Inaugural post - 1 week in

Welcome to the inaugural post of Ben's Ohio Campaign Blog about my experiences coming to Cleveland to volunteer on the Obama campaign! This is not only the first post for this blog, but also my first blog post of any kind, so here we go.

First I'd just like to thank anyone who spends the time to read my blog, and I fully encourage you to post you comments, questions, or requests for future posts. This will likely be a work in progress throughout the campaign, so I'll try my best to be as informative and insightful as possible. I will try to explain my ideas and observations as eloquently as possible, but there will probably be times when I'm not being as clear as I think I am. If you want to discuss further any point I make, I'll be happy to discuss more.

Why I'm in Cleveland

So some basics of my trip: after taking the Bar this summer (thank god that's over with) I found myself with a window of open time before my results come in and no particularly compelling path for me to follow. So I started paying more and more attention to this historic race for the Whitehouse and became increasingly inspired by Obama and the certainty that not only could we not afford another 4 years of a Republican President, but that Obama was a different breed of politician. Like many Californian Democrats, I no longer wanted to sit on the sidelines and cross my fingers that the rest of the country sees everything the way that we do.

So I started emailing to find some contacts on how to get involved (a special thanks to Steve and Sam Hirsch for helping me get the ball rolling). After talking to at least 4 different coordinators I wound up heading to Cleveland to "campaign," without any instructions more specific than that. I arrived in Cleveland on October 1st, just shy of 5 weeks until election day. I've been here about a week now and its been quite an experience so far. I'll be here through election day, so I'll get to see all the craziness mount as it approaches.

The City of Cleveland

For those of you who've never been to the Midwest or Cleveland before (like me), we really don't know anything about this region other than its a "swing state." Cleveland is in Cuyahoga County right on Lake Erie, with a population of around 2 million people. This is the staunchest democratic county in Ohio, with most of the red regions in the southern part of the state. the weather here is all over the map, from cold an windy my first day, to rainy yesterday, to a sunny summery day today. The locals tell me to expect snow by the end of the month, and enjoy the leaves turning until then.

The people here seem to have wildly different opinions of the city. The ones born and bred here have a very negative opinion, citing the lack of progressives, the undercurrent of corruption and sluggishness of local politics, crappy weather and long standing economic downturn. My favorite quote was one guy who said that only thing the politicians got right was to have a lot of street cleaning.

Those that have moved here to become permanent resides have a much higher opinion, pointing to the proximity of beautiful Lake Erie, a good city park system, numerous renowned orchestras and music, good city planning (although a lack of a subway and sub par bus system, good food and sense of pride that the Rust Belt is the "engine that pumps the nation's economy." I don't think I've seen enough of the city to make my own judgments just yet, but I certainly enjoyed the West Side Market, a large indoor open-aired market of fresh produce, meats, falafels, bratwursts and cheeses that rivals any gourmet shop in SF.

In any case, the people of Cleveland are extremely politically energized. While there are a few people who are adamant that they will not vote or be politically involved, almost everyone I meet is ready to talk and share their support and feelings on what's going on. Even the legitmately undecided voters are eager to talk and have you convince then to vote Obama.

The outpouring of local volunteers is also amazing. People from all walks of life are interested volunteering, from old ladies who come in to make phone calls, to young poor men with 2 kids already ready to canvass, to middle aged blue collar workers. I went canvassing with this one guy yesterday who had a heartbreaking tale of being unemployed for nearly a year despite his best efforts, trying to support his daughter's swimming career without the ex-wife's support, while his current wife is stuck in the Ukraine for the past year and a half over some visa problems. And he still comes out every day and canvasses for Obama. Its quite moving actually.

I could go on an on about all the people I've met so far, but I'll move on for now.

The Campaign

So I work out of the Lakewood office, one of the burroughs on the west side of Cleveland. [EDIT - I can't divulge too much of our campaign methodology so I've removed those portions] The office is almost always buzzing with organizers preparing the day's activities, locals coming by to pick up Obama yard signs (which we apparently never have enough of) and the dozens of volunteers who flood back at the end of the day. We recently finished out voter registration drive (the deadline was monday) and now we're preparing for our [EDIT].

Never having worked on a campaign I'm astounded by the level of organization work that goes in to the campaign. After knocking on doors all day, we typically work until 10,11, and sometimes midnight entering all the data collected during the day, making phone calls, and following up on potential volunteers. I hit the ground running and have been working 12 hours almost every day. Today is my first day off and I'm not sure when I'll have another.

So far I've done mostly canvassing, personally registered about 100 voters (most standing in the parking lot of a large grocery store the night of the deadline), made volunteer recruitment calls, and helped out in the mailroom. Apparently [EDIT - I helpd sort] fliers that exposed the 2 hidden points of McCain's healthcare plan. I thought it was a really well done flier.

My fellow campaigners are really inspiring. While there are a few paid staff positions, they're not paid that much, especially considering the hours we put in. Some of the volunteers celebrated the other day when they[voted early at] the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (at 2925 Euclid ave open 8:30a-5p weekdays, 9a-1p sat and 1p-5p sundays in case you were wondering if I had that memorized) to cast their early vote for Obama. (Quick note on Early Voting - Ohio is letting people vote in person at each county board of election every day between now and the election. While the first couple days had lower than expected turnout, lines have started to form and more people are logging in their votes. While we *think* that votes are being counted already, there is absolutely zero word on what that count is).

We have volunteers from all over the country, and while most are young people in their 20's, we do have a solid contingent of older full time volunteers around retirement age. I went canvassing with a lovely women named Margie in her 60's (I think) who helped me tackle a ridiculously large packet of over 180 doors in one day. She's really a trooper! One day I also went out with a family from new york; a mother, father and daughter who came down for the weekend to help out. Before I talk about how cool each and every volunteer is, I'll end with a woman named Rachel who is in Rabbinical school in LA. She was so enthusiastic to make as much of an impact she repeatedly asked for larger and larger packets so she could register as many voters as possible. She'd come back from a day canvassing, grab more voter reg forms and head out to the bar and club scene to register people on the block. The last we saw of her was her stopping mid packet to literally run to her car so she could speed to the airport and catch her flight home for Yom Kippur.

The Overall view of the campaign

The one downside of working on the campaign this way is that its hard to follow the big stories that are getting play on the news. We're spending so much time examining that bark on each tree that we have no idea how big the forest is, although we try and check the news as much as possible. For the 2 debates that were held since I've been out here we all headed down to a local Irish bar and cheered and booed and appropriate moments. For the VP debate the bar actually handed out "Palin Bingo" cards which were pretty funny. All I needed was a "dependence on foreign oil" line and I would have won. At least I think that's what I needed.

As I mentioned, this part of Ohio is pretty strongly democratic, so we get a lot of encouragement and support from the people. Our main focus is to motivate as many as possible to get to the polls and maximize the impact of the region. All the reports of favorable poll numbers just gives us more motivation to do more work, although we're all pretty tired.

Speaking of which, I think I'll stop here for now. Next time I'll try and talk about some of the interesting views people have on why they're for or against Obama, and how some people are still undecided (amazingly). Please bear with me, as I've been extremely busy, and will try to make new posts and comments as I can. Suggestions and feedback are appreciated!

Ben