I'll confess: I
hate phone-banking. I don't mind getting hung up on by voters, but I feel
really awkward when I get someone on the line who's too polite to hang up but convey through the tone of their voice that they're exasperated by the phone calls:
Me: Hello, I'm Jyo Fitch with the Montgomery County Democratic Party. Have I reached the Smith household?
Other end: <groan> Whaddya want?
And I've heard it a lot lately -- you hate volunteering for GOTV efforts, too. For 2008, I'm graduating from GOTV to GOTGOTV (Get out the Get-out-the-Vote!) And here's what I'm asking of you:
(more on the flip...)
- GOTV is thankless but it is effective: Here in Virginia, I dialed numbers, and read from a tepid script. I got hung up on a lot and cursed at a few times. But in July, Jim Webb was down by 11%. That was in the pre-Macaca days, but even a month ago, Allen still led by 6. And yet, Webb won!
But he won by a tiny margin: 0.3%. 0.3% is one out of every three hundred phone calls. And this is why something as thankless and unsatisfying as phone-banking works: even a small return on the investment can make the difference between winning and losing in November. I smile today with the satisfaction of knowing that all the dialing that I did in the last week before the election made a difference. Webb won my red county (!) by a bigger margin than any Democratic candidate since 1988.
We're talking a game of tiny percentages -- you'll make a lot of phone calls and won't be hailed as liberators -- but you'll get through to a few people, and a few people can make the difference in a close race.
- We lost some close races. What if we had another 3,000 votes in OH-02 or WA-08? Another 1500 votes in NM-01? Another 1000 votes in Wyoming? Just 600 votes more in NC-08?
In each of those districts, I know there's a good-hearted Democrat who decided not to help in GOTV efforts because they didn't enjoy the work. I know there were many more good-hearted Democrats who worked their butts off in these districts and could have used their help.
- Scandalous news doesn't last forever. Nick Lampson's victory in TX-22, Tim Mahoney's in FL-16, and Zack Space's in OH-18 were fueled in part by the scandals that these districts' incumbents caused. These scandals will be old news by 2008, and we'll need to persuade cross-over voters not to jump ship.
- Starting GOTV early is easier than last-minute GOTV. By the end of the race, voters are tired of the negative ads and the barrage of phone calls. It's MUCH easier to do GOTV early before voter fatigue sets in. You can register young voters, you can welcome new residents into the community, and you can build positive name recognition for your candidates with a slightly more receptive audience.
Starting GOTV early also gives you more practice and experience before you go into the last week of the election and deal with the hard calls.
- 2008 is a presidential election year, so you KNOW the GOP machine will be in full force. Corporate lobbyists, big oil, defense contractors -- will be pouring a LOT of money into the 2008 election. We'll need to work harder than ever to counter their efforts.
In summary: we've accomplished a lot, but we'll need your help in 2008. It's easier and more productive to get involved earlier than later, so I'm asking those of you who thought about volunteering but didn't quite bring yourselves to do it -- to make the commitment to start early in 2008 and reap the rewards!