Blog entry 7 - Thoughts on action

Blog entry 7 - Thoughts on action

Today was the first day I've visited a Democratic Party campaign headquarters.

Today was the first day I've canvassed for a Democratic politician.  (Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who is a Democrat running for our representative in Congress against Greg Walden, who I do NOT support.)

(I've worked phone banks and canvassed and placed lawn signs for school bonds and library bonds before, but not for a party-affiliated politician.)

I had wanted to take action of some kind, and, now that I've done it, I am glad to have contributed.  But I am not convinced that we made a difference.

Kathy and I went out together, visiting the homes of 46 voters registered as non-Republicans.  Most of them weren't home.  A couple were enthusiastic supporters of Jamie McLeod-Skinner already.  A lot of those who were home were undecided.  And it turned out that a surprising number were not actually the voters who were on our list.  Apparently, Bend has lots of cases where people are renting out their houses, perhaps not fully legally.  In terms of rallying support for our cause, it did not feel like we made much of an impact.

Perhaps the most concerning interaction was with a guy working on one of the houses.  We asked if he was voting, I actually don't remember his answer.  We handed him a flyer, and he said he wouldn't vote for a Democrat, they were all controlled by the Clintons, and they were attacking Supreme Court justices, that Ford was actually lying about lie detector tests and had coached other people for 8 years on how to defeat lie detector tests.  We decided not to engage with this guy, but I really wanted to ask him whether he had watched the testimony, and ask if he was completely certain who was lying and who was telling the truth.  I doubt it would have mattered to him.  He had his worldview, and it was not changing, no matter what.  Central Oregon is filled with people like him.  I doubt McLeod-Skinner will be able to win with people like that in her district.  Still, it's worth making the effort to inform people who haven't made up their minds yet.  We'll do what we can, and we will see what happens.

I doubt canvassing and phone banks and such will sway more than a very small percentage of voters.  How DO you reach people effectively?  I also doubt the TV and radio ads truly help.  Maybe the right course of action is to just go down to bars and talk with people one on one.  On the other hand, maybe that's a great way to get into a fight.  Hmm...