Vegas Baby
Just back from Las Vegas where 225 Californian volunteers, my friend Melinda and I among them, spent Saturday and Sunday canvassing, knocking on thousands of doors, urging registered Democrats or just some time Kerry supporters to get out to vote on Tuesday if they haven't already. It was, of course, always encouraging to find a supporter on the other side of the screen door, but that wasn't always the case. The first thing I'd say is "My name is Todd and I'm a volunteer with the Kerry/Edwards campaign" and I'd pretty much know whom I'm dealing with right then and there. If we got a "not interested," you can be sure they don't intend to vote for Kerry, and it's not our job to stick around to convince them otherwise.
There was a string of houses on Saturday that were all registered Democrats voting for Bush. It sucked. The responses ranged from "Bye bye," to "thank you but I'm for Bush." And then there was a guy who told me he wasn't voting for Kerry but seemed like he wanted to talk about it. So I asked him why not Kerry. He told me because he's a Catholic and Kerry claims to be a Catholic yet he's for abortion -- I corrected him, saying he's not pro-abortion, he's pro-choice, there's a difference, but his point was that he feels that Kerry's beliefs are inconsistent with his faith. I knew that I was not going to convince him otherwise, so when he expressed doubts about Bush as well, I hammered home the importance of voting with your consicience if you're not enthusiastic about either one, telling him about my brother, who just couldn't bring himself to vote for Kerry or Bush, is writing in Nader. Jeremy's in California so the vote doesn't help Bush. But this guy's vote could easily hurt Bush. Sometimes you just have to be content for one fewer Bush vote if not one more for Kerry.
We left Vegas with the assurance that the state is 49-49, despite what most polls say, and that our efforts really meant a lot, since this is going to come down to turn out. In my view, if Kerry wins Nevada, it will be a sign of a massive turnout nationwide, which will signify a Kerry landslide. Right now, I'd bet on Bush taking the state, but I'm certainly glad to have helped in my small way. And I will always have burned on my brain Melinda running into a gated community once a woman opened the gate for her car, only to watch the woman get out of the car with the remote, opening up the gate again demanding to know who we are, what we want, and that Melinda leave immediately or she'll call the cops. These are the lengths we go to for you, Johnny. I can't imagine the pressure you must be feeling but I think I speak for all of us when I say, please don't fuck this up.
There was a string of houses on Saturday that were all registered Democrats voting for Bush. It sucked. The responses ranged from "Bye bye," to "thank you but I'm for Bush." And then there was a guy who told me he wasn't voting for Kerry but seemed like he wanted to talk about it. So I asked him why not Kerry. He told me because he's a Catholic and Kerry claims to be a Catholic yet he's for abortion -- I corrected him, saying he's not pro-abortion, he's pro-choice, there's a difference, but his point was that he feels that Kerry's beliefs are inconsistent with his faith. I knew that I was not going to convince him otherwise, so when he expressed doubts about Bush as well, I hammered home the importance of voting with your consicience if you're not enthusiastic about either one, telling him about my brother, who just couldn't bring himself to vote for Kerry or Bush, is writing in Nader. Jeremy's in California so the vote doesn't help Bush. But this guy's vote could easily hurt Bush. Sometimes you just have to be content for one fewer Bush vote if not one more for Kerry.
We left Vegas with the assurance that the state is 49-49, despite what most polls say, and that our efforts really meant a lot, since this is going to come down to turn out. In my view, if Kerry wins Nevada, it will be a sign of a massive turnout nationwide, which will signify a Kerry landslide. Right now, I'd bet on Bush taking the state, but I'm certainly glad to have helped in my small way. And I will always have burned on my brain Melinda running into a gated community once a woman opened the gate for her car, only to watch the woman get out of the car with the remote, opening up the gate again demanding to know who we are, what we want, and that Melinda leave immediately or she'll call the cops. These are the lengths we go to for you, Johnny. I can't imagine the pressure you must be feeling but I think I speak for all of us when I say, please don't fuck this up.
posted by Todd at 1:10 AM
2 Comments:
I am my "friend Melinda" who volunteered with Todd this weekend, and is debating (bags are packed and waiting in the car right now) of hopping on a bus at 7pm to go back through the desert and work through Election Day in Las Vegas.
Why? I keep asking myself this same question. This weekend was not easy: dealing with large groups of only marginally organized people; eating the pre-determined food at the pre-determined time; being windburnt and sunburnt; walking and knocking and walking and knocking; getting lost in a maze of lower-income apartment homes; getting screamed at by a crazy woman protecting her expensive rouse of privacy in her ridiculous gated community; approaching people in their homes about often polarizing politics; having dirty hands all the time and using port-a-potties. These things I chose to patiently endure. But, above all, what's really hard, is the exhaustion factor. I am so tired that I'm feeling dizzy as I type this ... and I am considering doing this all over again - only in a more intense fashion.
Well, why? I'll tell you why.
Because I think all the time about my nieces and nephews and the myriad of youth that I work with at church. And I think about what another four years of Bush could do to our nation, our world, our culture, our bodies. And it's (somewhat, to the point that non-biased entities actually control the election and that each voice is heard that wishes to be) fair for us - those who can vote and do or don't. It's somewhat fair that the choice we make is the choice we make, that our voices are heard and acknowledged, and we get a president.
But it's not fair for those who have no voice: are too young to have a loud-enough voice; are too poor to have their voice heard (as working three jobs is more important to survival than getting the time off to register or ink their dot); are silenced by a language barrier. It's not fair that the children and the poor who are relying on us to make their decisions, could be and have been let down over and over and over again by the man who we presently call Mr. President.
It's up to us, and by that, I mean, it's up to me. I take this race personally, because I hear those unspoken voices in my head. And right now, they are screaming at me for Kerry '04.
I am my "friend Melinda" who volunteered with Todd this weekend, and is debating (bags are packed and waiting in the car right now) of hopping on a bus at 7pm to go back through the desert and work through Election Day in Las Vegas.
Why? I keep asking myself this same question. This weekend was not easy: dealing with large groups of only marginally organized people; eating the pre-determined food at the pre-determined time; being windburnt and sunburnt; walking and knocking and walking and knocking; getting lost in a maze of lower-income apartment homes; getting screamed at by a crazy woman protecting her expensive rouse of privacy in her ridiculous gated community; approaching people in their homes about often polarizing politics; having dirty hands all the time and using port-a-potties. These things I chose to patiently endure. But, above all, what's really hard, is the exhaustion factor. I am so tired that I'm feeling dizzy as I type this ... and I am considering doing this all over again - only in a more intense fashion.
Well, why? I'll tell you why.
Because I think all the time about my nieces and nephews and the myriad of youth that I work with at church. And I think about what another four years of Bush could do to our nation, our world, our culture, our bodies. And it's (somewhat, to the point that non-biased entities actually control the election and that each voice is heard that wishes to be) fair for us - those who can vote and do or don't. It's somewhat fair that the choice we make is the choice we make, that our voices are heard and acknowledged, and we get a president.
But it's not fair for those who have no voice: are too young to have a loud-enough voice; are too poor to have their voice heard (as working three jobs is more important to survival than getting the time off to register or ink their dot); are silenced by a language barrier. It's not fair that the children and the poor who are relying on us to make their decisions, could be and have been let down over and over and over again by the man who we presently call Mr. President.
It's up to us, and by that, I mean, it's up to me. I take this race personally, because I hear those unspoken voices in my head. And right now, they are screaming at me for Kerry '04.
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