Souderton High School’s area. If you are from the area and went to a religious school, you might also know Lansdale Catholic High School or Christopher Dock Mennonite High School (where my sister graduated from).
Yep, this is the heartland. Anytown USA. Suburbia at its best. Hence my title photo at the top.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Be Nice to your High School English Teacher
When I graduated from North Penn High School in 1993, I had 700 or so people in my graduating class, and we were the second largest high school in Pennsylvania. Today, one of the volunteers told me that her son is a senior there, and his graduating class has about 1100 students in it. Clearly something’s wrong with education when you can have one school with 3400 students in it in 3 grades (it looks like a small airport now). Anyway, somehow, 15 years later, my high school senior year English teacher, Mrs. Colliver, managed to recognize me when I saw her at the campaign office. She’s retired now, and has been coming in regularly to make phone calls and volunteer however she can. It was really fun to reconnect with her! I keep wondering how many more people will come through the door by the end that I knew growing up.
New note to this post: I also learned that another regular volunteer named Cathy was ALSO an English teacher at my high school, and coincedentally, the mom of a guy in my graduating class! Last night when she was in the office I introduced her to Facebook and showed her pics of a lot of her former students, my former classmates!
Also, here's a picture of the front page of our local town newspaper, The North Penn Reporter! Go Hillary!
Manic Monday - Hello Hillary!
Monday morning started off a bit rough for me, to be honest. I spent the weekend in DC visiting old friends, taking my nephew to the zoo, sorting out our storage unit, and feeling guilty that I wasn’t back in PA at the campaign office. I drove back to Philly early Monday morning and came into the office at about 11am. When I got there, I learned that everyone was out except a volunteer named Monica, minding the office. “Everyone’s gone to the Hillary rally!” she said. “Crap!” I thought. I’m such a loser- this must have been scheduled over the weekend (I vaguely recalled hearing on the news the announcement that the Clintons had announced a new blitz of rallies in Pennsylvania for Obama) and I wasn’t around to hear about it, and get scheduled to volunteer. I’m really not in the “in” volunteer group, I thought – they didn’t even call me! (which is sort of true, since a lot of the regular volunteers from Lansdale have been around since the primaries, and have major streed cred that I don't have.)So instead of sulking, I realized that it was quite close to town, so I decided to drive there and attend it anyway. I mean, I wanted to see Hillary! I was still early enough and when I went to go through the gate, I saw Sheila. I asked if she needed any help, and sure enough she handed me a clipboard and put me to work!!! The rally was at a beautiful state park, and the weather couldn’t have been better, not to mention the fall leaves that were already turning beautiful fall colors.
The energy there was contagious and although I’ve heard most of the pieces of her speech in media clips here and there before, I have to say that even I, in my jaded, “I hate canned speeches and prefer to be an intelligent snob and vote based on the issues,” thing, was inspired and cheering and jumping up and down by the end. She really is an amazing woman, and when she came down off the podium and shook hands and greeted people in the crowds, I was about two feet away from her at one point. It was really cool. 
What resonated with me so much in her speech, is when she spoke about how many people in the US today hate politics, and see the presidential campaign as a symbol of all the negativity and, well, BS in politics today (okay that’s me super paraphrasing). She talked about how our country was built on hope, on civic engagement, on empowerment of the people for the future, and all that traditional American democracy stuff.
But somehow the way she said it, got me almost choked up. Maybe I see too many people in developing countries who don’t have nearly the opportunities for democracy, or maybe it’s because I see the way our country throws away that opportunity as such a sad shame, but either way, I agreed with her that Obama really does represent something different. But then again, I was already going to vote for him. 
In the end, I started out my Monday driving home to PA in the dark, having to stop multiple times for coffee to stay awake, just to be back to work on the campaign.
But a depressing start ended with a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the chance to really get to know the other volunteers better and show that I’m a reliable volunteer too. And oh, there were these home-grown vendors that just showed up out of the blue at the rally. I bought a really crazy hot pink pin for my friend Melissa in Philly that says, “Hot Chicks Dig Barack Obama!”
