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Nov. 5th, 2008
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Nov. 5th, 2008 01:01 pmToday I am officially retiring the LOLbama icon. It has done its work well. I will use this icon until the Inauguration, I think. I made it, so anyone who wants: go ahead and take it.
I am sleep-deprived and delirious. The electoral work in PA was wonderful--more than wonderful. I wish I could personally thank all the voters who patiently talked with me, told me their concerns and their stories, bore with the endless phone calls and leaflets, debated the issues, and went to the polls in floods. Some of the stories were tremendously moving. I will just mention a couple:
Tuesday morning: In rural, hardscrabble Wayne County, in a down-at-heels trailer park in Honesdale, all white, all poor: signs in windows showed that many of the residents are firefighters, cops, or work on the local army base. Why are these people so badly paid? One guy at home with his autistic toddler and a younger child; yes, he was going to vote, yes, for Obama, as soon as him mother came back from the polls and could watch the kids. A couple in their 80s: yes they had voted, for Obama, and the woman who came to take care of them yes, she is voting for Obama, as soon as her shift ends. And on and on... and not one word about race. Not one.
Tuesday afternoon in a gleaming, prosperous subdivision of Carbondale near the Lockheed-Martin plant: manicured lawns, $500,000 homes with 2-car garages and big double front doors: These are the people who *will* see a tax increase under Obama. The Obama lawn signs were all over the place. And the views from their livingroom windows over the autumnal Pennsylvania hills were spectacular, but no better than the views from the windows of that scruffy trailer park.
Tuesday evening at the Honesdale Obama office: An elderly woman calls, frantic: her ride didn't show up, she needs someone to drive her to the polls, hurry hurry, they close soon. Oh, and by the way, she is a Republican and voting for McCain. We send a driver anyway, feeling a little irritated at the fact that she called us, not the McCain office. Driver comes back and reports that she thought she *had* to vote for McCain because her registration is Republican. When he explained to her that she didn't, she was delighted, and voted for Obama. Everyone grins and hands round the stale Halloween candy before picking up the phones again.
So many more stories... maybe I'll post some others later.
Oh, and I just heard from my friend who was working a staging point in the Shenandoah Valley in deep-red western Virginia that Obama carried her precinct. Amazing.
I am sleep-deprived and delirious. The electoral work in PA was wonderful--more than wonderful. I wish I could personally thank all the voters who patiently talked with me, told me their concerns and their stories, bore with the endless phone calls and leaflets, debated the issues, and went to the polls in floods. Some of the stories were tremendously moving. I will just mention a couple:
Tuesday morning: In rural, hardscrabble Wayne County, in a down-at-heels trailer park in Honesdale, all white, all poor: signs in windows showed that many of the residents are firefighters, cops, or work on the local army base. Why are these people so badly paid? One guy at home with his autistic toddler and a younger child; yes, he was going to vote, yes, for Obama, as soon as him mother came back from the polls and could watch the kids. A couple in their 80s: yes they had voted, for Obama, and the woman who came to take care of them yes, she is voting for Obama, as soon as her shift ends. And on and on... and not one word about race. Not one.
Tuesday afternoon in a gleaming, prosperous subdivision of Carbondale near the Lockheed-Martin plant: manicured lawns, $500,000 homes with 2-car garages and big double front doors: These are the people who *will* see a tax increase under Obama. The Obama lawn signs were all over the place. And the views from their livingroom windows over the autumnal Pennsylvania hills were spectacular, but no better than the views from the windows of that scruffy trailer park.
Tuesday evening at the Honesdale Obama office: An elderly woman calls, frantic: her ride didn't show up, she needs someone to drive her to the polls, hurry hurry, they close soon. Oh, and by the way, she is a Republican and voting for McCain. We send a driver anyway, feeling a little irritated at the fact that she called us, not the McCain office. Driver comes back and reports that she thought she *had* to vote for McCain because her registration is Republican. When he explained to her that she didn't, she was delighted, and voted for Obama. Everyone grins and hands round the stale Halloween candy before picking up the phones again.
So many more stories... maybe I'll post some others later.
Oh, and I just heard from my friend who was working a staging point in the Shenandoah Valley in deep-red western Virginia that Obama carried her precinct. Amazing.