Dick and Judy's excellent campaign adventure--the last installment

One of the best things about Tuesday’s election was the defeat of Joe Walsh, Tea Party advocate and all-around troglodyte.  Our correspondents from Illinois played a role in his defeat and Tammy Duckworth’s win.  Here is their take on the election.

We definitely felt the love last night as we experienced the culmination of a grass-roots campaign for Tammy Duckworth.   She took the election with 55% of the vote compared to Walsh’s 45%.  

We have spent the last weeks on phone banks and canvassing, especially this last weekend, when it was seemingly non-stop.  

The election night party was an exceptional experience, celebrating with other volunteers, interns, staff and Tammy’s family.   The press was there in abundance and both Richard and I were interviewed by newspaper reporters.   The cameras were clicking constantly and almost blinding, if you got in their path.   

Tammy’s acceptance speech was absolutely inspiring, and I know she will work very hard for the District.   She understands that her job is to serve us and not her own interests.   We feel we have come to know her personally and that she will not let us down.

It was also fun to cheer with fellow Democrats as we watched the election results come in for President Obama and other Senate and Congressional seats.  Loud cheering and much jumping up and down accompanied every announcement that President Obama had won another state and the crowd went wild after it was noted that he won Ohio and, then, the Presidency.   Being originally from Ohio, I made a fool of myself doing a happy dance when I heard this news!  

All in all, it was a very good experience.  I highly recommend getting involved in a political campaign.   If we want to keep the Government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” we need to be part of the process.

We will never forget or regret this experience.

Four More Years!

Reality is hard for Republicans.  This is the party that said that the Bureau of Labor Statistics lied about the unemployment numbers last month.  And Republican congress members demanded the withdrawal of a report by the Congressional Research Service that said tax cuts for the wealthy didn’t create jobs.  And global warming is a hoax. 

But reality intrudes.  303 electoral college votes are a reality.  Four more years is a reality.  Senate victories in Massachusetts, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Missouri are a reality.  The Tammy Duckworth victory is a reality, as is the approval of gay marriage in Maine and Maryland.  

I know there are difficult issues facing this country, and gridlock and Republican intransigence will be major problems.  Nonetheless, for at least a few days let’s savor the election results.  We did it--again.

Door hanger day

I love door hanger day.  You don’t have to talk to anyone; you just put the door hanger on the door and go to the next house on your list.  In Carbon County we covered all of our priority turfs and almost all of the second and third tier turfs.  The Obama campaign is amazing--each door hanger listed the address of the polling place.  

I worked two turfs in Lansford Middle in the early part of the afternoon.  Lansford is a town with lots of foreclosures and many vacant storefronts.  Quite a few of my targeted residences were empty or had a different name on the mailbox.  Three people came to the door while I was placing the hangers, and all of them thanked me.  

After Lansford I worked a turf with two high school students in the section of Lehighton known as the Heights.  We zipped through that one in less than half an hour; a new record for me.  Neither of the girls had knee or hip replacements, and those girls could run.  That one was fun.

Tomorrow is the big day.  In Pennsylvania poll watchers can challenge any voter without giving a reason, and we are afraid Republican poll watchers will do that.  Challenged voters can find another voter to explain that they are known, and they can also vote a “provisional ballot.”  The problem is that the voting process will be hindered, and people may be impatient and give up.  It is sad, but Pennsylvania has an election system which is less fair and less efficient than almost all Third World countries.

City upon a hill

I have written about John Winthrop in the past, but I think before an election in which one party has nominated a candidate who made millions of dollars by putting people out of work, Winthrop is worth another look.  

Winthrop was the leader of the Puritan migration to America.  In 1630 he preached a sermon aboard the Arbella before landing in New England.  Republicans often quote from this sermon, adding the word “shining,” as in “shining city upon a hill.”  Reagan even used it in his inaugural address.  

It is a great sermon, but here is the part Republicans leave out.  I have simplified the original spelling.

Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck and to provide for our posterity is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God, for this end we must be knit together in this work as one man, we must entertain each other in brotherly affection, we must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities, we must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality, we must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor, and suffer together, always having before our commission and community in the work, our community as members of the same body....

Incidentally, Winthrop used the phrase “city upon a hill” not as self-congratulation, but as a warning, noting that “...the eyes of all people are upon us...,” and if we fail, “...we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.”

Amen.

By less than one vote per precinct

Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles, ran for governor of California against Republican candidate George Deukmejian in 1986.  I was a precinct volunteer in San Jose for the Bradley campaign.  I had identified supporters in my precinct and was doing my best to get them to the polls.  About 7:45 I realized that one of the women on my list still had not voted.  I thought about blowing it off; I wasn’t even sure if I could get her to our polling location by 8 o’clock.  I decided to try, and she voted with about two minutes to spare.

The election was close.  How close?  Deukmejian beat Bradley by less than one vote per precinct.  I was disappointed that Bradley had lost, but I got that one vote in my precinct.  

I thought of that today when we were canvassing in Franklin Township and knocked on the door of a woman in her eighties who didn’t realize she was still registered.  She said her son would take her to vote.  That’s how you win elections. One more vote.

If you haven’t volunteered to help in the Obama campaign, there’s still work to be done.  Call your local headquarters.  We need your help.

The final push

We spent all day Friday at the Obama headquarters getting ready for two days of canvassing, one day of door hanger activity, and ther election day trying to keep the Republicans from messing up the vote.  We heard that the Republicans put in a request for a poll watcher in each of the 51 precincts in Carbon County.  If those watchers cross the line into illegal activity, we have lawyers standing by to take action.   

At a campaign seminar years ago I heard a consultant say that when you lose big, you shrug it off.  You say to yourself, there’s nothing I could have done to change that result.  On the other hand, if you lose by a handful of votes, you stay awake at night thinking about all the ways you could have won.  If only this..., if only that.... He said because of that, you do everything you can to win--everything.  That way, if you do lose, you won’t feel guilty.  

Planned last words

Yesterday Sandra and I were canvassing in Lehighton on Bankway and South First.  I was puffing as we walked up the hill, and Sandra asked, “You aren’t going to have a heart attack, are you?”

I told her, “If I do, I want you to tell everyone that my last words were ‘Vote for Obama.’”

Today we were canvassing on Franklin Avenue in Palmerton, and my heart started skipping beats.  I told Sandra I would drive to the hospital in Lehighton, but she insisted on taking me.  The hospital did an EKG, a chest X-ray, and various blood tests, and told me I was fine.  The irregular heart rate was probably a result of stress, but I will have to wear a “holter monitor” for two days to check things out.  

If it is more than stress, remember my last words.