I'd rather be in Kuala Lumpur...(Not Really!)
This week I’m missing a big annual meeting for my team in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. That is, my team at my “real job” that I do in Thailand. I’ve been to every one of these meetings since the tsunami recovery program began, but I wasn’t able to take my annual leave any earlier this year, and I decided that volunteering for the campaign was more important to me right now than this meeting. Luckily my bosses were pretty supportive, and in some ways, a few of them wish they were able to do what I’m doing instead of sitting in meetings all day. I hope they’re reading and living vicariously! Frankly, in just over a week of volunteering I’ve heard so many inspiring stories about community mobilization, volunteerism and pure American sense of civic duty that I hope I’ll be re-energized even for my own regular job when I go back.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Persuasion Period is Now
This week, we are in what’s called “Persuasion.” That means that we’re targeting undecided voters and trying to persuade them to vote for Obama. The campaign has these amazing systems which include lists of all registered voters, including your voting history, and an inventory of who is an Obama supporter and who’s still undecided. Part of what’s been happening for the last 6 months or more during the primary even, is that anytime a person got a call at home, or stopped by a table at a store, or came to an event or had someone knock on your door, the person was “identified” on a scale of 1-7, with one being a committed Obama supporter, 3 undecided, 5 a strong McCain supporter, and 6 and 7 being these crazy conservative guys who I guess are apparently on the ballot here and even more conservative than McCain. So through a variety of means, we can pull lists of potentially undecided voters and have volunteers call them and talk about the campaign. We are also sending lots and lots of people out to canvass neighborhoods – but not randomly, only to specifically undecided voters’ houses- to talk to them to try to get them to support Obama. Yes, it’s true- we have your name, phone number, what we think is your political “ID” for the campaign, AND your address. We also probably have your age and sex. Most of it comes from your voter registration, I think, and it’s in this huge online database that we use.
So the main form of persuasion is via phone banking and neighborhood canvassing. We have a script that we give people, and a bunch of different talking points on various issues. I spent my first day last week using my student council/sorority skills making an “Issues Wall” out of poster board and markers, which has photocopies of lots of different issue papers (in summarized, bite-sized talking points) in files that phone callers can use if they get a question they aren’t well informed about. It’s amazing the people who come out to do phone banking- a lot of them are doing it for the first time, and some are clearly uncomfortable with it at first, but really just want to do something to help. And yet it can end up really inspiring, because you actually get the chance to talk to people about the issues. I mean, 95% of my friends are strong Obama supporters, so it’s like we just sit around and talk to each other about issues, but it’s kind of like preaching to the choir. When you do persuasion calls, you get your own soapbox for the issues! Actually, they say that telling your own story about why you’re an Obama supporter, why you came in and gave your time to volunteer, is what persuades people the most. And indeed, when I explain to people that I grew up in Lansdale and now live halfway across the world doing tsunami recovery work and am giving up my once-a-year trip home to the campaign, it’s true, they do listen a bit more.
So the main form of persuasion is via phone banking and neighborhood canvassing. We have a script that we give people, and a bunch of different talking points on various issues. I spent my first day last week using my student council/sorority skills making an “Issues Wall” out of poster board and markers, which has photocopies of lots of different issue papers (in summarized, bite-sized talking points) in files that phone callers can use if they get a question they aren’t well informed about. It’s amazing the people who come out to do phone banking- a lot of them are doing it for the first time, and some are clearly uncomfortable with it at first, but really just want to do something to help. And yet it can end up really inspiring, because you actually get the chance to talk to people about the issues. I mean, 95% of my friends are strong Obama supporters, so it’s like we just sit around and talk to each other about issues, but it’s kind of like preaching to the choir. When you do persuasion calls, you get your own soapbox for the issues! Actually, they say that telling your own story about why you’re an Obama supporter, why you came in and gave your time to volunteer, is what persuades people the most. And indeed, when I explain to people that I grew up in Lansdale and now live halfway across the world doing tsunami recovery work and am giving up my once-a-year trip home to the campaign, it’s true, they do listen a bit more.
What does our office do??
