The view from the ground – Bucks County Journal

Today, tomorrow and Tuesday I’m in Bucks County, PA, volunteering for the Obama campaign. No, its not glamorous, I won’t be appearing on NPR or the Nightly Business Report. I will be being doing whatever the caffeine- and cheesesteak-fueled twenty-somethings running the local Obama campaign GOTV (get out the vote) team choose to delegate to me.
Got to the office (one of many in Bucks County, which is north of Philly) I was assigned to early this morning, and was immediately put to work doing menial clerical work by local boss John, who looked like he’d been awake for quite a while (as in days, not hours). About ten am, a bus arrived and disgorged about 60 New Yorkers. The seating capacity of the bus was 53, so seven stood all the way here from NYC (about 90 minutes). And they each paid $30 for the privilege of spending their Sunday working for Obama. And a couple dozen volunteers were left curbside in Manhattan as there was no more room on the bus.
They paired up those with cars (e.g. me) with those without (two recent Barnard graduates and a retired cellist), handed us a detailed, coded, yet simple map and materials and directions and sent us out to place literature on doorknobs of previously identified likely Obama supporters.
These people are organized. I mean, really, really organized. Organized like big businesses are supposed to be, but rarely are. There were over 120 of us there this morning, and all of us were trained, out, and canvassing within a half-hour, with computerized lists coded with directions, separated by odd and even house numbers so we could work both sides of the street most efficiently. They are also frugal – no one offered to pay for gas or tolls or lunch, there were no piles of buttons and swag laying around for the taking.
Yesterday (Saturday) was door knocking and contact day, when canvassers tried to engage those still undecided voters. Obama canvassers knocked on 69,000 doors yesterday. That’s not a typo – 69,000 doors in one day. In one county (Bucks), in one state, albeit a critical swing state (PA). Today and tomorrow are reminder days – voting times, polling place locations, specifics on what you do and don’t need to bring to vote. Tuesday is an 8-8 shift, making sure all potential Obama supporters get to the polls. And rest assured they’ll know precisely who makes it to vote and who doesn’t, and for those is the ‘doesn’t’ camp, some smiling Obama volunteer will be on their doorstep offering to drive them to the polls by early Tuesday evening.
Pennsylvania is supposed to be tightening up. The GOP’s vaunted 72-hour program has delivered in the past, and McCain is going all in in PA. The Senator from Arizona has to win Pensylvania to have any realistic chance of beating Obama.
From what I can tell, I don’t think McCain has a chance.
Admittedly I’m only seeing one tiny part of one candidate’s campaign, and I’m certainly no expert in these things. I do know Obama’s Get Out The Vote effort is extremely well run, efficient, and very focused. Obama also benefits from his volunteers’ weird combination of enthusiasm, paranoia, and sense of self-responsibility. To a person, everyone I spoke with or heard in passing believed it was their responsibility to do everything they could to get Obama elected. That includes the mom from Weston CT with two kids in boarding school, the high-school kids from the neighborhood, the retired veteran, the pipefitter, the farmer from rural western Massachusetts and two residents taking a day off from medical training.
This wasn’t a lark, it was a personal responsibility.
I’m going to be reporting from/commenting on the experience – be forewarned, MCM likely won’t have much to do with managed care until Wednesday. For those incensed/outraged/angry as my keystrokes meander away from the mainstream of managed care, I’ll be glad to send you a full refund.