Wednesday campaigning

Dropped off my stack of completed forms with Lisa.  She got a $198 ticket for speeding yesterday.  Wow!  That's serious money.

I have to admit I am getting a bit frustrated with this.  And the strong anti-Obama reactions makes me fear for what the future holds if/when he is elected.  I can't imagine what misinformation is out there that is going to stir up people.

I went back to Davidsville today to try a few more homes in this conservative town.  I did come upon some Democrats who are just not sure they want to vote for him.  I was told things such as:

"I like what he stands for, but let me tell you what bothers me:  his name."

I tried to explain to this woman that his name may be a positive on the international stage, but she said friends had told her that the terrorists had threatened to get us from within, and we don't know who he really is.

Another woman (who remembered me from years ago) said she had been reading so much negative stuff about him on the computer that she didn't trust him.  I mentioned the Ayers issue and told her it was 40 years ago (i.e. Obama being 8 yrs old when Ayers was doing his Weatherman stuff); and how Ayers had been voted citizen of the year in Chicago in 1999.  She looked a bit disbelieving.

A guy who remembered me when I told him my name (I sure don't look the same) seemed happy to see me, but said my parents would be rolling over in their graves if they knew what I was doing.  I assured him that they were Democrats through and through and that would not be so, but he too looked disbelieving.

Another woman told me that she had taken some kind of test on the computer via MSNBC.com and that after she answered her stand on the issues it said that she should vote for Obama.  Her aunt is canvassing for Obama, but this woman still is holding out.  I was pleased though that she spent time talking to me and took 6 of my issues handouts to read.

But there were those who said never would they vote for him....

One woman invited me in when she heard who I was. I pretended to remember her, but the name was only vaguely familiar.  Redjeb was waiting in the car and was probably wondering where I had disappeared to.  I have a feeling that she was happy to see me and explained that this section of Davidsville was where a lot of Jerome folks had resettled.  But I think she was not comfortable with Obama.  I believe there may be a lot of split votes, which I tried to tell people was not good, as a Republican president will veto all the Democratic congress' bills.  That seemed to hit home for some.

One convert though was Johnny Mantini, who lives in a large house up on a hill.  He is now recently widowed and in his 80s and was a grade school teacher of mine.  He gave me a big hug and was delighted that we had stopped by.  He invited Redjeb and me in for a visit.  We couldn't stay for long as our window for knocking is limited:  after work and before sundown, which is coming earlier and earlier.  Mr. Mantini was not committed to Obama when we arrived, but after our visit, as I was going out the door, he yelled to me:  "I'll vote for Obama."

I must confess with each day I'm getting a little tired of doing this.  It is a lot of driving and trying to find houses without house numbers or houses that don't seem to exist.  I mentioned to someone that I did not remember all these streets in these towns or in the country having names, let alone numbers.  I was told that after 9/11 Homeland Security or whatever had this implemented.  But not everyone has a visible number, I can attest to that.  Also there is not a lot of positive reinforcement, and I feel a bit awkward bothering people.  I gather what we are doing is helping to clean out the lists and they plan to have a big campaign of Get Out The Vote next week, with new lists based on our feeble attempts at finding people.