Life at the Obama Lansdale campaign office is pretty straightforward, to be honest. We focus on a couple of key things: phone banking, canvassing neighborhoods, and recruiting volunteers to do either of those things. There are also a few people who do data entry and other office work. Oh, and we greet the gazillions of people who walk in the door everyday asking for a yard sign. The whole idea is house by house, person by person, getting people to vote for Obama. Right now, things are looking positive for Obama in Pennsylvania…4 years ago, PA “went blue” for John Kerry, but only barely. The feeling at the moment is that we can win PA, but we’ll have to work for it. And winning PA is important, because we have 21 electoral votes. If we’re not careful, we could be another Florida or Ohio. The crazy part is that Montgomery County, where Lansdale is located, is one of the hottest battleground areas- meaning if we can win here, we can win the state of PA. Lansdale is one of about 6 offices in Montgomery County.
The office is pretty bare bones- it’s just a large space, pretty much what used to be an old car dealership showroom, with lots of folding tables and chairs. Almost everything is donated, too! Dan and Ben have almost no budget. The other day we needed push pins, posterboard, and staples, and Sheila just went out and bought them, and paid herself. We have a food corner with a couple of mini refrigerators, a microwave, and coffee pot, and some shelves with snacks. Supporters come in all the time with food- I’m serious, they just drop off a big box of donuts or bagels or bulk snacks like tons of granola bars or pretzels or cases of bottled water. It’s amazing. We have a kids corner with coloring books and toys and I even brought in a tv/vcr for when it really gets busy, as we do get parents who stop by for an hour or two to help out.
In the picture here, you see a cut out of Obama from our office with a sign that says, "wish list." We keep a running list at the front of things we need and people often just bring it in. This guy Hugh is some sort of delivery guy and owns a big truck, and came by the other morning with his truck full of beat up folding tables and chairs. Yahoo! We have a big roll of plastic table cloth stuff, so we cleaned up the tables, covered them, and there we go! More space for volunteers. Right now our huge wish list item is cell phones or cell phone minutes. We have a bunch of pay-as-you-go cell phones with a lot of minutes, but there are never enough. A lot of volunteers use their own phones too.
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Lansdale Team
I'm still meeting people every day, but let me tell you about some of the folks I work with and have met so far. There are two paid staff – Field Organizers- who work out of our office, Dan and Ben. I’m assigned to Ben, and I’m called a Deputy Field Organizer (still figuring out what that means). Ben’s totally cute- he just graduated from Amherst in May, is from CT, and has been working on the campaign since the spring. He’s been in Montgomery County for about 4 months, and opened up our Lansdale office 2 weeks ago. He’s very sharp and works very hard, usually from about 9am until about midnight, everyday except Sunday when we don’t open until noon. He’s very nice and friendly, though a bit serious compared to Dan, the other Field Organizer, who’s a few years older, grew up in NYC, and is really funny. His joking sense of humor might be what gets us all to the finish line without losing it. Both guys are working non-stop, and both constantly look like they could use a shower, hot meal, 24 hours of sleep, and a haircut. They are being housed by a nice Lansdale volunteer named Kathy, who reminds me of my mom about 10 years ago. In fact, Kathy’s daughter has just graduated college, is looking to go into the field of international development, and is headed to Kenya in December.
And of course there’s Sheila (lady at left in photo)! Sheila is sort of a full-time volunteer from Long Island and is in charge of volunteers. She’s the best saleswoman I’ve ever met. No one so much as walks through the door without her talking them into volunteering for at least an hour in our office. You just can’t say no to this woman! She’s not Jewish, but has that perfect stereotypical NY Jewish mom persona. Only instead of insisting you take another helping of dinner, you find yourself spending hours calling random people and convincing them to vote for Obama. It’s genius, frankly.
