A while back I talked about doing a little volunteering for the Obama campaign. You can probably tell from the title I decided to do it. It scared the crap out of me just like I thought it would. I’m not posting this to exaggerate my accomplishments. If you want to know the truth, I think I accomplished very little. I made a couple hours worth of phone calls spread out over a few days – mostly while I was waiting outside Beth’s Tae Kwon Do class… plus a few “get out the vote” calls to voters in Colorado this evening.
I asked Beth first, naturally (before skipping out on her classes). I didn’t want her to think I didn’t care about her anymore, but she was cool with it.
You know what’s been cool? Talking to friends about it… sharing my thoughts and my enthusiasm. One guy I talked to went down to the local campaign office the next day to volunteer. No, I don’t think he went down there just because of me, but I wonder if it was a little easier knowing someone else had done it too.
Now I just hope it’s not all in vain. It’s looking good so far, but I’m nowhere near done worrying. I can tell you this: if you’ve been hearing stories about long lines for early voting in Florida, they’re true (here anyway). An acquaintance went down to vote this afternoon and the wait was two hours. There’s an early voting location next to the old Clearwater courthouse, and when I was in court on Monday the line was out the building and around the corner. My coworkers in St Petersburg say the lines have been even longer near the courthouse there.
It’s been quite a thing to see. There’s been an excitement in the air I don’t remember from past elections. Dare I say it? I have hope.