(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)
After two weekends of canvassing in Stamford for Ned Lamont, I hit the pavement once again…in Stamford. It’s probably not such a bad idea that we’ve been going to Stamford often, considering that it is Joe Lieberman’s hometown. People-powered politics is about spreading the word, even if it’s to the opponent’s backyard. As you can see, though, it’s in a markedly different location than where I canvassed last weekend. Instead of being in an upper-class neighborhood, today was about going into a neighborhood that was lower-class. Also different from last week was the demographics – whereas almost everyone I spoke to last week was Caucasian, this area of Stamford is ethnically diverse, largely dominated by ethnic African-Americans (many had French names) and Latinos. In my opinion, the area that we covered today will probably have some of the lowest turnout in the state. After that, with some extra time to spare, I did some phonebanking, where the response was more frequent – and quite a bit more positive – than the canvassing experience today. Follow me under the fold for the full story…
I got at the office today a little late thanks to some traffic on I-95 that didn’t appear to have any obvious source. Unlike the past two weekends, where the people present were largely staffers and regular volunteers/interns, today was largely composed of volunteers coming into the office that hadn’t been there before. I’d say there was probably 2-3 times as many people as usual, which was a pleasant surprise. As promised, there were volunteers from the DFA chapters in New York City and its suburbs, although I think a whole trainload of them possibly got lost on the way. I got to meet two other Kossacks in person – the excellent Maura in VA (really in CT) and Pitin, who came all the way from Virginia to volunteer this last weekend before the primary. To say the least, it was somewhat humorous to have the field director, Maura, and Pitin calling me by my Internet user ID instead of by my real name – I don’t think my name is that difficult to remember (well, maybe it is). Maura was busy creating canvassing packets, so I didn’t get a chance to speak with her much. However, Pitin and I got to chatting a little, and he revealed that, unlike the Lamont campaign, the Webb campaign in Virginia is extremely disorganized. That, however, is another diary for another day.
After everything got sorted out, I finally headed out to Stamford with my canvassing partner for the day, Peter. He’s been a non-registered lurker at dKos, but this is the first campaign he’s volunteered for, and it’s been a great experience for him. It’s been such a great experience that he’s considering quitting his current job and signing up full-time with the Lamont campaign (if we win) after the primary. To say the least, one’s first political campaign experience is always enthralling. Although the outcome wasn’t what I hoped for, my volunteer experience for the Kerry/Edwards campaign really helped open my eyes to the down-and-dirty work that it took to market a political candidate and a message. Hopefully, Ned wins the primary so Peter can make the jump for working for the first politician to inspire him to join a campaign.
We made our way into Stamford and split up to cover ground more quickly. I had very bad luck – I only spoke to 3 people the entire time. For the most part, the neighborhood was comprised of multi-family homes – essentially, apartments that are in what look like 2-3 story houses from the front. This causes a problem for canvassing because there’s usually one front door through which everyone enters, but there are doors to the actual residences after that. With the front door being locked most of the time, it was difficult to get any sort of contact at these buildings. I would also say that the homes here were mostly temporary residences; I had more than a few people who had moved, as did Peter. It’s hard to canvass in an area where the population is more fluid.
Nevertheless, I still managed to chat with a few people. One person, an elderly man who was a little pissed from being called away from his television, said he was voting for Lieberman without any additional information. I suppose Lieberman voters don’t really have much to go on, considering the senator’s record in recent times. One middle-aged man I spoke to said he was absolutely “not going to vote for Lieberman”. I asked him what his main reasons for supporting Lamont were, and they seemed to reflect what the latest Quinnipiac poll found – it was because Lieberman was too close to the Bush administration. His exact terms were that “Lieberman embraces Bush too much”, which lends credence to the idea that people are quite aware of the infamous kiss from the 2005 State of the Union address that has since been immortalized as the legendary “Kiss” float. I thanked the man for his time and continued walking around the neighborhood.