I’m still figuring out how it all works (and part of the point of this blog is to give all of you a window to the inside workings of the campaign), but basically the Lansdale office just has Ben and Dan as paid staff, and everyone else is a volunteer. They do a lot with out-of-state volunteers who sign up to give large blocks of time to the campaign, like Sheila, and will pretty much go anywhere they are sent. I guess out-of-state-ers are less likely to get distracted by real life, and so can just work flat out full-time + for the days they are here. I signed up to work on the campaign in a number of places, basically just sending my CV and a cover letter explaining my situation, and filled out a few applications online. Technically I am an out-of-state volunteer, assigned to Lansdale, but actually they did it on purpose because I know the area, already have housing and transport, and can fulfill a need for more full-time volunteers that they had in my area. We just had a married couple from Texas come to Lansdale for 4 days to volunteer. I guess the idea is that Texas is considered less of a priority right now than Pennsylvania, so their time is best used here. I was talking to one of the team lead volunteers, Kelly, who told me that there are all kinds of people in non-swing states who come to swing states like PA to volunteer (in the coming weeks, apparently we’ll be flooded with them), but sometimes people will even volunteer frequent flyer miles or things like that, to pay for out-of-state volunteers to come. Team lead volunteers are usually Lansdale residents who do a lot of regular volunteering, but usually have a job or family, so can’t work every day, all day, like I’m hoping to do for the majority of the month I’m home. Many of these Lansdale team lead volunteers have been working for Obama since the early days of the primary, and really have some great stories.
In the coming weeks, I’ll try to tell more stories about the great people I’m meeting here.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
My First Day on the Trail
Okay, I’m not really “on the trail,” but I thought that sounded cool as a header…I work at a local campaign office in Lansdale, PA, which is one of about 8 offices that the Obama campaign has in Montgomery County. The office used to be a car dealership, I think, or a warehouse maybe, but for us it’s a huge space where lots of cool stuff goes on.
Okay, not always. Anyone else might have thought my first day was pretty boring, in fact, but me with my West Wing fantasy was pretty stoked anyway. Tuesday was my first day, and it was kind of slow. I learned how to use the super voter database and did some data entry, made the “Issues Wall,” talked to some people who stopped in, and then made a few phone calls to voters. I went home for lunch (my mom is an angel who is contantly grocery shopping and packed the fridge with all our favorite things- mmmm ham sandwhiches!) and then finished up about 6pm. Debate night!! My friend Melissa lives in Philly and took the train out to the ‘burbs for the debate, so I picked her up from the train station, and she, Steve and I went out for Philly cheesesteaks before we settled in at my house to watch the debate. Of course, jet lag kicked in pretty much exactly as the two candidates shook hands, and I promptly fell into a dead sleep sitting on the couch, for the entire debate.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
The Wanderlust Chronicles: Next Chapter
And so it begins! It's been about ten years now that I've been working internationally, and although my husband Steve and I have really enjoyed it (and just signed on for two more years, recently relocated to Thailand from Sri Lanka), we miss a lot of things, like family and friends (and good margaritas!). But another thing I've lately realized I've missed is my country...In my short little career I've worked on a few democratic governance programs in developing countries, and also lived in a number of places where people know nothing of the notion of liberty and democracy that we sometimes take for granted in the US. "We the people...." is what our country was founded on, and so I've decided that for a short few weeks, it's time for me to do something for my own country for a change. Especially during a period when I feel so strongly that our country needs a change, and that Barack Obama is the one to lead us to it. So I'm giving up most of my annual leave home (my work sends us home once a year for about a month) to volunteer on the Obama Presidential campaign. Since my home state of Pennsylvania is a "swing state" still for either candidate, I've been assigned to work in my hometown of Lansdale, PA, where I can stay with my folks, be overfed by my mom, mooch her car when I need it, and bug my best friend from high school and her husband regularly, who live down the road.
Over the years, Steve and I have been known to send email letters to friends and families called "The Wanderlust Chronicles." (okay fine, it's been a while since we've written one- good thing we've now discovered blogging!) Consider this a new chapter, only it's about my experience here at home, doing grass-roots volunteering. Read on, and enjoy!
Over the years, Steve and I have been known to send email letters to friends and families called "The Wanderlust Chronicles." (okay fine, it's been a while since we've written one- good thing we've now discovered blogging!) Consider this a new chapter, only it's about my experience here at home, doing grass-roots volunteering. Read on, and enjoy!
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