Halloween

People here are crazy for Halloween. I started canvassing houses for Obama three weeks ago, and the decorations started to appear even then. I thought it was a little early, but I appreciated having a good conversation starter before launching into the whole "who are you voting for" routine. I also came to realize that you can gather hints about political affiliation based on Halloween decor--houses heavy on the ghouls and skeletons skew Dem, while the more countryish, hay bale and pumpkin-based arrangements signal McCain supporters lurking within. The elaborate construction and sheer hours put into Halloween decorations in this part of the state also reveal the old "I don't have time to volunteer" line to be a lie. If you have time to string up a lifesize vampiress on your roof, you have 1 1/2 hours to knock on doors. But I digress.

It's Halloween night, and other than stuffing myself with mini Butterfingers for dinner since I didn't have time to eat anything else, I'm not doing much to observe the holiday. I'm actually too tired to even be sorry that I'm missing the usual night out in my hastily-thrown together cat costume (thanks Les!!). But in a way, I've been trick or treating since I arrived here, just with stickers, voter lists, and the hope of political support rather than a candy handout. And definitely with a more uncertain reception than all the dressed-up little kids are getting tonight. The sugar high is the same, but Halloween only lasts for a few more hours while the campaign still has four days of sleep deprivation and high stress left to go. A scary thought.

Everybody here is hon

People sometimes ask me if it is weird to knock on the doors of strangers and ask them who they are voting for. Lately my answer has been that it’s a lot less weird in Ohio. That’s because strangers here are fairly polite and oddly friendly, even if they’re voting for John McCain and they think Obama is a socialist. (There are raging exceptions to this polite rule, of course.)

The “hon” phenomenon is immediately evident upon rolling into town. At the McDonald’s drive-through, at the supermarket checkout, when talking on the phone with Obama supporters, just about anyone you speak with, anytime, is likely to end the conversation by calling you a cute little name. I’ve decided I like it. When you’re feeling rundown, driven for example to hit up the gas station for advil because of a splitting headache, that “have a good day hon” at the register really perks you up. I also have to say this almost never happens to me in Massachusetts. (Yes, I talk to strangers there all the time, but usually about the Red Sox.) Stacked up against the friendliness of Parma, my beloved Boston is feeling a little chilly.

This friendliness might be part of the reason I feel so at home in Northern Ohio these days. Lately I’ve been thinking about the strangeness of planting yourself in an unfamiliar place among total strangers for a small window of time. The things I look forward to these days are very different than they were a month ago: my daily drive through the state park watching the leaves turn red and gold, the 3:00 pm Starbucks run that in our sleep-deprived state seems absolutely like a lifesaver, the fantastic thin-crust mushroom and sausage pizza from Donato’s down the street, Schnitzel Saturdays. And, of course, the “hon.”



Speaking of chilly, the heat isn’t really on in our office, so today I worked with a scarf and hobo gloves on all day. Classy. I’ve also been slugging EmergenC like it’s the water of life to stave off the cold that I feel lurking around the corner. It’s 10:41 pm, we just ordered three large Donato's pizzas, and the evening feels far from over. Tired, hungry, but feeling good. More later.

Your Turn

You sent me to a Swing State because you couldn't go yourself. But that does NOT mean you can't get involved. We are preparing to Get Out the Vote next weekend and we need you. And it's not hard: if I can do this fueled by only four hours of sleep and chocolate pretzels, you can do it too.

Think the election's over and Obama has it in the bag? Nope. Polls lie, and so do people. Think because you're not in Ohio with me eating delicious apples and talking to undecided voters that you can't be of help? Wrong again.

Boston-people: The Obama campaign in Massachusetts still thinks I'm out there, so they've been diligently harrassing me to go to New Hampshire to get out the vote. Since I'm already in Ohio doing that very thing, I'll be turning this job over to you. Click here for the details.

Everyone else: if you're in a swing state (which is a lot of them these days), call your local Obama campaign office and tell them you want to help them next weekend. Find the number here. If you're not in a swing state, drive to one for the weekend or make calls to undecided voters from the comfort of your own cushy couch. Did I mention that three of our out-of-state volunteers in this area are from Europe? That's right: geography is no excuse. If Frieg can make it here from Rotterdam, you can make it work no matter what state you're in.

One last note: you should get involved in the campaign in order to support Barack Obama, for the good of the country, and for all the people here and around the world that will be affected by the outcome of this election. But you should also do it for yourself. We have a great candidate, and an election that matters, and you will be sorry if you missed your chance to get in on the action of this amazing campaign before it's over. And if, God forbid, things don't go our way, you don't want to think you could have done more. Okay, there's my pitch. It's much shorter than the one I give at the door to the Obama campaign headquarters in Parma, Ohio, but you are my people and I know you won't let me down. Go get out there.

The blog is private but this post is not. Send it to everyone you know.

