Political Volunteering

The latest political news is that there's a decent chance Georgia will go for Obama. Here's an article from DailyKos talking about the "black-brown-Asian" Georgia alliance. Awesome!

I spent a lot of time doing voter registration a couple months ago. This last week, I've been working on the other side of the equation: phonebanking to tip undecided white voters. I didn't think I'd be good at it, but it turns out I am. The list we were working from contained voters in Republican strongholds in Atlanta exurbs. I talked to one Obama supporter who wanted to volunteer but said she was afraid to knock on doors in her neighborhood because they might burn a cross on her lawn if they found out she was an Obama supporter.

It was intimidating but ultimately positive. I really think I won some votes. It helps that I have a melodic phone voice, a decent grasp of the issues and know what's circling around in the right-wing media in Georgia.

Here are notes from a typical phone call.

-- Hi, I'm from the Obama campaign
-- exchange of guarded pleasantries
-- here's why I'm supporting Obama: my self-employed breast cancer survivor mother who can't afford insurance. Explanation of Obama's healthcare plan, including a denial that it's "socialized medicine".
-- attack on McCain for being out of touch; add that he used to be an honorable politician but "lost his way". Say he is "out of his depth" on economic issues. Mention Phil Gramm calling Americans a "nation of whiners". Mention that my Vietnam vet stepfather supports Obama because of McCain's bad record on veteran benefits.
-- listen to their issues, see where Obama's platform aligns with theirs
-- ask if they make over $250,000 a year, and if they say no, explain that they will get a tax cut under Obama and need to think about voting their pocketbook.
-- ask if there's anything that makes them wary of Obama or worried about voting for him.

Here's what people say at this point:

-- I heard he doesn't put his hand over his heart when they play the national anthem.
-- I heard he's a Muslim.
-- I heard he used to run ACORN, the organization that enrolls illegal aliens to commit voter fraud while filling out subprime housing loans, thereby causing the current economic crisis
-- I heard he's a terrorist sympathizer
-- I heard he's a Muslimy Muslimy Muslim-head

I had counters planned out for each of these. The Muslim one was the most common and the easiest to go over. I just asked a serious of basic rhetorical questions, such as, "Did you know Muslims don't baptize their kids? Obama had his kids baptized. What kind of Muslim would get their kids baptized?"

It's depressing I can't say "so what if he was a Muslim?" But these people are just not ready for that. Kind of like the Obama supporter from Virginia described in this recent article:

"My niece married a black, and I don't have a problem with it. Now, I wouldn't want a mixed marriage for my daughter, but I'm voting for Obama."

Small steps... small steps.

I think my biggest success was with an elderly lady who was a conservative Democrat ex-Clinton supporter, leaning McCain. After I reassured her that Obama was a Christian and still on his first marriage, she really warmed up to him.

I would be so pumped if Georgia goes for Obama! The odds are still against it, of course.