I’ve been working as Obama volunteer in one of the conservative counties in rural congressional district 9 in southwestern PA. It’s been a both wonderful and challenging experience. I was struck yesterday as I canvassed at the very large number of undecided voters and the convergence of demographics and lies that makes this area so challenging for Obama. I believe there is a moral to the story, which is the imperative to keep calling into PA and canvassing with maximal intensity.
Canvassing yesterday
Over the last month I have been working as an Obama volunteer with local volunteers in Fulton county (see why below). Yesterday, I canvassed democratic households yesterday with a few local volunteers in McConnellsburg PA. McConnellsburg is the biggest town (population about 1000) in this rural county of total population about 15,000. Estimated median family income in McConnellsburg was 26,800.
from wikipedia
Fulton County is one of if not the most Republican counties in Pennsylvania. In 2004, George W. Bush received 4,772 votes (76%) to 1,475 votes (24%) for John Kerry, making it Bush's strongest county in the slightly Democratic state.
I knew the demographics and political outlook in this county was tough for Obama. I had been calling into various areas in the county over the preceding several weeks. I had kept the best statistics on Brush Creek township where the breakdown among democrats called was 13% Obama; 41% Clinton, 17% undecided; 28% refused.
In my phonebanking, I was impressed by how many people seemed truely undecided between Hillary and Barack. That impression was strongly intensified by our canvassing. Fully 30% of the people we talked were undecided. In some cases they had not spent much time thinking about it. But in many cases, they seemed fairly well informed and genuinely torn. The following two very different examples illustrate the challenges.
Voter 1 is a Vietnam vet perhaps 60 years old. I met his wife at the front door, who said she and her husband were undecided. She said if I wanted to talk politics, I should talk with her husband who was out back. I found him in his wheelchair out in the back yard with his dog Pee Wee. After a few minutes of general conversation about the campaign, he said to me "I like a lot of things your guy says, but I can’t vote for someone who won’t salute our flag". Sadly, I was not surprised by this comment, since the lies about Obama’s religion and patriotism are rampant in this community. What surprised me was that he was so open about it, since I usually have to talk longer or raise the issue myself. So we talked at length about those lies, and how he could verify from reputable sources on the internet that they are lies. After that discussion, he said something like "You’ve made my day. I am so relieved that I can vote for him". Needless to say, it made my day too. (At the end of the day I slipped under his door an Obama flyer on "Faith, Hope and Change" that I had found, with a note thanking him).
Voter 2 is also about 60 and highly placed in the educational hierarchy in the county. I found him working in his garden. He too was undecided. He and especially his wife had taken a strong interest in Obama early in the campaign. But they were given great pause by the Wright controversy and now were unsure. Of course there was a lot to discuss. I asked him whether he had a chance to see the entire sermons, to provide context (which had been very helpful to me). He had not and did not know that the Rev. Wright was paraphrasing comments of the American ambassador to Irag, Edward Peck in one of them. I also asked him whether he had seen the comments of Jane Fisler Hoffman about the Obama church, to which she belongs. He also had not, so I talked about what her perspective on the strong faith and welcoming community at that churche. We had a very open discussion and I gave him an Obama DVD.
Many more voters were struggling to see beneath the surface. Many believed the lies that are circulating. One-on-one contacts make a real difference in this context. So keep phone-banking and canvassing.
How did I get involved in Fulton County?
I am a volunteer from Maryland about 100 miles from Fulton. After coming back from volunteering in Youngstown Ohio, I was reflecting on how I could be most helpful in the PA campaign. The PA campaign was strikingly different from the many February and March primaries which preceded it, by virtue of the long lead time (6 weeks after the Ohio/Texas vote). I took my cues from the South Carolina campaign, which was my first out-of-state volunteer experience.
SC was all about advanced preparation. I had arrived in one of the poorer SC counties (Clarendon) and learned of the "ground game" which had been evolving for 6 months. A young Obama staffer from Chicago had arrived in August and started to interact with locals. She had established strong ties to the locals, virtually none of which had ever been involved in a political campaign. By the time the out of state volunteers arrived months later, she had a wonderful motley crew of locals working together. I was inspired by her, the locals and the concept (see more details in my blog).
So I reasoned that Pennsylvania could also be about building relationships with the community (albeit on a shorter time scale than SC). I knew that the Obama campaign would not be able to reach everywhere and would prioritize to work in regions with more favorable demographics. I had also learned that the Obama campaign was all about individual "ownership" – not expecting mandates from the top of the campaign but instead taking initiative locally and individually. Based on an informative diary by lkenney, I chose to seek contacts in two counties in Congressional District 9
This district is a vast Pennsyltucky district in South central Pennsylvania, stretching from the outskirts of Harrisburg to Altoona and Connellsville. Represented by Republican Bill Shuster I can't imagine Clinton not winning ... here
I scoured the Obama website social network for any information on the very few supporters in this region and identified one, whose name and town allowed me to lookup a phone number. Needless to say he was shocked (pleasantly) to get a phone call out of the blue from an Obama supporter from Maryland. He noted the few local supporters he knew of, and suggested that I call and talk with Jack and Kathy, a delightful retired couple who were Obama supporters and active in the local democratic club (which is a great story in its own right). I called them and we have enjoyed working together over the last 5 weeks. The local volunteers are a small but truly inspirational group!
SO... PHONEBANK AND CANVAS