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First of all I am from SW Ohio. Though considered conservative and reliably GOP, the city of Cincinnati is 43% African American and city council is democratic and black. Cincinnati is not the only urban Ohio city with a sizeable African American population.
I have been street canvassing for 6 weeks now and I am convinced that the biggest pool of likely democratic voters who can swing this election AND are not reflected in the polls are low income African Americans. Thanks to hugely successful voter registration drives from ACT, MoveOn, Young Voter Alliance and ACORN, we have a huge pool of registered but unlikely voters. This pool is concentrated in urban areas, moves a lot, uses cell phones AND are not on the phone bankers, canvassers or pollsters lists.
They are however at bus stops, street corners, front porches, corner stores, city parks etc. They are the janitors where we work, they are the cashiers at the grocery store. They have jobs with few benefits, they have higher unemployment rates, and they are historically very loyal but unlikely democratic voters. If we increase turn out among African Americans in urban areas in the battleground states that have significant African American popultations we win. Period
I have been to Kerry Campaign headquarters, MoveOn PAC meeting and all I have to say is we have way too many white people talking to white people about this election. We CAN NOT afford to assume that the NAACP, the Urban Leauge and African American ministers have this election covered.
I am white and I have had no problem canvassing every African American I pass on the street as I go about my life. That means at the integrated grocery store I shop at, the downtown streets where I work and every hour lunch break for the past 6 weeks I have been canvassing African Americans and low income urban whites. I also took a week vacation to canvass in urban neighborhoods not adjacent to downtown
I walk down streets that many suburban whites would be afraid to travel, talking to everyone about this election. I want every single vote I can possibly get for John Kerry. I don't care if you stand on the corner selling crack, I want that vote. And not once have I felt unsafe or unwanted. The people I talk to are genuinely glad that I am doing what I am doing. And as Michael Moore pointed out in Bowling for Columbine the perception that black neighborhoods are simply unsafe for white people simply is not true, but a product of TV news.
What do I talk about when I street canvass low income people? Mostly the really f****d up Bush economy and the draft. I make extensive use of the TWO-FACED flyer, stapling or glueing it to utilty poles in high foot traffic areas. People love that graphic and lots of people ask me for a personal copy. It is a great conversation opener. People say, "I know that's right." I also use the memme, "Bush is a punk ass bitch." I get universal agreement on that one AND people love to hear me say that.
The other thing I do when I street canvass is reassure low income people that the dems have their back and we are going to protect the vote. I say, "we got lawyers, guns and money". I also tell them not to listen to the polls because they do not call cell phones. Hamilton County in SW Ohio has 71,000 new voter registrations and they are predominantly democratic.
But I need help. I need other people who live in areas with a sizeable African American population to do what I am doing. If you do this on your own you can say anything, including Bush is a punk ass bitch.
We should also be recruiting the older black men who stand on street corners to help with the GOTV efforts among the younger men. These men have been around, and remember the civil rights era. During the civil rights era white and black joined together for a goal. In 2004 it's time to get back to that. Leave your comfortable chair in your suburban neighborhood and come into the city to defeat GW Bush.
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