Yay democracy!

I spent my Saturday in Michigan, canvassing for the Obama campaign. It was great to do, but I came away not feeling like I accomplished very much. At most of the houses, no one was home, and at several more, people didn't really want to talk. I only talked to maybe 4 or 5 people for more than 5 seconds. I did register 2 voters, which was nice.

We did see a LOT of Obama/Biden signs, and very few McCain/Palin signs. I'm told Grand Rapids is somewhat conservative, so this is a good sign. We also talked for a few minutes to a man who works for the UAW, and said that he'd been canvassing the day before in a small town about 70 miles west, which is known to be fairly conservative, and he said that in that town, there were lots of Obama signs, and very few McCain signs.

Despite not getting to talk to many people, it was interesting to see the Obama ground game in action. The campaign is really trying to get to know the voters as individuals, and really target every voter as important. The lists we received were of undecided or leaning voters (known strong supporters of either side were not on the lists). We asked them if they were registered, if they had decided who they were voting for, offered them absentee ballots, and asked if there were issues they cared about. All this information was coded on our lists, and taken back to be entered into the databases for the next round of canvassing. Anyone not home would be visited again. Those who were still undecided or leaning towards Obama are prioritized for future visits, those who support McCain marked off the list. People who needed absentee ballots were marked for follow-up to make sure they sent them in. It's almost like door-to-door polling - getting an idea of where everyone stands, so you can best direct resources.

This is happening in towns across the country, especially in battleground states like Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Colorado, Virginia, Nevada, North Carolina and New Hampshire. I can't even comprehend of the number of people who must be working or volunteering, in order to make such a hands-on effort possible, to get out EVERY SINGLE VOTE. We talked to another woman who said she was undecided, but that she was reading everything that was delivered to her house, and so far, she'd only gotten Obama stuff, and figured she wouldn't be getting any McCain stuff now (since McCain pulled out of Michigan).

It looks like this grassroots effort might work - it seems to make people feel personally responsible and engaged, in a way that TV attack ads and computerized phone calls can't.

Yay democracy!