What wrested me from this day of lethargy? The previous evening, I got a call from a new guy (at least to me) with the Obama campaign. He was rounding up volunteers to do some voter registration at the Culpeper Independence Day festivities (car show, parade and fireworks display). I hesitated a beat, then recalled my personal pledge to do everything and anything to help Obama win Virginia, and said that partner Dave and I would be there in the morning for our 5-minute training program in how to register folks.
Here's Dave ready for his first voter registration day:
At the restored train depot, Dave and I met the fellow who had called the night before. I had just assumed that he was another volunteer person based out of Northern Virginia or one of the other democratic strongholds doing a day-long gig in our very red Culpeper County.
But Holy Campaign Buttons!! GUESS WHAT?!? This guy is a PAID Obama staffer who has (get this!) been assigned full time to be based in my county and also work two of the surrounding counties.
I don't think I can convey how amazing a development this is. Only a little background on my county will show you:
First of all, it's small: only 42,530 people in 2005 and only about 25,000 of voting age.
Second, it's most countryside: 72% is considered "rural."
Third, it's very Republican: Bush won this county 64% to Kerry's 35%. In 2000, Bush beat Gore 61% to 35%.
We aren't high income (median: $52,000 per year), not highly educated (10% have bachelor's degrees)and while we do have one Starbucks, I'm betting the daily latte drinkers number in the single digits.
On the other hand, this beautiful little county in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains about 75 miles from Washington, D.C., did go Obama's way in our February 12th primary, winning 56% of the vote to Hillary Clinton's 42%.
You get the picture: Small, rural, solidly republican. But we have been assigned an Obama staffer.. Just for us! For the next 4 months!
Okay, okay, back to the story....
Dave and I receive our training (how to fill out the registration form, how to complete the now required receipt and if the registeree expresses interest in our candidate, how to sign him/her up for volunteering).
Clipboard in one hand and a stack of bumper stickers in the other, I set off to the annual 4th of July classic car show occupying virtually all of our 2-block downtown area.
Our "main" street, as you can see, is a Hollywood set of smalltown America. Heck, we still have a hardware store with bowfront windows, aisles so narrow you have to turn sideways and open bins with bolts and fasteners this transplanted city girl could not name, much less use. But we also have an artist supply store with inspiring quotes on the windows and no less than three restaurants with linen napkins and stemmed glassware as standard operating procedure.
At the car show, the street is overflowing with gawkers, including the couple pictured below in their Revolutionary War garb, who came to ogle the hotrods straight from their annual performance reading the Declaration of Independence aloud on the courthouse steps. (See, didn't I tell you this could be a Hollywood set?)
But, alas, (and I don't mean to stereotype gearheads here) a car show does not necessarily draw the demographic most, shall we say, favorable to the Obama message. My brother-in-law was exhibiting one of his classic cars in the show and when I stopped to say hello, all he could do is wish me good luck with a resigned undercurrent of "You're wasting your time here" in his voice. And I must admit the continuous loop of country music patriotic hits blaring through the speakers up and down the street did not buoy my spirits (How many times can one listen to Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA? And who knew there was actually a song entitled, America: Love it or Leave it?).
All in all, the Obama volunteers only registered about 5 people an hour during the car show (Maybe a total of 30 for the whole day). And I can't report that I registered even one person. But I did give out lots of Obama buttons and bumper stickers and was met with many positive comments. I actually was braced for some negativity, but surprisingly only heard a single utterance that could be viewed as disparaging: As I passed by one group of car enthusiasts, a booming male voice said, "God help Obama" and by the inflection in the voice, I took his words to mean only that Obama, in his view, doesn't have a chance of being elected.
A little disappointed not to have scored at least one newly minted voter, I was relieved to join up with the little band of campaign volunteers and local Democrats to march with them in the annual parade. Lots of happy supportive hoots and thumbs up from the crowd and many requests for Obama materials. Now, this was more like it! And even my brother-in-law reported to me later that evening that his Republican carshow buddies had wondered out loud why there was no evidence of McCain people or paraphenalia at any of the July 4th events. "At least the Obama people cared enough to get out there and show up," they told him. (Go ahead, GOP... take Virginia for granted at your peril).
My guy from the Obama campaign (I'm not using his name yet, because I haven't had a chance to ask his permission) was very happy with this first outing. An experienced hand at organizing (in particular, he worked the PA primary extensively), he felt there is much to build upon in Culpeper-- a core of committed Dems, people open to considering Obama and the potential for rounding up enough volunteers to have a serious organization by Labor Day when the campaign heats up in earnest. He and I had a chance to talk quite a bit and I was thoroughly impressed with his knowledge, enthusiasm and confidence that we could make some serious inroads in this part of Virginia.
Our Next Task: Find a storefront that some good Democratic busnessperson is willing to donate to us so we can open up our"Culpeper for Obama." offices! I never thought I'd see that! Can you BELIEVE it?? Somebody, poke me with a yard sign and stick me with a campaign pin; I gotta be dreaming!
(Crossposted at Daily Kos and Progressive Puppy)
Late in the evening I got into a discussion with my sister about Obama. She's a humongous Dubya fan and is now touting McCain. She asked how I could vote for Obama and brought up one of those godawful e-mails attacking his patriotism on her computer. Being a total nerd without any social life I was able to answer each paragraph and actually took her to the RK website to show her his latest commercial. Her friend was there, and I was shocked when this country woman looked up and said "I can't stand that Bush. He needs to be arrested or something, but I don't know anything about Obama." Well, that got me rolling, and I gave her the short course. She said she had never voted Democratic before and didn't think that's what people out there did. I asked if she knew anything about Jim Webb. She'd never heard of him, having only recently moved to Virginia from West Virginia, but a half hour later she was promising to go look up her own copy of Born Fighting. I would not be surprised to hear that she's going to vote for Obama in the fall.
In my opinion, one way to make headway with folks out in the more rural areas is to introduce them to Obama through Webb. More and more people I meet when I'm in the country have heard of Webb, are developing very good opinions of him, and may be far more willing to listen to talk about Obama if it's coupled with Webb. They admire Webb as a fighting man, a second amendment advocate, a tireless worker for the veteran, and as someone who'll stand up to the forces of Wal-Mart. Sell them Webb and Obama follows not far behind.
It may sound overdramatic, but I feel this is the most important election I have ever been involved in.