I'd done some phonebanking at home the week I got back from Denver. However, since my computer wouldn't click the button for "call swing state voters" on the Obama site, even when I tried multiple times, I called voters in California. I called Obama supporters and asked them to volunteer. I made about fifty calls, talked to about five people, got three of them to volunteer, and then got bored. I wanted to call real swing voters in real swing states and make them vote for Obama. But my computer still wouldn't let me do that, so I wasted some time at DailyKos.
It was there, in that wonderful world of orange writing and liberal rants, that I saw a diary about the opening of the new Obama HQ in LA. It had been the night before, and over 2,000 people had shown up. After my initial disappointment that I had missed probably the best party of the time before I leave for school, I googled the office and found out they were near my friend Sam's house. So I picked him up on my way, despite the fact that he was rater dubious about the entire volunteering-for-a-political-campaign dynamic. He just really doesn't like John McCain.
We arrived at the office and were reprimanded for trying to enter without signing up to volunteer. We were under the impression it was the kind of place you just sort of wandered in and out of, but quickly were informed that the work area (and the refreshment table) was off limits to everyone not making phone calls. So we made phone calls.
The office was packed. People of all ages and races and genders (yes, both!) were there making phone calls to Nevada on their cell phones. Sam and I made about 75 calls, and he was much more successful than I was. I talked mainly to answering machines, he talked to voters.
About 45 minutes into our session, a hush fell over the office. In swept the director with and old woman and familiar looking man.
"I," the man announced to the silent room, "am Max Kennedy, the son of Bobby Kennedy, and this is my mother Ethel." Clapping. He then proceeded to give us a rousing speech about how in this election, we were "fighting against the greatest entrenched interests in the history of the world- the healthcare industry, the oil companies," the military industrial complex and more. Huge applause.
After we'd settled back down to our calling sheets, Sam turned to me and remarked that "it's odd-- this is the first Democratic event I've ever been to, and some Kennedys show up."
The next morning, after several debacles that included (and actually were mainly comprised of) me losing my car keys, I biked over to an office building in the warehouse section of Santa Monica (yes, we have one of those) to phonebank. I'd checked on the Obama site, and there were two people who had RSVP'd. Small phonebank.
However, when I arrived, there were about a dozen people milling around, picking up pieces of paper and learning how to make calls. We were calling Nevada. It was great. As someone who had done this before, I was soon put in charge of helping train the new volunteers. One of my colleagues from the primary campaign was running the training, and when she left and her assistant got promoted, I took his spot helping.
We trained upwards of twenty new volunteers in the few hours I was there. We called probably upwards of a thousand voters over the course of the day. Best of all though was seeing the new volunteers, fired up right after the Republican convention, pouring in to take over the campaign. The people we trained were young --a 16 year old High School student-- and old -- a woman who could barely walk. They were diverse, energetic, and thrilled to have the chance to make a difference. It was beautiful.
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