| Barack Obama - Presidential Campaign 2008 |
| Heather's Obama blog Road trip to PA - registering voters in Pittsburgh |
Today I took a road trip to Pennsylvania, whose primary election is scheduled for Tuesday, April 22. I thoroughly
enjoyed working for the campaign here in Columbus, OH and felt like I needed to do more. Actually, I just wanted to
do more. For Ohio, the offices - other than the HQ - have all been shut down until after the Democratic National
convention in August at which time, they'll open back up for the general election campaign against John McCain.
For some reason, sitting at home and going back to watching the news and watching speeches on C-Span just wasn't
enough. Although, I have upgraded my cable so that I now have CNN and MSNBC. That makes me happy. I missed
taking action, though. Plus, I missed the social aspect of the whole thing. I love being surrounded by happy people
who actively support and motivate each other. Everyone on the campaign shares the same belief that our country
can be a lot better than it is and that Barack Obama is the presidential candidate to help make that happen. It's so
incredibly great to be motivated towards a common goal of improving an entire nation.
So on that note, I volunteered to travel out to Pittsburgh, PA to help register voters there for their primary. The
deadline to register is Monday, March 24. About a dozen of us started our day bright (well, kind of) and very early on
a Saturday morning at the Cracker Barrel in Reynoldsburg - on the east side of Columbus, OH, where we're all from.
a Saturday morning at the Cracker Barrel in Reynoldsburg - on the east side of Columbus, OH, where we're all from.
At that point, Jill - a campaign organizer - sorted us all into cars to head over to the main campaign office in
Pittsburgh. I'm sure it wasn't the most luxurious of trips, but Mandeep, Takeysha and I all hopped in my Jetta for the
three-hour journey to Pitt. The ride over was great - we had the best conversations about a very wide variety of
issues from Superdelegates to inspirational speeches to the Iraq war to race issues to energy alternatives and
anything else we thought of.
Upon arrival in Pittsburgh, we all gathered around in the campaign HQ offices to hear a quick talk from Laura Motts
(?) who is the organizer there. We spent a few minutes talking with the folks about why we decided to volunteer and
then we got to work. Another organizer (Marquita?) gave us directions on what to do and then we were handed clip
boards with a map of our assigned neighborhoods to canvass. Basically, our job was to go door to door seeing if the
residents there still needed to register to vote. The Pennsylvania primary is closed which means you can only vote
for a democratic candidate if you've registered as a democrat.
Mandeep ended up working in a downtown area in Pittsburgh whereas Takeysha and I ended up working in a
residential neighborhood not far from the campaign HQ. Before we set out, Jenny - a (now) Pittsburgh native - joined
us as she was in need of a driver. So the three of us headed out there and started knocking on doors. It was a
neighborhood of color and unfortunately, had a fair amount of houses that had been boarded up. That didn't detract
us though from what we were there to do. Granted, a little bit of snow tested our resolve, but that's ok! It wasn't too
bad. Besides - we were bundled up and moving, so we never got too cold.
Everyone we talked to was super friendly and receptive to our visits. A lot of time we split up - each taking the next
available door. Plus, if someone were getting out of their car or walking down the street we were sure to ask if they,
too, needed to register. Of all the folks I talked to, they had all already registered and they were all Obama
supporters. Yea! Takeysha and Jenny picked up a handful, though. What was funny is that a few people saw we
were out as they were driving by and ended up stopping to fill out a voter registration form or to ask for some of the
posters we were carrying. We were only too glad to share. Gotta get the name out there!
At one point, we saw a handful of folks talking so we approached them and asked if they'd registered. One hadn't,
but I asked another gentleman if he'd registered. He replied "yes", to which I then asked (wanting to be sure) if he'd
registered as a democrat. Too funny - he responded by asking with a laugh "Do I look like a republican?"! Good
man. Good man!
After a couple of hours we had canvassed the whole area and headed back to the campaign office where we turned
in our paperwork and completed registration forms. At that point, because we needed to head back to Ohio by 3pm,
we didn't have enough time to head out and cover another turf. Instead, we opted to just hang around for a bit and
talk to the other campaign volunteers. Naturally, I took some pictures (can't help myself!) and exchanged Email
addresses with a few folks.
