Just got home from an evening of phone banking for Obama

[RazBerryBeret]

I put in 1 1/2 hours calling people from the local Panera. Vast majority of people were not home, or were not answering their phones. There were a couple of good signs, first I sat beside a man in his 50s and after hearing him talking on the phone I had to ask him, "are you really a republican?"...yep, a lifelong repub who voted the Bush both times, said the beginning of the turn around was the Schiavo case plus seeing what a mess we are now in. He is now volunteering as much as he can for Obama!

Secondly, I talked to a woman on the phone who said she was leaning towards Obama. I asked which issue was most important to her, she said until this week she would have said Pro-Life. But presently it's the Economy. That gave me a lot of hope, I generally bitch about single issue voters who gave us Bush because they thought they were saving the innocent...But maybe some of them are turning around!

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

1. thanks....

....for sharing that. I'm phone banking this weekend.

[RazBerryBeret]

2. I will do all that I can...

I heard a statistic this week that IF Kerry had gotten SIX more votes in each precinct in Ohio he would have won Ohio and won the Election. SIX people per precinct seem so easy ... we could've avoided this mess! I live in Ohio and I volunteered for MoveOn, but after hearing that I feel that I didn't do enough!!

[Captain Hilts]

4. I'll be stepping in for a friend during Rosh Shoshana and Yom Kippur. nt

[Ilsa]

3. That is very encouraging! Thanks for the report, and thank you for your efforts! nt

[NYC_SKP]

5. Excellent!1! I strongly urge DUers to give it a try. I know it's scary to some.

But it gets easier with every call.

And if you get nervous, just remember that you don't need to see them or meet them, just be nice and put your best face forward, you're an ambassador for Barack Obama!

And if none of that works to make you relax, just picture them naked!!!

:hi:

[RazBerryBeret]

7. ewww...

I seemed to have more than my share of older republicans on my list. so no thanks!! (the naked comment)

I was a little nervous about using my own cell phone, afraid that if I got someone who was combative they would have my personal phone #. but everyone was polite, respectful. I identified myself first as a volunteer for the Obama campaign. One man's response " Barack Obama? you've got the wrong number, babe!"...I marked him down as a strong McCain supporter.....

[NYC_SKP]

11. My ratio of positive calls to negative seems to always be very high...

I've had a couple hang-ups, a couple "now way" answers, but usually they're positive and sometimes very much so!

Of course, a large number of the calls don't result in a conversation at all, but are either bad numbers, no answer, or an answering machine.

It gets to where you WANT to get a real person after a few of those, even if they aren't on board.

Thanks to everyone who's doing this, it is one of the big things that will make a difference and one way that everyone can help.

We have a blind man in our group who makes calls sometimes, we dial for him!

[Cha]

6. Thanks Raz! For phone banking

and for your encouraging field report:)

[skooooo]

8. the Schiavo case...

...was about the lowest point in American culture I've seen. Completely disgusting.

[RazBerryBeret]

9. you're right and I hadn't thought about it for a while....

the reformed republican was using it as his big talking point, I think that was smart. it struck a chord with a majority of Americans.

[PATRICK]

10. Phone banker here

It gets harder all the time to reach people. Caller ID alone means you won't reach people who might be positive. Too many Dem calls by too many groups, asking for donations before we get out to simply present the slate. Too many people actually angered because political parties and charities are not blocked on the do not call list. Once again, using the voter registration lists without coordinating all the wrong numbers, please do not call, from the last campaign. When you get the one positive call, you end up supporting each other, rare the time you can get that person to volunteer. When you get one very concerned person with a single issue or personal issue you start grabbing for the info sheets- and the issue isn't there clearly enough.

You hear other phone bankers occasionally getting one helluva rude person that sends them close to trauma. There are ways to improve or avoid pitfalls and actually get more campaign good out of the calls(more good comes than you think once the people you contact network a bit or get something off their chest you can help with). In the end I am struck by the primary need of more volunteers and the volunteers present supporting each other in this hard work. More people, easier burden, better performance and volunteer longevity.

I keep thinking. It's this or your flat feet, Patty old boy. Walking is not always easy these days either although even girl scouts have dwindled from unwelcoming or broke communities. the damned TV and radio makes people think they have formed correct opinions and the opinions from MSM sources are ALWAYS infected. On the other end you are struck sometimes by someone even more nervous than the caller who is taken aback by negative ads from either side for any reason. As if that raises the unthinkable reality based fear that things in the district are THAT awry and Pollyannaville no longer exists. Rural amplifies reticence, age through sheer auditory decline makes the land line a seeming unworkable anachronism. The 20 and thirty somethings seem to have vanished from the phone books and the rolls as they have from Church pews. Rather than spreading the news effectively to the huge base it is more like just slowly fishing. Doubts, impatience, angst. We need ALL to lend a few hours at least to these efforts and really nag the campaigns at whatever level to improve various things. And kudos to all volunteers for the passion, compassion, patience, endurance and hard work they do, each and every one and for their infallibly sharing their personal story of why they are there, taking the shots on the front lines of democracy.

Trying to find ways just to reach people in the dark, or TV formed, or tradition bound, or wanting nothing more controversial than a Girl Scout cookie is made terribly hard in a sprawling Senatorial sized district anchored in a sliver of big urban Dem territory and fading to stubborn GOP darkness. I am only guessing we are also(in upstate NY) paying the price of a weak 2006 Congress my guy Eric Massa never got to join, and a post Hillary disgruntlement that means neither our state nor Hillary supporters get much attention. I hope, if things go better up ticket that more attention will be fostered on getting a more progressive Congress that we so desperately need.

As for abortion, there is a big picture beyond constantly sending our nation into ruin and death trying to simply make the practice illegal and boosting the punishment system and nothing else. Dems are not the abortion party but for supporting the woman and fostering the child and wiping out the main causes for unwanted pregnancies and unbearable pressures against them choosing to have the child. Criminalizing poverty and victimization will not eliminate abortions. It will only satisfy the needs of those who must have people to oppress and punish in a world made all the darker for those unlucky enough to be born unwanted, uncared for, and given a gauntlet of despair by those who pretended to champion their existence as human beings.

[gristy]

12. What a terrific post

You write very well.

[csziggy]

13. I'm surprised to hear that the call lists are not being better sorted

At least half our volunteers here do data entry and every single completed call list is input with the results to remove bad numbers, refusals, and the results of the calls. We really try to cut down on repeat calls since they waste the volunteers' time and irritate the voters.

The Florida Obama campaign is using a database system called VoteBuilder that makes it easy to enter the data and then to generate new lists that take into account the previous results. We get our original database content from many sources - voter registration lists, utility customer lists (to identify unregistered people) Obama campaign donors and people who signed up on the web site, etc. Ever call list, ever canvassing list is targeted and sorted to make the calls or the walking for the canvassers easier. And every single list with the results is keyed back into the data base so we can narrow the results the next time we canvass that area.

The only time we have had multiple calls going to the same area was when two of the organizers got their territories crossed and they both pulled lists for volunteer recruitment the same day. Volunteers were calling the same precinct at the same time and when people got two calls from the office a few minutes apart, it was easy to figure out what was happening.

Our worst problem is that the Kerry campaign did not leave their databases of donors and volunteers for this area with anyone local. So we do not know who worked, who were poll watchers, who the donors were, etc. That would have been useful a month or two ago but we have moved on. Hopefully the databases we are creating now will insure better campaigns in the future.

[Top Cat]

14. Thanks