A San Franciscan in Franklin County, Ohio

[Luminous Animal]

A dispatch from GOTV...

Hello again from Ohio.

How about this? After months and months of election coverage more
interested in beach footwear, the "outing" of a lesbian who publicly
worked as the gay liaison to the Coors Brewing Company, and Swift Boat
Veterans Bound For Hell than actual issues, we've had a week of issues!
From Al Qaqaa to Osama (Had) Been Forgotten, the press has focused on
things that matter. Bush can't win on the issues! I did not see this
coming and I must say...this rocks!

That said, for me yesterday was a bad day from start to finish. Maybe
something was in the air. I was stressed.

At times in the past couple of years I have found that being immersed
in the political hell spelled "W" was too much for me. I was too
angry, too worried by the daily outrages (an outrage a day keeps
impeachment away), and the resultant was affecting my overall health.
Yesterday was one of those days. My focused obsession unfocused me and
I found myself lost. For some reason I was certain that the October
Surprise I've been expecting since late 2001 would arrive at any moment
to ensure the Bushist regime remained in power. Something was going to
happen, I was sure of it.

There were so many options. I considered the idea that the corrupt
corporate-financed Bush campaign had enough cash stashed away to launch
a final fast and furious media blitz across the country, not just in
'swing' states, featuring scare tactics that would put the "The
Exorcist" to shame. I anxiously awaited the exploitation of the "don't
change horsemen in the middle of an apocalypse" fear they've evoked but
not yet capitalized on. And has been the case since they let Osama
Been Forgotten slip away at Tora Bora, the thought that Darth Cheney
might stage or allow some national emergency to happen, then impose
martial law, hung over me like a rumpled suit at a debate. Or three.

When I got home from my MoveOn activities yesterday I was mentally
exhausted, and it was all my own doing.

I put on my headphones and relaxed to my favorite melancholy album of
the decade thusfar (the debut album by caseworker), and fell
asleep before it ended. That was around 8 p.m., which meant I missed a
dinner of some delicious-smelling homemade brisket, but allowed me to
get a much-needed good, long sleep.

Today was much better.

It began with a meeting in the neighborhood to which I've been
assigned, Westerville, in north-west Columbus. About 40 neighborhood
volunteers showed up to help, including Mickey The Dogocrat (see
attached photo). Instructions were given, materials handed out, and we
parted to a cheer of "Let's Go Ohio -- Beat Bush!" or something
suitable for a Saturday in Columbus Ohio featuring an OSU home football
game.

After the meeting I canvassed about 80 homes over the course of the day
finding most people not at home (probably at the OSU-Penn State game).
Amongst those I did find at home, some were Kerry supporters (including
one who volunteered to help MoveOn all Tuesday morning at her local
polling place), a couple were undecideds who didn't seem swayed when I
left them but I think I planted a few seeds, and a few Bush supporters.
That last group ranged from, "Yeah, well, my wife's voting for your
guy, so we're going to cancel each other out," to one guy who had such
hatred in his eyes when he saw my 'Kerry-Edwards' and 'MoveOn PAC'
buttons that I was glad he was on the phone when he came to the door.
The distraction allowed me to tip-toe off his property without a
once-banned assault weapon being fired in my direction.

By the way, for those of you who are not familiar, the project I am
involved with for MoveOn PAC is a massive get out the vote drive
mockingly called Leave No Voter Behind. I have a list of "unlikely
voters" consisting of people who have never voted or who have voted
sporadically in the past, and it is my job to speak with them and meet
with them and do everything I can to make sure that they vote on
Tuesday. I am offering rides to the polling places for anyone who
needs one, getting people to volunteer to help monitor polling places
on Election Day...anything that will get them to commit to making an
appearance and pulling a lever on Tuesday.

The good news is that in this 'swing state' the number of registered
voters is a full 8% higher than it was in 2000. That's a HUGE
increase, and the prevailing wisdom says that most of the newly
registered are voting Anybody But Bush. The bad news is that, in
response, the Republican party has organized an unprecedented campaign
of obstruction and intimidation through the (ab)use of the right to
legally challenge voters. These challenges will prevent some
registered voters from casting official ballots, will make polling
places tense and possibly contentious places, and will make the entire
process take longer, another part of a concerted effort to discourage
people from voting. The active presence of Election Protection,
MoveOn, and Kerry-Edwards volunteers at polling places should help to
mitigate the effect of this anti-Democratic strategy to suppress
legitimate votes.

So...even though most of the houses I visited today were empty (the OSU
football stadium crams in over 100,000 fans every Saturday), it felt
like a very productive day. Fortunately there's still tomorrow and
Monday, which will give me enough time to meet face to face with the
remaining potential voters on my list before Tuesday morning.

One last thing -- on CNN recently, four talking heads were asked,
"Which is THE 'swing state' in 2004. The first replied, "Ohio." The
second replied, "Ohio." The third replied, "Ohio." The fourth
replied, "Franklin County, Ohio."

Hope you are all well and doing everything you can to get potential
Kerry voters out to the polls with you on Tuesday, whether you are in a
'swing state' or not. Let's send this son of a Bush back to Texas with
whipping worse than his daddy got in '92.

-Ted
Franklin County, Ohio

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