Working on the campaign

[catsittingstill]

I've been working to help the Democrats win votes here in Tennessee. I'm not much of an extrovert--knocking on doors has been some of the hardest, most tiring, most intimidating work I've ever done. I don't think I'm good at it. But the current election is so important that I feel I have to try. I called about seventy people registered as Democrats last night, trying to get out the vote. I'll be spending today at the Democrat headquarters, waiting to drive people who need a lift to the polls.

Wish us luck.

Comments

[katyhh.livejournal.com]

Great going! Keeping my fingers crossed!

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I gave money to your candidate, even though we're in Maryland... ours seems to be doing okay, so I looked at where was really close. Glad to know someone on the ground in Tennessee doing more.

[thymidinekinase.livejournal.com]

Voted, though I had to grit my teeth. But, geez, did Ford ever have some annoying last-minute get-out-the-vote recorded phone calls.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Go, Cat!

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Some of the annoying calls may be coming from the Republicans, who have hired phone spammers in some districts--no info. about the Tenn. Senate race, though.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

YAY Cat! Ford will make a fine Senator from your state, and I'll feel even better about him knowing we'll have YOU in part to thank for it.

It's amazing to me that even in the 21st century there are places where Republicans still run on overt appeals to race prejudice. I've got my fingers crossed that it won't work, and that goodness will prevail.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

It's true. Republicans have been sending Robocalls pretending to be from Democratic candidates, and purposely doing so at 5 a.m., or at dinnertime, over and over, programmed to call back with the same message when a caller hangs up on it. In New Hampshire, they're using the "Do Not Call" list to do it. Their sole purpose is to unfairly get people honked off at the Democrats. Their tactics reveal no sense of decency, or shame. Filkertom's LJ had an entry on it....

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

This is definitely a national problem. In New Mexico, the RNCC was restrained from robocalls leaving false precinct information.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Just remember: the Republican Party hires spammers.

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

Luck indeed! And only the best.

I don't need to be persuaded or bribed to vote -- it's just something I do, but even if the talking to people is not easy (and is intimidating) to do, I'm sure you've helped. Something done with sincerity will get my attention -- and something that's "too smooth" will make me wonder what I'm missing.

[mneme]

Good luck!

Good Luck

[adamek.livejournal.com]

I voted at lunch time. I was a bit amused that with all the talk about congressional campaign battles my representative, Barney Frank, was running unopposed.

[thymidinekinase.livejournal.com]

You're pretty optimistic, or maybe I'm just particularly cynical this month. While I feel Cat's get-out-the-vote efforts deserve praise, Harold Ford is a bible-thumping homophobe whose stance on the environment gets shakier by the year, and who describes himself as pro-life, supporting abstinence-based sex ed; he's only *slightly* to the left of Corker. From all that I've read, they're as far apart as two peas in a pod. I was voting for the "Democrat" label. Regarding running on race prejudice, Corker himself opposed those ads.

[trektone.livejournal.com]

Good for you! Hope today went well!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thanks, and thanks for your donation.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that. I must not be on the list; I got a call "from Clinton" a couple of weeks ago and a call "from" a little girl saying she couldn't vote yet but Ford would make a difference for her future, and that was it. I suppose it could have been one of the volunteers calling Democrats to urge them to vote--I apparently wasn't on that list myself.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thanks

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I'm not as down on Ford as thymidinekinase is, but I have to admit that his views and mine don't align as much as I'd like. But in this part of the country, it's not like the Republican won't be even more opposed to my values, so it wasn't a hard choice.

Then there's also the issue that no matter how decent a guy Corker might be, and no matter how determined he might be to work for the good of his state and the country rather than the right-wing Republican agenda, the Republican administration has absorbed a lot of idealistic freshmen Senators and turned them into cogs in the machine. So if I wanted a change, I had to work for the Democrat.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I was given to understand that while he's personally "pro-life", he advocates leaving women alone to make our own decisions in privacy, which is better than anything I would hope for from a local Republican. I grant the homophobia--but again, the anti-gay marriage amendment passed 80% to 20%--if he wasn't overtly a homophobe he wouldn't have had a prayer (to coin a phrase). I had the impression that his stance on the environment was noticeably better than Corker's--but I concede you may be better informed about these things than I am.

Actually, it kind of makes me feel good that 20% of people in this state opposed the anti-gay marriage amendment. There must be more of us around than I thought.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-) Well, let's hope it worked like that.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Re: Good Luck

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Kip and I voted in the early voting. It was much quicker than waiting in line on voting day, and guaranteed that if we had to spend voting day doing something else (Kip--working, me--designated driver) our votes still got in and were counted.

Barney Frank is one of the gay Representatives, isn't he? Good on him. I'm kind of startled he was unopposed; I'd have expected the Fundies to target him.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your good wishes. It wasn't very productive, I'm afraid, but it was interesting.

Re: Good Luck

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

He's immune in his district.

Re: Good Luck

[adamek.livejournal.com]

The Fundies have very little power in our area. If I recall correctly the two biggest denominations in his district are United Church of Christ (Congregational) and Unitarian. Both of which actually support gay marriage. The Catholics might be second place, but they're too busy trying to live down their own scandal to be attacking Barney.

My wife, ailsaek, is very disappointed that when we move she won't be able to vote for Barney anymore. I tell her not to worry, with his current stats he's practically Rep for life unless they pass term limits.