Get Out the Vote

The last two weeks have flown by. We had an event with Eva Longoria and it rained (?!) It had never rained before and hasn't really since, but there she was, all beautiful and from LA standing in the rain addressing a crowd of students and middle-aged women; it was a "successful" event by all standards.

I then spent the last two days of voter registration in Silver City--a small town with a lot of charm (think N. Hampton or Bellingham). We ran around town "blind knocking" on trailers and making sure everyone inside was registered. We stood outside of Sonic (they do exist!) and registered people as they waited for their tots, then ran through local grocery stores, a movie theater and Wal-Mart (where we registered 4 out of 5 republicans, so we left). We were kindly asked to leave Sonic but registered the entire fish department at Albertsons at 10pm. We registered a guy at a bar after an older hippie cursed him out for not voting. The next day I stood outside of the Post Office in town and registered close to 20 people over the course of 4 hours. I got in a bit of a fight with a man who said Sarah Palin is a "breath of fresh air" and five minutes later the head of the Post Office came out to tell me someone had reported my bias tactics. Now, it's slightly comical. At the time, it was slightly infuriating. It never ceases to suprise me how much people will go through to stop you.

We had about 60 people come from Arizona and Texas this weekend and spent all weekend canvassing trying to get people out to early vote. I spoke to a woman who said "hell no I'm not voting for Obama, he's black." I saw the most amazing sunset at the foot of the Organ mountains while little children played in the dirt road with a lost puppy; I took 3 afternoon naps in my car in the parking lot; I lost my job 'cause the organization left town for a more "needy" area then and tried to make up for it by handmaking t-shirts to sell (I have yet to see any return on them); we got one night off and went to a dive bar and played the jutebox; I walked through a small field where there are literally a million grasshoppers and they just jump all around you in all directions; I had about two Red Bulls per day and ultimately got pretty excited about winning this election.

cruisin'

I've found that there are a few things I disagree with Mr. Obama on, namely he gets a lot of shit down here for supporting a bill to build a fence a few years back. And this gig has told me I definitely don't want to go into politics. ever. but for now, it's interesting and busy and worth something.

i'm heading back to silver land tomorrow and joe biden is coming on friday, i'll get to see how his hair looks in person.