You may think that I spend my time driving around town, exploring neighborhoods and visiting coffee shops. Yes, that is my life, but I also involve myself in the larger world. I'm writing this time about my experiences as a "California Call Team" member for the Obama campaign.
Although Sarah Palin initially found community organizing to be a source of hilarity, she is probably beginning to understand its political value.
For those of you reading this entry overseas, community organizers help poor people to organize themselves to achieve goals that are beneficial for the entire community. Those projects run the gamut from large (creating affordable housing) to small-scale (getting a stop sign at an intersection that school kids use every day). Many would consider this work to be honorable. But the political bottom line is that community organizers, by definition, know how to organize.
Now back to my phone banking experiences, to see how this plays out. To set the stage: before going to the phone bank location on the first day, I was channeling my inner BAP (Black American Princess). I changed my top 3 times. It was a rainy day, you see, and I had to come up with an ensemble to go with my black and white houndstooth rain boots. I wanted to be polished yet approachable, hip yet down-to-earth... you get the idea. I could have saved myself some time: a white Chihuahua called Winston (John Lennon's middle name) took the fashion prize. He was wearing a red satin "England" soccer jacket, in honor of his namesake.
Anyway, I was kind of surprised by how post-post the whole process is: you look at the choices on "mybarackobama.com," you reply to an evite, you go to a location (in my case, lovely production offices in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood). You get some training, a script and a list of people. Then you start calling on your cell. There are probably 30 people or more per 3 hour shift and we spread ourselves all over the place. It's fun and the snacks are good. There are always homemade cookies and brownies and excellent non-Folgers coffee, which is key. Mostly it's been the hipster crowd, although last week for the first time the volunteers skewed older. It's an all-volunteer operation: the callers, the coordinators, the field guy who's spearheading it.
Point one about the organizing vibe: the people making calls are really engaged and feel like they're making a difference. My boyfriend and I (he starting coming too, after the first time) are regulars. I now have my phone bank friends, like the aforementioned Winston, and Madeline who usually sits across from me at a conference room table. One hipster expressed the hope that there'd be stuff to do after the election. People, even out here in the City of Self-Focus, are enjoying making a contribution. Obviously this will be a huge advantage as of November 5th.
So what have we been doing? We began by calling Nevada. A few weeks ago we were assessing support for Obama, learning which issues were most important, and encouraging people to vote early. We also talked about the issues, as appropriate, and why we were voting for him. It's been fascinating to have a glimpse into people's lives. I talked to a lady in Nevada, for example, who gets up at 12:15 every morning to be at work at 1:45 am. She works a 12 hour day and never gets more than 5 hours sleep. And then there was the terrific conversation I had with a charged-up 65 year-old. He told me that his friend (also 65) was an active Obama volunteer -- and that it was the first time he'd volunteered since Robert Kennedy ran for President.
Meanwhile, as we were connecting with Nevadans by phone, other Californians were going to Nevada each week, to help with the door-to-door campaign. Yes, that's right, door-to-door. Both efforts fed into each other. Sometimes we called and a voter might have had someone knock on the door earlier, but wasn't able to spend time with her (or him) at that moment. Or maybe the voter wasn't available for our phone call, but was available later for a visit. And as we made calls, other volunteers in the office were working on their laptops, entering data. As I understand it, this info went back to the field (and to Chicago as well). I would imagine that this is one of the reasons that the campaign has been able to adjust strategies so quickly, as the info is coming in almost in real time.
Our focus has shifted to a full throttle "get out the vote" effort as we get closer to November. We called Obama supporters in Florida this past weekend, and could even give people the early voting location closest to their homes. A surprising percentage that I'd talked to had already voted. Typical was the woman who replied, "Yes, I had the paper from the man who visited me, and I voted yesterday." And for those who hadn't voted early, mostly all I had to say was "It'll really help the campaign" and then they wanted to get the details. All this tag-teaming doesn't seem to be annoying people. In fact, they seem to be impressed -- that I'm calling from LA, that somebody else is taking the time to knock on their door... I've also gotten a few wags, of course, like the older Floridian who asked whether Obama was a rapper. Some people seem to be constantly auditioning in the hopes of getting on a comedy show.
Point two re organizing: attention to detail. This is the best example I can give you: last Saturday I was on the phone with a 30 something guy, attempting to do the full spiel ("Do you know about early voting? I can give you the location closest to your house."etc.). All the while I could hear his wife very clearly in the background: "Who's that? Obama campaign? What are they saying? What are they asking you? I want to get on the phone. Put me on the phone."
And I'm thinking to myself, 'Oh shit. Here we go.' So he says, "My wife wants to talk with you." I'm able to get in the question about whether he needs a ride to the polls and hear his reply (as well as his surprise). Then I summon all my Midwestern Hostess with the Mostest energy, smile broadly, and say, "Hello, this is Darcine. I'm a volunteer with the Obama campaign. Who's this?" This is what I hear:
"This is Natasha. I just want to tell you that I waited in line for 4 hours to vote today."
'Oh no. What am I supposed to do about that?' I'm thinking to myself.
She continues, "And Obama volunteers had 3 tables with water and they were working the lines handing out water and I've never seen anything like it. It was just amazing and really encouraged people to keep waiting. I just wanted to let you know that you all are doing a great job. So proactive. Thank you so much."
!
Brilliant. I mean, how much does water cost? And what a great payoff. So the strength of this approach, in sum, is that it's about relationship building. Last example, that's kept me smiling most of the week: on Monday around 5:30 pm, I was furiously trying to finish up before the end of the business day. I got a call on my cell from Florida, from one of the people that I 'd talked to over the weekend. At the time, he thought that the early voting site was within walking distance, so he didn't need transportation. But it turned out to be further away than he thought, and he's in a wheelchair. So of course he called me, in the way that you'd call your neighbor. And of course I remembered him. I stopped everything, got his info, shot an email to the coordinator so that she could let the Florida field office know. By the way, he was one of those famed Independent voters, as he told me that he votes for the most capable person -- sometimes that's a Republican, sometimes that's a Democrat. And yes, I was late for boot camp. But even I can sacrifice 10 minutes of fitness time, for two additional votes (his partner needed a ride too) in Florida.
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