Door-to-Door

I finally gave in and agreed to do some door-to-door campaigning for the Edwards campaign. Volunteers do this in pairs, and since I was new a staff member was going to do it with me. I met up with Paul at the campaign office on a Saturday afternoon and we got started in Ward 1, the ward where I live.

The first few houses were all leaning towards Edwards, which was very encouraging. It was raining the whole day and I think we made a good impression on some people, that we were out campaigning for Edwards even on a cold, rainy day. People were mostly friendly, and I soon figured out the simple tricks of how many times one should knock, figuring out whether one should be knocking on the side door instead of the front door, and so on, essentially tricks to ensure that I would not annoy the person whose door I was knocking on. These were all democrats, and independents who had voted in 2004 (which meant they were probably democratic leaning independents), and this meant that they received Edwards campaign folks in a friendly manner. Paul was good company, and the task was not as bad as I had thought it would be at all.

50-60% were either not at home or did not answer the door (we left literature for them). In the remaining 40-50% three quarters of them had not decided. In the remaining small number of people, a good number had decided on Edwards or were leaning towards him. One said she had decided on Hillary, and one said she did not like Edwards, and that was it. Everyone was either undecided or liked Edwards so far. I decided I was not going to listen to a single poll from now on! Poll results did not seem to reflect what I observed at all (granted this was only in one ward).

Towards the end of the afternoon we decided to go to Alicia Lane, as I had a friend on that street, someone who had been very active in the Dean campaign in 2004. I told Paul we should stop there. That whole street ended up being very good. In the first house on that street the husband said he was undecided but his wife was leaning towards Edwards; to him electability was the most critical thing. Paul was ready with various polls showing Edwards doing well against most Republican front runners. At my friend’s house we went in. Fanny had been very interested in Obama, but lately had said he did not fire her up as Edwards did. We sat down in their living room and I explained why I supported Edwards, and she slowly got convinced – she said, “I really have to get over my infatuation with Obama”, and went on to add that, “I cannot believe that I am not going to vote for a black candidate”. After we left Paul said, “I feel exactly the same way. I want to show that we can elect a black president”. Then he looked at me and said, “I don’t suppose you understand that”, and I said, “no, I don’t”. Fanny and Paul, being progressive whites, felt strongly that they should support a viable black candidate. That was a surprise to me. Having been part of a “minority” pretty much all my life, as Paul said I did not understand (or rather had not thought of that) the desire by the “majority” who are progressive to vote for a “minority” candidate. Interesting.