After weeks of never hearing from the Obama GOTV people, we've been visited every day since Friday. Even in the miserable weather we're having today, a woman rang my doorbell just hours after I'd voted. I was hoping she was bringing me another cup of free coffee, but she just wanted to make sure that I voted. When I said yes, she knew it was one more in the Obama column (we have a bumper sticker).
By the way, I didn't have time to canvas this year, but I'm no stranger to canvassing. A few years out of college with few immediate job prospects, I spent a few months working for Citizen Action, a distant cousin of PIRG. That was during the 1996 presidential campaign. I had the honor of walking neighborhoods in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana and Cleveland, Ohio, the latter during one of the snowiest Novembers in Cleveland history. While we weren't officially campaining for candidates, we weren't discouraged from doing some GOTV. I usually did my part, except I skipped mentioning Clinton during a visit to one neighborhood plastered with David Duke signs, four years after Duke's previous run for elected office.
One benefit of working in Ohio was attending the acceptance speech of this guy. That was before anyone save Clevelanders knew him. I recall being blown away. And drunk.
All that just to say thanks to all of the canvassers, both those who walked the streets and those who burned the phonelines. It's hard work and hopefully in a few hours you'll see all of your labor pay dividends.
Mood: Impatient; optimistic; nervous.
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