I am so proud of my sisters. news from the campaign trail.
by Patty (no login)
My sis in NYC (whose job it is to get affordable housing for seniors and AIDS patients) just returned from a week on the Kerry campaign. Here's her letter:
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So Kathy and I returned yesterday from our week working on the Kerry-Edwards campaign in Pittsburgh. What a great week! We got in on Sunday night and worked Monday through Friday. I worked on a phone bank that was set up at the AFSCME union office a few blocks from the campaign headquarters. My main job was making calls to seniors who were registered as Democrats or Independents. We would first determine if they were supporting Kerry, and if they were we would then urge them to get to the polls. For these strong Kerry supporters we also checked to see if they needed a ride to the polls or an absentee ballot. We coded all the information which was then scanned back at the main office so that additional calls could be made to all the people who hadn’t answered the first time, and so the campaign could gauge the level of Kerry support. Of the people we called and actually spoke to about 80% were strong Kerry supporters, which was very gratifying (but of course we called no Republicans). We also had to code “Undecided” voters – presumably these people will be contacted in a door-to-door canvass. I also got to actually run the phone bank on Tuesday and Thursday which meant training each new volunteer as they showed up during the day. That was fun – I love to be in charge! We had people from all over the country – at one point on Tuesday we had about 12 people and only two were from Pittsburgh. The rest were from Maryland, D.C., California, and New York. Our phone bank made about 4,500 calls on the four days we ran it. What an amazing effort!
On Wednesday we got a special treat – John Kerry was in Pittsburgh for a rally at Carnegie Mellon University. We took the morning off so that I could have a chance to see the CMU campus (that’s where Kathy’s son Sam is going to school and I wanted to get a sense of place for him). The campaign had a 50-person phone bank set up at CMU that started at 2 so we worked on that, calling younger voters, until about 5 (3,400 calls!). Then, anyone who worked the phone bank at the event got a “gold” ticket which entitled us to be right by the stage for the rally. And Kerry was just great! I thought he gave a wonderful stump speech – made all the important points about jobs, energy independence, health care, education, homeland security, terrorism and the war in Iraq. And he connected very well with the crowd – which was somewhere over 10,000 people. We almost got to shake his hand, but he was diverted just a few feet away from our spot. It was so exciting!
And we had another very special treat! Wednesday morning Kathy and I were having breakfast at the B&B where we were staying, and this very handsome older man came down for breakfast. He was half listening to the conversation we were having with another guest about what we were doing in town with the Kerry campaign. When he left he said, “Thanks for volunteering”. Minutes later I said to the innkeeper, “That man looked just like Ted Danson”. And she said “That’s because that is Ted Danson.” Wow! Talk about up close and personal! Turned out that he was in Pittsburgh for some conference on the environment, and also to speak at the rally about environmental issues and Kerry’s record. He was a really good speaker too. Turns out he has been friends with Kerry for 18 years or so. I also saw him the next day and congratulated him on his speech. I didn’t realize what a fan I was! But my heart was sure thumping afterwards!
We also got to spend a lot of time with Sam which was really great. It seems that CMU was a really good choice for him. He has some really nice friends that we met and had dinner with, he is working really hard in his theater classes which involve a lot of design and studio work, and he just seems settled and happy. Kathy was thrilled.
Today I decided to try the Kerry Campaign Phone Corps. I had been getting emails from the campaign about it, and after my work in Pittsburgh I wanted to try it. Turns out it is really easy. Basically you are calling likely volunteers in swing states and trying to sign them up for door to door canvasses. They give you a script and all the information you need. I called twenty people in Colorado today and signed 3 people up. If you think you might be up to doing something like this I urge you to give it a try. (I was nervous when I started my phone banking in Pittsburgh, but really after the first two calls you are already a pro!) I am going to try to do an hour a day all week! The link you need to get started is http://calls.johnkerry.com. You have to sign up as a volunteer first, and that’s real easy.
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I should do the phone corps. I am just so jazzed for my sister.
Posted on Oct 24, 2004, 9:31 PM from IP address 4.61.6.192