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violetandblue Donating Member (42 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-23-06 10:27 AM
Original message
Canvassing for Dems - any tips/advice?
I'm going to work for the Ohio Democratic Party (I get paid, too!). I'll be canvassing neighborhoods, passing out literature. The hours are 4:00-8pm, which sounds like a long time, but I guess they're trying to cover all of Ross County. I don't know how many people will be working - if we'll go in groups. It sounds like fun, and I need the extra money. I actually canvassed for the Dems in high school, for extra credit in a social studies class. I'm trying to familiarize myself with all of the candidates - I haven't kept up with some of the smaller races. Any tips or words of advice?
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geiger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-23-06 10:57 AM
Response to Original message
1. take a pda to write down questions you cant answer,
so that you can get answers and get back to people. also, it's a good way to document what's on people's minds and how they are likely to vote. Hopefully, the Party will be providing these, but maybe not.

Have fun!
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AngryOldDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-23-06 11:28 AM
Response to Original message
2. Be friendly. No matter what.
Always take the high road. If people get rude or obscene, smile politely and move on.

And, as polispeak suggested, do try to find out answers to questions people have. Proving that you're doing more than just lip service can mean a lot.
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Kukesa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-23-06 12:04 PM
Response to Original message
3. Don't miss a chance to use a restroom.
And be sure to eat.

:P

Good for you!
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roseBudd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-23-06 03:35 PM
Response to Original message
4. If I had to pick one issue the GOP is reaaly weak on in the eyes of
former Bush voters is fiscal. My favorite stat is the Iraq War is costing $11.9 million an hour. $11 million is easier to understand than $8 billion and an hour ticks by 24 times a day.

And remember the dems don't control anything right now as they have been completely shut out.

I would also hit on one party government is not working. Read this Rolling Stone article for further ammo.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever

The Worst Congress Ever
How our national legislature has become a stable of thieves and perverts -- in five easy steps
MATT TAIBBI

See our picks for the 10 Worst Congressmen and read what people are saying in our politics blog.

There is very little that sums up the record of the U.S. Congress in the Bush years better than a half-mad boy-addict put in charge of a federal commission on child exploitation. After all, if a hairy-necked, raincoat-clad freak like Rep. Mark Foley can get himself named co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, one can only wonder: What the hell else is going on in the corridors of Capitol Hill these days?

These past six years were more than just the most shameful, corrupt and incompetent period in the history of the American legislative branch. These were the years when the U.S. parliament became a historical punch line, a political obscenity on par with the court of Nero or Caligula -- a stable of thieves and perverts who committed crimes rolling out of bed in the morning and did their very best to turn the mighty American empire into a debt-laden, despotic backwater, a Burkina Faso with cable.

To be sure, Congress has always been a kind of muddy ideological cemetery, a place where good ideas go to die in a maelstrom of bureaucratic hedging and rank favor-trading. Its whole history is one long love letter to sleaze, idiocy and pigheaded, glacial conservatism. That Congress exists mainly to misspend our money and snore its way through even the direst political crises is something we Americans understand instinctively. "There is no native criminal class except Congress," Mark Twain said -- a joke that still provokes a laugh of recognition a hundred years later.

But the 109th Congress is no mild departure from the norm, no slight deviation in an already-underwhelming history. No, this is nothing less than a historic shift in how our democracy is run. The Republicans who control this Congress are revolutionaries, and they have brought their revolutionary vision for the House and Senate quite unpleasantly to fruition. In the past six years they have castrated the political minority, abdicated their oversight responsibilities mandated by the Constitution, enacted a conscious policy of massive borrowing and unrestrained spending, and installed a host of semipermanent mechanisms for transferring legislative power to commercial interests. They aimed far lower than any other Congress has ever aimed, and they nailed their target.


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femrap Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Oct-24-06 10:43 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. Hey, Rosebud....that's a great article
from Rolling Stone. It sums it up all in 5 major points.

I read a poll recently that in Ohio, Jobs and Economy are the #1 issue to voters. Health Care is #2. So I would focus on these. Education was a close #3.

I've been saying: "After 16 years of one-party Republican rule, Ohio is now #1 in Job Loss, #1 in Bankruptcies, and #1 in Foreclosures. Ted Strickland and the Democratic slate have put together a Plan to Turn Around Ohio which will bring back Good Paying Jobs and provide Health Care to all Ohio citizens. The corruption in Ohio must stop now...please vote the entire Democratic ticket so we can get our once great state back on its feet."

And if you get a person who is a Republican, I say: "I know many Republicans who are voting for Ted Strickland and the rest of the Democratic Ticket because they can no longer in good conscious put their political party before their Country and its Constitution."

Hope that helps. I have been canvassing for awhile now and have encountered only one 'crazy' who followed me down the road yelling about how safe we are under *. I just kept walking. Don't waste your time trying to convince those who have drank too much of the Kool-Aid.
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roseBudd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-27-06 08:24 PM
Response to Reply #5
18. Definitely, fundies will try to waste your time, walk away...
I mostly focus on African Americans who are unlikely voters, but if they did vote they would vote for Ds just because. I focus on the apolitical and I mock the R opponents relentlessly.