Ready to head back home, we were joined by Sheila - another volunteer from Columbus - picked up Mandeep and hit
the road. The great conversation we had on our way over just continued for the entire ride home. This time around,
we spent more time discussing race issues - prompted by Barack Obama's speech from earlier in the week. He said
he hoped it would prompt discussions on the issue all over America and well - it did! At least in my car on our way
home, it did. It was great because we had two women of color, one white woman and one man originally from India -
what a great combination for a discussion on race, don't you think? We brought up a lot of great points and insights
from a variety of perspectives - including one that I made about the neighborhood that we canvassed today. 15-20
years ago, I would have been nervous - as a white woman - about walking around in a neighborhood of color, yet
yesterday, I took it head on. I knocked on doors and walked up to talk to people with absolutely zero reservations.
My parents raised my brother and me to be very open minded about anyone and everyone we meet without regard to
their race, gender, country of origin or the like. But, having been raised in pretty much all white suburbs, that doesn't
mean that there weren't apprehensions about going into a neighborhood where people were different than I. Going
to college, living in other countries and since then, living in a lot of ethnically and racially mixed neighborhoods has
been the best thing for me. Time and personal experiences tend to open one's mind to the attitudes and customs of
others, I think. That's what Sheila, Mandeep, Takeysha and I discussed on the way home. It was fun as well, learning
more about the fire and brimstone preaching that is alive and well in the black culture. Sheila was especially fond of
talking about that. I'd love to get back together with the three of them to continue our conversations. I look forward to
keeping in touch with them all!
Meeting new people and expanding my friendship circle is probably one of the best, if not the best, aspect of
volunteering, I've found. If you haven't already, I highly recommend throwing yourself in the midst of strangers for a
day on the campaign trail. Do that and I guarantee they'll all be friends by the time that day is over!
enjoyed working for the campaign here in Columbus, OH and felt like I needed to do more. Actually, I just wanted to
do more. For Ohio, the offices - other than the HQ - have all been shut down until after the Democratic National
convention in August at which time, they'll open back up for the general election campaign against John McCain.
For some reason, sitting at home and going back to watching the news and watching speeches on C-Span just wasn't
enough. Although, I have upgraded my cable so that I now have CNN and MSNBC. That makes me happy. I missed
taking action, though. Plus, I missed the social aspect of the whole thing. I love being surrounded by happy people
who actively support and motivate each other. Everyone on the campaign shares the same belief that our country
can be a lot better than it is and that Barack Obama is the presidential candidate to help make that happen. It's so
incredibly great to be motivated towards a common goal of improving an entire nation.
So on that note, I volunteered to travel out to Pittsburgh, PA to help register voters there for their primary. The
deadline to register is Monday, March 24. About a dozen of us started our day bright (well, kind of) and very early on
a Saturday morning at the Cracker Barrel in Reynoldsburg - on the east side of Columbus, OH, where we're all from.
a Saturday morning at the Cracker Barrel in Reynoldsburg - on the east side of Columbus, OH, where we're all from.
At that point, Jill - a campaign organizer - sorted us all into cars to head over to the main campaign office in
Pittsburgh. I'm sure it wasn't the most luxurious of trips, but Mandeep, Takeysha and I all hopped in my Jetta for the
three-hour journey to Pitt. The ride over was great - we had the best conversations about a very wide variety of
issues from Superdelegates to inspirational speeches to the Iraq war to race issues to energy alternatives and
anything else we thought of.
Upon arrival in Pittsburgh, we all gathered around in the campaign HQ offices to hear a quick talk from Laura Motts
(?) who is the organizer there. We spent a few minutes talking with the folks about why we decided to volunteer and
then we got to work. Another organizer (Marquita?) gave us directions on what to do and then we were handed clip
boards with a map of our assigned neighborhoods to canvass. Basically, our job was to go door to door seeing if the
residents there still needed to register to vote. The Pennsylvania primary is closed which means you can only vote
for a democratic candidate if you've registered as a democrat.