Late Night Parma

Last night I found out the Arby's in Parma is open until 1:00 AM. Tonight I am learning that on Friday nights we stay at the office until 4:00 AM to "cut turf" and enter data. Cutting turf is very important to campaigning but too boring to explain. It has to do with precincts and door knocks and other election shenanigans. Probably exactly the kind of thing I wouldn't be allowed to blog about were this blog still public.

I am SO TIRED. My friends know how much I like my nine hours a night, and right now I'm thinking nine hours is going to have to cover it for the whole weekend. We're all running on a mixture of caffeine (yes, even me, I have backslid to the dark side), Indian food, and the forced adrenaline of ELEVEN MORE DAYS! (or whatever day we're at).

Even if the end of my day were coming now (instead of four hours from now), it would have been a long day. It started by handing out free Jay-Z concert tickets to an only occasionally angry mob at 12 noon (he's giving a free Obama concert/rally next Wednesday at the big arena in Cleveland) followed up by a hastily-arranged town hall meeting with Madeleine Albright at the Parma VFW hall. I love a day in which the entire spectrum of Obama supporters is represented, from Rockafella to the former Secretary of State. The Jay-Z ticketers started lining up at 5:00 am, and the Albright attendees filed into the hall and found their folding chairs about 5:30pm. For the Albrighters, bottled water and chocolate cookies. For the Z-ers, nothing except the cold wind and the promise of big pimpin'. The Albrighters wanted to know the Secretary's take on Iran and the Russian invasion of Georgia. The Z-ers wanted to know when were we getting more tickets?!? I will say both groups seemed equally committed to electing Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

I hope you all are sleeping soundly somewhere, or at least out enjoying last call. Think of me next time you make dinner, or watch a movie, or do any of those normal things that seem so elusively wonderful right now.

Holla!

Phew!

Just kidding! After a truly harrowing conversation in which I was called by Ohio headquarters and told that NO BLOGGING IS ALLOWED, I panicked I shut it down. But then they just emailed me back to say I had to make it private. So, all is well. If you're reading this blog, you're one of the privileged few that has been specially invited to the party. Comment long and often, we're a small but loyal crowd now.

Hiatus

I won't be blogging for awhile friends. It's campaign policy not to blog when you're out working in the field, and I just found out about this today!!! So thanks for the loyal reading, and check back on November 5.

S

At Home in Ohio

So I have been totally slammed lately. Here is my list of excuses for not posting the last few days:

• This is the hardest I have ever worked at a non-paying job in my life. I do put in those twelve-hour days I was warned about (and then still feel a little guilty about it, since everyone else works fifteen-hour ones).

• There are no days off and no weekends on the campaign. In fact, Saturday and Sunday are the most insane days of all.


• I am helping with the out-of-state volunteer cordination here at the Parma office. That just means that hoards of energetic young Democrats will be descending en masse upon Ohio in the next two weeks (yay!) and I am responsible for at least some of them.


• I spend about 70% of my day making an intense sales pitch to every single person I meet. I want people I talk to on the phone to vote for Barack Obama. I want people who come in for a yard sign to go out canvassing for us. I want undecided voters I meet while I am out canvassing to become Obama supporters. I want Obama supporters I meet while I am out canvassing to become canvassers themselves. There is no limit to what I want from people these days. Sales (even of something you believe in) is pretty exhausting, it turns out. It also turns out I am actually not too bad at it. Lesley would say this is no surprise to her.


• It is hard to follow up posts about Bill Clinton and Al Bundy when I don't have any new celebrity to report on. Although Madeleine Albright IS coming to town on Friday.

Okay. Enough excuses. How are things in Ohio, you ask?

All around, pretty good. I am feeling pretty settled into my home-away-from-home here, thanks especially to the extremely comfy digs and kindness provided by the woman who has opened up her house to a stranger based solely on the fact that I was coming to her state to volunteer for the Obama campaign. Did I mention that she buys me groceries and washes my sheets once a week? Seriously she is one of the best reasons to come to Ohio.

Another (less crucial but still delicious) reason is the apples that are in perfect season right now. They have this delicious hybrid here called Honey Crisp that I have never seen in Massachusetts. Ohio-grown, they are super sweet and absolutely devoid of mush. The perfect apple, basically. I eat at least one every day and they are single-handedly responsible for keeping up my blood sugar in the total absence of regular, healthy meals. Speaking of regular meals, here is my food consumption for the day before yesterday:

Breakfast: cheeseburger
Lunch: meatball sandwich
Dinner: cheeseburger

That's right. An utter breakdown in all of my beliefs about food. It has also been hard to cling to my environmentalist ideals in the midst of this craziness--trying to reuse the reams of paper we need to process canvasses and volunteers, wondering what to do when people drink a whole bunch of bottled water at an event and there's no recycling bin there (the answer is pick 40 plastic bottles out of the trash while confused Ohioans look on with concern).

There are only two more weeks left until this election is decided, at which point I can put away my sales pitch and start eating salad again. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the apples, and the experience.