Tuesday, 2004-11-02
new mexico
This weekend Students for Kerry left for Las Cruces, New Mexico to help get out the vote. Having joined the group's list-serve, I'd found out about the opportunity and signed on.
Thoughts and observations of the trip follow:
Friday the 29th
- Folks start arriving for the trip and we all introduce ourselves at around mid-afternoon.
- After loading up, I hop in the passenger seat of one of our two vans. Byron is in the driver's seat. We start chatting about politics and the Burnt Orange Report, of which Byron is the founder.
Saturday the 30th
- After a mind-numbing twelve-hour drive, albeit through beautiful environs, we arrive in Las Cruces in the early early morning. Get hotel room key. Sleep.
- Wake up. Eat breakfast downstairs. