saavedra77 | Adios, Canvassing

Everyone showed me a lot of affection and respect on my last day at the organizing job, Friday. The office's Canvass Director made yet one more play to keep me, but I underlined my urgent need to save money (to, for example, visit my family, who haven't seen me in a year-and-a-half, and quite probably to replace this computer), and he understood.

At the Canvass Director's request, I also put in some extra training with the newbee canvassers, Friday, and was (to my embarrassment) generally held up as a paragon of everything an organizer should be. That might have been laying it on a bit thick, but I appreciated the sentiment.

I told everyone that I wanted to stay in touch and continue hearing about how the campaign goes: we talked about getting together Friday nights at the Café Metropolitain--and it certainly would be nice to see everyone, there.

A few things I'm going to remember about this job:
*My coworkers were bright, energetic, mostly young people, all of whom were a pleasure to spend time with;
*We all worked for barely enough money to live on;
*The work felt meaningful;
*Every night involved random, door-to-door interactions with 40-50 strangers, including ones like the following:

1) MR. EMILY POST:
ME: "Hi, I'm Tony. I'm with the Democratic National Committee--" (etc, etc)
MR. EMILY POST: Flips me the bird when he hears "Democratic."
ME: (Smiling) "Thank you for your time." I start to walk off.
MR. EMILY POST: (Angrily) "You know, you've got the wrong attitude!"
ME: I look back at him, smile/wave, thinking: "I will endeavor to emulate your good manners."

2) MS. HOUSE ON THE HILL:
ME: "Hi, I'm Tony. I'm with ..." (etc, etc)
MS. HOUSE ON THE HILL: "Well, you know, we've already given to ..." (lists a couple of local candidates).
ME: "That's great that you're so active! We really appreciate it. But what we're doing right now is a national effort: we've really got a shot at taking back Congress, this year. So (candidate and candidate) wouldn't be in the minority anymore, and could actually get something done. Do you think you could help out the national effort?"
MS. HOUSE ON THE HILL: "Well, things have been tight. But I could do $300? Would that be okay?"
ME: (Trying not to fall over with excitement) "Absolutely! That would be great ..."

3) MS. CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRAT:
ME: "Hi, I'm Tony ..." (etc, etc)
MS. CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRAT: "You know, I've been a Democrat all my life, but the party's become too damned liberal."
ME: "Well, the Democratic Party's a big tent, ma'am. And how do you feel about the current government?"
MS. CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRAT: "Oh! I can't stand those bastards. But I can't vote for the Democrats until they change their positions on abortion and gay marriage. The party's become too liberal. It's a culture of death! At least the Republicans stood up for Terri Schiavo. And the other thing is terrorism: I don't like George W. Bush, but at least he's tough, not like that namby-pamby John Kerry. Nope, I'm not votin' for the Democrats until they become more conservative."
ME: "OK, ma'am, I need to be moving along, but you have a pleasant evening ..."
MS. CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRAT: Spends a few moments trying to convince me that liberalism is a culture of death, until I manage to politely disengage ....

4) MR. SOUTHERN ACCENT:
ME: "Hi, I'm Tony ..." (etc, etc)
MR. SOUTHERN ACCENT: "Well, how do I know that you're really who you say you are? How do I know you're with the Democratic National Committee?"
ME: Shows him documents from DNC, my driver's license.
MR. SOUTHERN ACCENT: "Well, okay." Writes check, then hesitates--having second thoughts. "The thing is, today, people can fake IDs, documents, anything."
ME: I point out that he's made his check out as payable to the Democratic National Committee, offer him a receipt.
MR. SOUTHERN ACCENT: Still doubtful, says: "But anybody can print a receipt, these days. And you hear about people altering checks ..."
ME: I offer him my office's phone number, which he calls, spending 10 minutes on the phone with the Canvass Director.
THE CANVASS DIRECTOR provides him with the names of people we're working with at the DNC, gives him the Seattle office's address, suggests that he come visit us, etc.
MR. SOUTHERN ACCENT feels satisfied, makes $200 contribution, takes receipt.
ME: Thanks profusely, again trying not to trip over myself with excitement.

Also, I was really struck by the ways that people in different neighborhoods responded to the phrase "small, symbolic contribution" (used when the canvassee suggests that they have money problems): in Wedgewood, this typically netted a $5.00 gift; in Magnolia, an average gift of $50.00.