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.

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.