Mandeep ended up working in a downtown area in Pittsburgh whereas Takeysha and I ended up working in a
residential neighborhood not far from the campaign HQ. Before we set out, Jenny - a (now) Pittsburgh native - joined
us as she was in need of a driver. So the three of us headed out there and started knocking on doors. It was a
neighborhood of color and unfortunately, had a fair amount of houses that had been boarded up. That didn't detract
us though from what we were there to do. Granted, a little bit of snow tested our resolve, but that's ok! It wasn't too
bad. Besides - we were bundled up and moving, so we never got too cold.
Everyone we talked to was super friendly and receptive to our visits. A lot of time we split up - each taking the next
available door. Plus, if someone were getting out of their car or walking down the street we were sure to ask if they,
too, needed to register. Of all the folks I talked to, they had all already registered and they were all Obama
supporters. Yea! Takeysha and Jenny picked up a handful, though. What was funny is that a few people saw we
were out as they were driving by and ended up stopping to fill out a voter registration form or to ask for some of the
posters we were carrying. We were only too glad to share. Gotta get the name out there!
At one point, we saw a handful of folks talking so we approached them and asked if they'd registered. One hadn't,
but I asked another gentleman if he'd registered. He replied "yes", to which I then asked (wanting to be sure) if he'd
registered as a democrat. Too funny - he responded by asking with a laugh "Do I look like a republican?"! Good
man. Good man!
After a couple of hours we had canvassed the whole area and headed back to the campaign office where we turned
in our paperwork and completed registration forms. At that point, because we needed to head back to Ohio by 3pm,
we didn't have enough time to head out and cover another turf. Instead, we opted to just hang around for a bit and
talk to the other campaign volunteers. Naturally, I took some pictures (can't help myself!) and exchanged Email
addresses with a few folks.
Ready to head back home, we were joined by Sheila - another volunteer from Columbus - picked up Mandeep and hit
the road. The great conversation we had on our way over just continued for the entire ride home. This time around,
we spent more time discussing race issues - prompted by Barack Obama's speech from earlier in the week. He said
he hoped it would prompt discussions on the issue all over America and well - it did! At least in my car on our way
home, it did. It was great because we had two women of color, one white woman and one man originally from India -
what a great combination for a discussion on race, don't you think? We brought up a lot of great points and insights
from a variety of perspectives - including one that I made about the neighborhood that we canvassed today. 15-20
years ago, I would have been nervous - as a white woman - about walking around in a neighborhood of color, yet
yesterday, I took it head on. I knocked on doors and walked up to talk to people with absolutely zero reservations.
My parents raised my brother and me to be very open minded about anyone and everyone we meet without regard to
their race, gender, country of origin or the like. But, having been raised in pretty much all white suburbs, that doesn't
mean that there weren't apprehensions about going into a neighborhood where people were different than I. Going
to college, living in other countries and since then, living in a lot of ethnically and racially mixed neighborhoods has
been the best thing for me. Time and personal experiences tend to open one's mind to the attitudes and customs of
others, I think. That's what Sheila, Mandeep, Takeysha and I discussed on the way home. It was fun as well, learning
more about the fire and brimstone preaching that is alive and well in the black culture. Sheila was especially fond of
talking about that. I'd love to get back together with the three of them to continue our conversations. I look forward to
keeping in touch with them all!
Meeting new people and expanding my friendship circle is probably one of the best, if not the best, aspect of
volunteering, I've found. If you haven't already, I highly recommend throwing yourself in the midst of strangers for a
day on the campaign trail. Do that and I guarantee they'll all be friends by the time that day is over!
| We love Pittsburgh! |
| Takeysha, Heather & Jenny after canvassing our neighborhood to register voters |
| same ring as the Indiana song!) Heather, Mandeep and Takeysha after a long day on the road! |
| YES WE CAN!!! |
| Email me with any questions, comments or whatever (feel free to say hi!) I'd love to hear from you! Heather |
| Barack Obama Official Website Mary Jo Kilroy - OH 15th Ted Celeste - OH State House - 24th Danielle Blue - OH Senate - 16th Donate to Obama / Biden '08 Factcheck.org |
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