campaigning for obama

was tiring. but i did manage to make it to work by 9. some of the "organizers" of the trip were hot messes (save for a sweet, energetic girl that you'd have to be crazy to hate). i thought at first that it was just me who thought, "gee, maybe waiting till 8am to tell us that we're not meeting at 8am but at 9:15 isn't so respectful" but i'm not taking it personally since i someone walked up to us at one point saying, "they're a bit dickish, right? or is it just me?" also, they're likely reading this so i'll waste no more page space on them.

the campaigning itself was hectic, but then again, it always is. when we got there the field organizer said that upwards of 600 people had come into help that morning (many driving in from several hours away). they all had a lot of energy and things were relatively organized. emily was sick and probably shouldn't have come because the trip might have left her worse off than she was before we left, but keeping it in mind we did no canvassing (though i hear the people who did it, had a fantastic time). we did a fair amount of phone banking which consists of calling thousands of people to ask if they're going to be voting on tuesday, and if so, whether they'll be supporting obama. of the 15% who answer their phones (many people, expecting an onslaught, temporarily disconnect their phones entirely for the week), 90% of those will hang up on you before you're finished introducing yourself. that last 10% will be civil, if not clearly annoyed, and only a handful will be truly undecided and have the time/desire talk to you about it.

through the weekend different senior policy people, pulitzer prize winning authors, u.s. congressmen, stat governors would come in to rally the troops in the office. i ended up sitting at a table with the most adorable elderly couple. i heard the husband make a call and i heard him say, "pardon?" a few times before he broke out in russian. turns out he speaks several languages and spent many years in the army as a language specialist. the next day i was next to a big sassy woman who just howled every time someone was mean to her on the phone, she absolutely loved it. i did not relate. but every time you got a hold of someone who said, "i'm voting for your guy, good luck!" you pressed on, remembering what it was you were working for.

dinner and debate watching was saturday night but i was too tired to enjoy it. sunday morning we headed to an obama rally where he had more than half the place in tears. i've seen him speak several times and found myself welling up without even realizing it. the man is an oratorical god. he moves you when you least expect it.

sunday night before we left emily and i headed to a pub to pick up food before we hit the road. she met a ron paul supporter who was the doppelganger of her ex andrew. i met a few guys (not sleazy, more fatherly than anything) who did camera/lighting/tech work for nbc. once they found out about my unhealthy obsession with brian williams, they promised me that i could stop by 30 rock whenever i wanted and they'd introduce me. they also say he's funnier in person than he is on his blog, which i find very hard to believe. in all, totally interesting guys who've traveled the world with reporters, played golf with matt lauer and al roker, had been to iraq, and had all met almost every presidential candidate running within the last 20 years.

but now i'm back. and tired. and now we wait...