The preparations for Get Out the Vote is a strange logistical endeavor- taking over the basement or the empty floor of a building to sort thousands of lists, campaign lit and assorted other materials into piles by ward and precinct. Packetland as it is affectionately and literally named, is a strange place filled with movement and buzz. It feels the partisan/human equivalent of an ant hill.
Tonight as those hundreds of stacks of boxes shipped out from packetland were received at action centers across the state, GOTV truly began. Working late into the night sorting and organizing for tomorrows canvass with two organizers assigned to my action center the nervous anxiety creped into my stomach. Volunteers talking to voters and each other about the election. And now its show time!
But what was the most amazing was getting to watch these field organizers, who've been working so hard in this suburban district over the last couple months, experience the magically feeling that I felt when I had my first organizing job 6 years ago. They raved about their favorite super volunteers who would spend the next four days helping us out, and they fluently deliberated about the ward and precincts of the walk packets we were organizing. They are weary, but excited. And they have no way to anticipate the rush that the next four days will provide.
Its sort of fun to see GOTV again through the eyes of a new organizer- makes me all the more exciting for the volunteers to start pouring in tomorrow!
(Tomorrow I will actually try and blog about what the word is about Obama, Franken, Aston Media & Elwin Tinklenberg)
So maybe its just the euphoria of arriving on a beautiful Minnesota fall day, but I am filled with nervous excitement and not just about who will win. When I picked up my car, the 25 year old rental associate told me she was excited to be voting for the first time. I stopped to get a haircut, and my hair dresser said she had never been as excited about an election and as a result she has spent a lot of researching issues and candidate positions on the internet. The women getting her hair cut next to me said she was going to volunteer for the first time, driving folks to the polls on election day. And my little sister, always politically aware but not always that interested, has gotten so into the election that she wouldn't let me talk about anything else when we met for lunch.
One of the big stories of this election will be early voting and not just because Early Voters are Breaking Records or because it is a good sign for Obama, both of which are probably true!
It may be the organizer in me, but I was really moved by this video from the campaign trail about an older African American volunteer in Bolder and his experiences volunteering and working with a younger generation of organizers and volunteers.
Watch it, it'll remind you why you supported Obama and how proud you are to be involved in this campaign.
I am heading to Minnesota
for Get Out the Vote. I can hardly wait for the crisp, cool fall air
filled with the exciting swing-state anxiety. I will be running an action
center, one hub of many where we will be training, sending out, feeding, and
then sending back out again an army of volunteers to knock on doors and turn
out folks out to vote. Saturday through Tuesday, with the biggest
operation on Election Day, volunteers will be teaming up to canvass the city
and make sure their fellow citizens have gotten to the polls to vote.
Sorry to diverge on the wonky details that clearly betray my
background as an organizer. But these are the details that make GOTV my
favorite time of any campaign. The energy and community, the brand new
volunteers excited and anxious and the superstar volunteers who get to step up
and take a leadership role. The nervous excitement when you approach each door
on your list and the relief when the door opens to a smiling "I've already
voted!." These action centers will overflow with a sense of purpose and
warmth, as folks come back from a canvass sharing stories of what they've heard
from the people they doorknocked or how they got involved in the campaign. It
is one of my favorite feelings in the world.
And sure this is about getting Barack Obama elected, and how exciting
and historic this particular GOTV will be! But its also about something bigger-
its about the community and collective spirit that good campaigns can harness
and foster. Its about you and me taking our enthusiasm for a great candidate
and our faith in the our fellow voters, to the streets. It is electoral
democracy in its finest hour. And I can't wait!
In this heated election, during this charged moment in
history, now seems the time to take a step back and remember that we are all in
this together. Over the next 8 days and
the next four years, it will be important to actively reject the division or
arrogance that can alienate and disempower Americans with whom we disagree.
This observation was spurred by two recent events. The first was when Michele
Bachmann, a Congresswomen from my home state of Minnesota, announced to the world via Chris
Matthews that the media media to actual undertake a public witch hunt looking for congressional representatives who expressed anti-American views: "I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the
people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America"
This offended me for two reasons. First, McCarthyism is a dark stain on American government and
the thought of repeating it is both frightening and insulting. Second, her
statements call into question the strength and character of a great American
institution and the patriotic men and women who serve the American people. Eroding the confidence in our representative government
through fear and accusation should offend all Americans- Democrat, Republican
or Independent.
The second was a thought expressed by a thoughtful friend of
mine, who happens to be a Republican. He was reacting to the vocal and confident Obama-mania amongst some of his friend. The gloating and glee has begun to grow as the election nears,
and he wondered if Obama wins, would Obama supporters and the would-be administration
itself replicate the same partisan hubris that has been strangling Washington for
the past 8+ years. “To the victors belongs the spoils”?
I reacted strongly to both of these stories.I wanted to apologize
to the country for the Minnesota Congresswoman, and to my friend for the
partisan immaturity of those Obama-supporting friends.
The apology would go something like this: At a time when we
face financial uncertainty and economic insecurity, when we have American
troops fighting wars in two countries and potential conflict in many more, and
when we face a crisis of confidence in both Congress and the Presidency, the
last thing we need is division, accusations or gloating.
Now is the time for us
to connect as Americans; as Americans who are worried about what’s happening on wall
street and main street, even if we have differences about how to fix the
problem; as Americans who support our troops and want to bring them
home, even if we disagree about when the mission should end;as Americans who take pride in our Constitution, our governing
institutions and the representatives who serve us, even if we don’t always
agree.
To my fellow Obama supporters and those who support McCain, its in our hands to protect and promote the integrity of the American structures of governance. After all, neither Obama or McCain will be effective in handling the current crisis without public confidence and support.
Respect, humility and empathy, not witch-hunts, bragging and insults, are what this country needs right now.
