Canvassing for Change

This Presidential race has been a pretty big deal. I've always voted Democrat, and like to think of myself as a "reasonable" liberal. I had always appreciated Obama's intellect and talent throughout the primaries, but wasn't one of those rapt fans that I kept seeing on my Facebook pages. Had my primary vote actually counted, I would have had trouble choosing between him and Hilary. I didn't loathe McCain, but I knew I was unlikely to vote for him, as I didn't support his views on Iraq. And then went and brought in THAT WOMAN, and I knew that no matter what, they could not be permitted to win.

So I sent Obama a little money, and forwarded all those MoveOn petitions to my friends. Then the race was getting closer and closer, and THAT WOMAN was getting more and more horrible. Thus, in order to get out the vote, I signed up to volunteer for the Obama campaign on Election Day.

I was supposed to be at the office at 10am. This caused some consternation: when would I actually vote? The early voting lines were surreal -- 1-2 hours to vote? I've never waited more than ten minutes to vote, ever in my life (and even though I'm not very old, I've voted plenty of times). So, all panicked, I went to the polls at 7:45am, armed with a book and a granola bar, just in case. Even if my wait was 2 hours, I'd still make it to my shift on time. Uh, I waited 10 minutes. When there did end up being a line, I was in front.

So I took myself out for Chicken Breakfast. It was a holiday, after all. Can you imagine anything more exciting than a restaurant run by conservative Christians in a red state on Election Day? The table of chubby men behind me were saying dangerous things about the Jews (not mean things... just... uninformed, fear-based things) so I scarfed down my food and left. I get a strong reaction from people when I tell them I love Chick-Fil-A. They always say "But you know about their company, right?" So what? They make a damn fine chicken sandwich and don't tell me I'm going to Hell when they hand me my change. It's all good. Besides, none of these people would ever turn down falafel from Mahmoun's or corned beef from a kosher deli... what happened to being a liberal-minded liberal?

I had no trouble making it to the local Obama office on time. I did have trouble finding a parking space. It was PACKED! But the energy was palpable. Everyone was there -- white, black, young, old, gay, straight -- and everyone was so happy! One man brought his school-aged son with him. When I walked in, no one knew who I was, and couldn't find the list with my name on it. A hyper man in a baseball cap walked by: "Come with me!" I followed. He tossed me a button (Florida Pride for Obama! I wore it with, well, pride).

I was in the canvass group. Ack! Couldn't I, like, file something? I'm obsessive-compulsive -- you WANT me to file for you. But no. I had to go out in public and knock on the doors of strangers. And I had to take a stranger with me! Actually, she turned out to be a very nice library-media specialist from Delray named Cathy. We were sent to a very pretty development with our list and some door hangers.

Knock on a door. No answer? Leave a door hanger. Mark it on the list. Knock on a door."Hi, we're volunteering with the Obama campaign, and wanted to make sure that PERSON'S NAME FROM LIST is going to vote today." "That person no longer lives here." Knock on a door. "Hi--"

One older gentleman came to the gate. "Yes, my wife and I have already voted, and we did vote for Obama. We're so excited to see this change, and are so hopeful." What a wonderful moment. Canvassing was actually really fun. People were nice. No one screamed at us. We had a nice little morning walk. We got to look inside everyone's front gate and see their fancy lawn furniture and landscaping (my favorite part).

Until we were asked to leave by the development's staff because we were "soliciting." Sigh. We'd been to almost all of the houses on the list. 

I didn't stay up to watch the election results roll out that night. When I went to bed, Obama had a slight lead. Florida hadn't reported yet. I was hopeful, but not holding my breath. When I woke up the next morning, I saw a sight so gratifying -- like waking up the morning after a snowstorm! During the night, while I slept, Florida went blue! I take full credit. You're welcome.