Blackwell may be toast, but turning out the I hate Blackwell vote will help the rest of the ticket.

Here is the Blacks Against Blackwell flyer for download

http://blacksagainstblackwell.com/blackwell.pdf

the web site

http://blacksagainstblackwell.com
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violetandblue Donating Member (42 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-25-06 09:06 AM
Response to Original message
6. It's been going alright...
so far. This is a nationally organized canvassing, so they give us a script, and have us focus on three main candidates: Strickland, Brown, and Zack Space. We start out by telling them who we represent and ask if they're planning on voting for Strickland. He's very popular here, and most people (we're surveying a select list of probable Dem voters) will answer that they're voting for Ted. We then go on to ask about Brown and Space, which most people have responded that they're unsure about. We take that opportunity to talk up those two - we try to link them to Strickland by saying that they share the same morals and values as Ted, Ted is going to need help from fellow Congress Dems to get things done, etc. People for the most part have been friendly and receptive.

On Monday, we canvassed a densely populated neighborhood, so it was easy to hit a lot of houses. I don't know if anyone has encountered this before, but yesterday, we were sent to a VERY rural area where the houses were spread really far apart. We had to basically drive to each house rather than park and walk to several houses. Took forever since some of these houses were set far back in or on hills. I don't think the people who organized this (one comes from Columbus, and another is from Penn, I think, and they work with Dem headquarters) have any idea of the terrain. They gave us maps, but only two of the main roads were on there. I enjoyed doing it, but we didn't get a lot done, and it took about a 1/4 tank of gas to get out there. I think I'm going to ask about gas compensation, because otherwise, it's going to eat into my wallet. I think we're done with the in-town areas, and are going to be focusing on the rural, though he said that not all of them are so spread out. It's definitely been an interesting experience - we stopped at a rest area that turned out to be an outhouse - I had no idea parts of this county were so country!
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geiger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-25-06 09:09 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. gotta do it
you're doin' good
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violetandblue Donating Member (42 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-25-06 09:15 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. Thanks! (n/m)
n/m
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cmd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-25-06 09:26 AM
Response to Reply #6
9. Do ask about reimbursement
Unfortunately, a lot of the 18th is very rural. Those are the voters we really need to contact. Most of them are pretty independent in their voting.

I like the way you are going about hitting on Ted first. Whoever wrote the script did well. Zack could really be a clone of Strickland on issues. Both are very moral, very honest men. I've been working for Zack since the primary. I really admire him.

I'll be up here in Tuscarawas cheering for you down in Ross. I hope we'll both be celebrating in two weeks. Thank you for your work. cmd
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violetandblue Donating Member (42 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-26-06 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. Thanks for your work, too!
This is actually pretty fun, and doesn't seem like work anymore (until later when my legs are aching!). We've been doing some more densely populated areas lately, so it's been better.

Zack is going to be marching in our local Halloween parade on Saturday. We all get to go and march with him. I'm excited and a little nervous - I'll finally get to meet the person I've been campaigning for!
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cmd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-26-06 09:27 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. There is nothing to worry about
He is just a great guy. In fact, I would say that he is a little shy when it comes to meeting people. Just go up, smile, shake his hand and watch for a glimpse of his cute dimples. I guarentee you will like him. Have fun. cmd
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femrap Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-27-06 01:32 AM
Response to Reply #6
15. That's the problem with out-of-staters coming
in...they don't know the territory. If you get stuck with a rural turf, one person drives and turns the car around while the second person runs to the door and talks with resident. A rural route can NOT be done with one person...it's too frustrating. Driving, navigating, trying to find addresses, dealing with driveways, and barking dogs...!

But with 2 people, it can be done.

But one's time is much better spent in a 'walking area.'

I recently read that Ohio is 55% farm land...so I guess we gotta hit those rural areas...take a buddy!
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WCGreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-26-06 07:28 PM
Response to Original message
10. I was campaigning for myself in a suburb of Cleveland....
I went to this door and the guy was attomatically hostile...

He said, "Are you gonna let N*****S move in here..."

I just looked at him and said, I guess you're voting for the other guy...

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rg302200 Donating Member (495 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-26-06 11:45 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. That shouldn't be funny....but I laughed anyways, n/t
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WCGreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-27-06 12:18 AM
Response to Reply #13
14. Well, I agree...
It was disturbing, to say the least, but what else could I say....
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femrap Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-27-06 01:38 AM
Response to Reply #10
16. No sirree....
feminazis, Arabs, Buddhists, abortionists, atheists, republican pedophiles, and just plain stupid people are moving into your neighborhood.

Have a nice day!
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Kukesa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-27-06 11:31 AM
Response to Reply #10
17. And when asked if a candidate was a "born again Christian"
my friend would state that he's a Roman Catholic. No questions, and no other explanation was needed.

:eyes:
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