He's an incredibly bright and articulate comrade not just in the entertainment 'biz' but also in the quest to help elect Obama to the White House. Chris worked on Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004 and spent this last weekend organizing for Obama in Philadelphia. So glad he agreed to share his thoughts about his trip. I hope he'll write again soon!Hi everyone. Josh asked me to write about our experience registering voters for Barack this Saturday in West Philly. He said he wanted to give his readership "a sense of the sights and sounds and flavor of life on the street." Well, that’s ambitious - but here some of my observations:
Barack’s people were organized. It was easy. All we did was call the Philly headquarters and they sent us an email with the address of the staging ground – which was in a McDonald’s parking lot. We were worried we’d get there too late, but they had people there all day with maps, putting groups of volunteers together and sending them to assigned places. We were spread out in strategic locations and pretty much saturated the area. Several people told me they registered that day only a few blocks from where we were – but I still managed to find unregistered people. I came back wishing I’d gotten more, but they told us that across Philadelphia as a group we got thousands of new Pro-Barack registrations that day. When we handed them in, there was even one girl getting in her car to go chase down “incompletes” – people who hadn’t filled out the forms all the way. This level of detail was impressive! I was also happy that they gave us little slips with the Election Day info and the phone number and website so that people could call and make sure they were on the rolls and confirm their voting location. I know that with a lot of people that’s half the battle, and these slips were VERY helpful.
The excitement is still very high. In 2004, I quit my job to become a canvass director for the Democratic Party during the Kerry campaign, where I spent a year going door-to-door in South Florida . Sure, there was a lot of anger toward Bush, and a lot of people motivated to get him out of office,
but there was little-to-no excitement about the idea of a President Kerry – especially in the black community. I had a feeling it would be very different this time around and I wasn’t disappointed. Barack is someone that people really take pride in (and we will all be proud when he’s our nominee!) As you can see from the picture, they were selling Barack t-shirts on the streets and the vendor was saying things like: “Obama shirts ten dollars. History in the making!”
But that’s not to say people were naïve – and as a rule, black voters are the least naïve people I’ve encountered in politics. (Obviously a long history from Jim Crow to Florida 2000 produces a healthy dose of skepticism.) One guy expressed the concern I’ve heard from a lot of people that Barack will simply get shot. Another guy said that even though Rev. Wright didn’t bother him at all, he worried that the debacle would hurt Barack with white voters. Some were even surprised that my friend and I – two white guys – were working for Barack at all.
Regardless of the number of registrations we got (and we did well!) I think it was healthy for us to just be a presence there smiling with our Obama pins. We interacted with hundreds of people and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive and upbeat. Looking at the other volunteers – who were a very diverse crowd across ages, genders and races – I felt great. That’s what Barack’s campaign is all about.
Registration is now over, but I urge people to go to PA in the coming weeks to volunteer for Get-Out-the-Vote. The electorate is more aware and more energized than I’ve ever seen, but as I said, getting people information like their polling location is half the battle. It’s also important to remind people of their rights. For example, many people don’t know that they don’t physically need their voter card. If they’re on the rolls, they can just show up with a photo ID to the right place and their vote will count. These are the type of things that a good Get-Out-the-Vote volunteer can get the word out about. It can make the difference between someone voting or not. Primary Day is April 22. Please contact me if you are thinking about organizing a trip. ChrisGoldny@gmail.com
Barack’s people were organized. It was easy. All we did was call the Philly headquarters and they sent us an email with the address of the staging ground – which was in a McDonald’s parking lot. We were worried we’d get there too late, but they had people there all day with maps, putting groups of volunteers together and sending them to assigned places. We were spread out in strategic locations and pretty much saturated the area. Several people told me they registered that day only a few blocks from where we were – but I still managed to find unregistered people. I came back wishing I’d gotten more, but they told us that across Philadelphia as a group we got thousands of new Pro-Barack registrations that day. When we handed them in, there was even one girl getting in her car to go chase down “incompletes” – people who hadn’t filled out the forms all the way. This level of detail was impressive! I was also happy that they gave us little slips with the Election Day info and the phone number and website so that people could call and make sure they were on the rolls and confirm their voting location. I know that with a lot of people that’s half the battle, and these slips were VERY helpful.
The excitement is still very high. In 2004, I quit my job to become a canvass director for the Democratic Party during the Kerry campaign, where I spent a year going door-to-door in South Florida . Sure, there was a lot of anger toward Bush, and a lot of people motivated to get him out of office,
but there was little-to-no excitement about the idea of a President Kerry – especially in the black community. I had a feeling it would be very different this time around and I wasn’t disappointed. Barack is someone that people really take pride in (and we will all be proud when he’s our nominee!) As you can see from the picture, they were selling Barack t-shirts on the streets and the vendor was saying things like: “Obama shirts ten dollars. History in the making!”But that’s not to say people were naïve – and as a rule, black voters are the least naïve people I’ve encountered in politics. (Obviously a long history from Jim Crow to Florida 2000 produces a healthy dose of skepticism.) One guy expressed the concern I’ve heard from a lot of people that Barack will simply get shot. Another guy said that even though Rev. Wright didn’t bother him at all, he worried that the debacle would hurt Barack with white voters. Some were even surprised that my friend and I – two white guys – were working for Barack at all.
Regardless of the number of registrations we got (and we did well!) I think it was healthy for us to just be a presence there smiling with our Obama pins. We interacted with hundreds of people and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive and upbeat. Looking at the other volunteers – who were a very diverse crowd across ages, genders and races – I felt great. That’s what Barack’s campaign is all about.
Registration is now over, but I urge people to go to PA in the coming weeks to volunteer for Get-Out-the-Vote. The electorate is more aware and more energized than I’ve ever seen, but as I said, getting people information like their polling location is half the battle. It’s also important to remind people of their rights. For example, many people don’t know that they don’t physically need their voter card. If they’re on the rolls, they can just show up with a photo ID to the right place and their vote will count. These are the type of things that a good Get-Out-the-Vote volunteer can get the word out about. It can make the difference between someone voting or not. Primary Day is April 22. Please contact me if you are thinking about organizing a trip. ChrisGoldny@gmail.com
1 comment:
great guest post, chris! great blog, josh. we need more of you guys out there!
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