Change of Plan

The canvas went much better this weekend. My partner and I actually talked to people, and those people were uniformly voting our way. It was such a relive. It gets very demoralizing to get up on Saturday morning and get myself together to go out and do it when there isn’t anyone there. I am beginning to see why in catastrophes they will hide live “victims” in the rubble so the rescue dogs can find a live one once in a while.

You hit door after door after door and there is either no one there or they just don’t bother to answer the door. The TV is going, the dog is barking and they just don’t answer the door. If you don’t think the person on the other side of the door can’t tell that you crept up to look out the peep hole and then crept away? They can, believe me. You aren’t fooling anybody. I’m beginning to see why some people can’t catch a break. Opportunity knocks and they won’t come to the door.

I’ve dreamed of standing in front of those doors and saying We’re not cops, or social workers or a Mormons, we’re not here to sell you anything, or hand you a summons. We’re Democrats and we come in peace, damn it! ANSWER YOUR DAMN DOOR!

My partner broke from tradition by speaking to every person he saw. Men included. This is not part of our instructions. Our instructions are clear. We are there to speak to female lackadaisical voters only, the female lackadaisical voter on our list specifically, only. Not her husband or her Mother or her roommate’s boyfriend or her 18 year old kid. We want Joan Blow and just Joan Blow. If you are of voting age and you are in her house, you don’t count. This makes for depressing visits. If there is a random person of voting age wandering about, we do not approach them. We have a list! We have codes! We have 40 doors to knock on!

Partner said to hell with this and spoke to everyone. It was so freeing! It actually felt like we were doing something. We also found people at home. This doesn’t happen. These same people had been canvassed by phone and had been told about the ballot but didn’t know what it looked like. They were happy! to see us. They wanted to talk to us.

No one is ever at home and if they are at home they aren’t happy to see us and they don’t want talk to us. This was my fourth weekend out knocking on doors and I think I’ve talked to maybe, 18 actual voter’s total. Out of probably a hounded and seventy doors. It was getting very depressing.

Now that I know that the sky isn’t going to fall if I talk to some one off the list, it may not be as depressing as it has been. It also helped that everyone we talked to were democrats. They were all democrats because shock and amazement we were in an actual black neighborhood, with actual black voters. Black voters that had been paid attention to and made to feel wanted! Black votes who are going to vote. I noticed that in my black neighborhood that there was no literature dropped off. The only “literature” that I can see around is stuck to the light poles and advertises a “Voters Rights March” and registration (registration ended October 8!) on October 22, brought to you by VOTE OUT THE ENEMIES, but written like a crossword puzzel, hard to read until you look at it for a while. Wow. How. "Street".

I think the democrats have decided to let P.Diddy handle the canvassing chores in my neighborhood. I am assuming that he will go with an “urban” style canvass for my neighborhood. It will consist of guys standing on the corners flashing Kerry/Edwards gang signs at the traffic and keeping track of how many cars shoot at them , i.e. “not voting KE04” at them verses honk at them, i.e. “Yes, voting KE04”. Maybe they’ll have some hootchies out there with the ballot photo copied on to their thongs to show passersby the locations of the races and who the dem candidates are.