However, the first person I spoke to was probably the most interesting – and it wasn’t because of a person who was on my list to canvass. I came up to this home where a young man was busy fixing something. I asked him for the people on my list, and he initially said his mother wasn’t home, so I gave a brief description of what I was doing – speaking to people in the neighborhood and canvassing for Lamont. He said that he had just turned 18 and had registered to vote, and that he was likely to vote for Lieberman. By this time, his mother had come out to the front porch, and he told her about the primary on August 8 between Lieberman, “the guy who went to Stamford High”, and Lamont. It was clear that he would take some more convincing, but since the mother (who was on my list) was undecided, I decided to talk a little about Lamont. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the young man said. However, I said that it was broken – Lamont advocated a change of course in direction in Iraq, backing a withdrawal of our troops from the region in a year, while Lieberman touted the ‘stay the course’ mantra of the Bush administration. The mother nodded in approval upon hearing this. I went on to talk about how we could spend the money over there on things like universal health care, keeping our jobs in the country, and investing in our public education. “But for the most part, he’s been good,” the young man persisted. I then proceeded to talk about how Lieberman had betrayed the Democrats not just on Iraq, but on energy, on universal health care, on affirmative action, and on vouchers. This got a bit of a chuckle from the mother; it turns out that her son had gone to private school primarily because he knew that competition for getting into college was tough – not from America, where he admitted our public schools were in bad shape, but from foreign students – and he needed the best education he could get. I allowed for that, figuring that it wasn’t worth arguing over. I mentioned how Lamont had been endorsed by several leaders in the African-American community such as Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Danny Glover. The mother nodded and said she’d think about it. It seemed that the main issue to her was Iraq, and she stated the need for us to get our troops “out of there”. Although the son was still leaning towards Lieberman, he agreed to think about it. The last question was great – he asked me the process of acquiring an absentee ballot so he could vote in the November elections while he was at college. I told him how, and even though we disagreed, I shook his hand as I left. He may not have had the same views, but it was clear that he was politically aware and intended to vote, even if he wasn’t home. Democracy in America may not be dead yet so long as other people in my generation like him.
As I finished up walking around the neighborhood, I noticed a Lieberman flyer on the ground. It seems like this was a mass mailing done to just about any Democrat on the registration rolls. As you see, it touts his position on women’s rights, as well as his endorsements from NARAL and Planned Parenthood:
For bigger versions of the flyer, click here and here. Of course, this fails to mention the exact things that I saw on a Lamont mailing around the neighborhood – that Lieberman voted for cloture on Sam Alito. No mention either of his callous comments about emergency contraception:
Lieberman said he believes hospitals that refuse to give contraceptives to rape victims for “principled reasons” shouldn’t be forced to do so. “In Connecticut, it shouldn’t take more than a short ride to get to another hospital,” he said.
I won’t do it, but perhaps someone would like to check out the address in the upper left-hand corner to see if it’s a union shop. I wouldn’t bet on it.
Peter fared a little better, speaking with roughly 10 people or so, most of whom were undecided. He also had the fortune of happening upon a couple of gatherings, even enduring the humiliation of buying a Beanie Baby at a tag sale for the opportunity to get Lamont wider exposure among the community. He also had the chance to speak with a few people who were having a party, but they didn’t seem too interested in chatting about the race – they wanted to drink more beer.
In the end, we got back to the Norwalk office early when compared to my previous times canvassing. Since I didn’t feel like leaving quite yet, I decided to sit down and do a little phonebanking. As usual, the majority of the people I called weren’t home. There were a few crabby people who didn’t want to speak to me at all. One lady somehow knew it was someone calling from Lamont’s campaign before I said anything beyond my name – I guess we’ve called her too much, as she’s still trying to make up her mind. I’m not sure how many households and people I ended up attempting to call. But of the 9 people who gave me an answer as to who they were voting for, all of them were voting for Lamont. In the past, I’ve usually stumbled upon a couple of Lieberman supporters – but today, there were none to be found. The first person who said she was voting for Lamont has in fact already voted for him, as she turned in her absentee ballot earlier. What’s even better, though, is that her husband is going to change his party affiliation from unaffiliated to Democratic – to vote for Ned. With the stories of massive Democratic registration ahead of the primary, I was heartened by this news. One person said they’re voting for Lamont and that they were going to be a poll watcher. This was good news as well; one of the things I’m a little worried about is the chance that Democratic officials who back Lieberman may try some dirty tricks after the votes are cast. At this point, people were set on supporting Lamont. I didn’t really get the reasoning behind it, as the fact that they’re set on voting for him, 3 days before the primary, virtually ensures that there’s very little chance that they’ll change their minds. However, it was impressive to see a bunch of ‘Strong Ned’ options circled, and absolutely zero for Lieberman.
I’ll be heading back up to Connecticut tomorrow to give the last help I can before the primary (I have to work during weekdays in New York City, and there’s no way I can get work off on Tuesday). There’s only a short time left to rock the boat. Join us in the Nutmeg State to unveil the dawn of a new era in politics – that of progressive people-powered politics.