Obama Supporters Stumbling Over Each Other in NJ

[NJCher]

I was phone banking today at the local Obama office. The parking lot was packed and I had to wait for a spot. It's a huge lot, too. Finally after getting a parking spot, I took up residence on a folding chair outside one of the front doors. A gentleman from a nearby town, a physician, was also making calls from that area. We had a good time together, sharing our responses from some of the calls. All the way down the front of the office were other people doing phone banking.

On one set of phone bank calls (the organizers give each phone banker about six pages of phone listings in each set), I called three people who had also done phone banking or canvassing earlier in the day and had already voted for Obama--in fact, a straight Democratic ticket. I thought that was pretty funny. While calling, I observed the large campaign offices where people were stumbling over each other because it was so packed and it seemed that the same thing was, in effect, happening on the phone.

On another call a lady yelled at me, "Shoo!" "Shoo?" I inquired, puzzled. She said she had already voted for Obama and I should "shoo," and get on to making other phone calls that would do some good. She must have been a transplant 'cuz we don't use that expression ("shoo") around here.

Not all my calls were so upbeat. One guy said, "Don't waste your time," and I had two people hang up on me. Poor McCain supporters. Must be a tough day for them.

After experiencing the upbeat atmosphere at the campaign office, I thought it would be a laugh to stop by the McCain offices and see if they needed any "volunteers." Really, I just wanted to see if they had any (volunteers). But I found out I'd have to drive something like 45 or 50 miles to the nearest McCain office, so I decided that it wasn't worth it just to see some sad republican mugs.

:nopity:


I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up a few goodies for the election night party we're going to. You guessed it. I bumped into more Obama supporters (they had on the same sticker I'd been given). One lady recognized me from the phone bank and we had a brief conversation about our calling activities.

I have some pics. Might post them somewhere later.

[Ian David]

1. FWIW, there is a lot of intentional overlap in these sorts of campaigns.

Imagine if everyone was registered to receive only ONE GOTV call, and a dozen Repukes signed-up as volunteers and marked people as having been called whom they'd never actually spoken to.

Or a few dozen well-intentioned idiots who don't grasp the concept of data entry.

You sign people up to be called three times no matter what to compensate for such problems.

[uppityperson]

2. I've been keep it short:thanks for calling I voted carry on goodbye

[EFerrari]

3. You know -- I haven't seen ONE McToast sign in my neighborhood

or even so much as a bumper sticker THIS WHOLE TIME. And my district here in San Francisco is the most conservative one except for where the rich people hide. Not one, not a flier, nothing. If it weren't for the Wright ads, I wouldn't even know Obama had an opponent.

Poor Republicans. :nopity:

[GalleryGod]

4. Cher, you know what? THIS time WE have ALL the "boots on the ground"

Oscar Mike for Big O & The Good Joe!