[Outstate Missouri is that part of the state that is not in St. Louis or Kansas City.]
I teach at a regional university in a small town in Missouri on the edge of the Kansas City media market. I have been knocking on doors since 1972 when I lived on the far northside of Chicago (east Rogers Park) trying to elect independent Democrats against the Daley machine. In 1988, I put my dissertation on hold for a semester as I tried to get people registered to vote in Urbana, Illinois for Dukasis.
I know what I'm doing. I know how to use precinct lists and record the results of knocking on doors. (What I haven't figured out is how to get others where I live to join me.)
In my town in Missouri, I have been knocking on doors for about sixteen years to get people to register to vote (mostly students) who I'm confident will vote for Democrats.
In 2008, with essentially two other people from the middle of August to the end of voter registration, I was out six days a week, two hours a day, going to places I was confident a lot of people who support Democrats weren't registered and got them registered. We registered over 800 people. Obama carried my town -- something neither Gore nor Kerry did.
I'm now four years older and ten pounds heavier. It is both physically and emotionally harder to repeat what I did in 2008. I'm not going to come near what I did in 2008, but I have now gone out enough times to draw some conclusions about my experiences.
1) It is distressing the number of people I have now met who are living on the edge who tell me they don't vote and won't vote because it makes no difference. These are low information voters that don't understand that politics does determine how disparate their lives actually are.
I try not try to argue with people but the little I say means nothing to them. I leave.
Unlike four years ago, those under twenty-five today are less politically aware than those under twenty-five were four years ago. Obama is not a new hope for them and they don't think his policies have affected their lives. (I blame this on terrible high school civics classes.)
2) It is possible to move some of these low information people. When I mentioned Todd Akin's claim that legitimate.... sorry.... forcible rape brings up a shield to prevent pregnancy, it has gotten some to register. The war on women and the social issues can move some of those low information people.
3) I now have enough new registrations (I would prefer not indicate the exact number for obvious reasons) to note that people who register here do NOT have cell phone numbers with the area code where they are now going to be voting. Many of these area codes are not even in the congressional district. I have yet to read whether any polls are taking this into account. I think this means our vote is going to be under-polled.
4) The people in the Democratic establishment in Missouri who hire people to coordinate the campaign still have only one model for the entire state and don't recognize how local conditions change things.
Four years ago at this time, the Nixon campaign was having people knocking on doors of REGISTERED voters who were nominally determined to be Democrats. I pointed out to them that in my community a third of the residents move every year and most of those who move are nominally Democrats. The key to increase the Democratic vote where I live is to get that transient group registered. I got a call several days ago from the coordinator this year that on a certain street everyone was new. I asked, "So, are you trying to register them?" The answer was "no" because that is not his job. I have told him he has to tell his bosses to give him other directions. Nothing has changed yet.
I'm fat, sixty-two, and tired of fighting battles that should be over. You cannot register people over the telephone, I have to do what I KNOW makes a difference and I know how to do it in a systematic way. People do still answer their doors in my community.
Missouri may not be crucial for Obama to win, but if he does win it this time, he will be re-elected. We have to re-elect McCaskill to keep the Senate and, if Hensley defeats Hartzler, Pelosi will be Speaker.
Please give me encouragement.
Let me hear what you are doing and how things are going in your part of the country.
Update: If you look at my registration number, you will see that I have been here awhile. This is the first time I have had a diary on the recommended list. Thank you everyone. This is the encouragement I need.
Second update: I was out again tonight for two hours with a new recruit. In about two hours, we got 12 people registered. I'm convinced at least 8 of them would not have registered had we not knocked on the door.
Thank you everyone for the encouragement. Where I live the most important thing to be done is register our vote. It had a huge impact where I live and will have a huge impact in November.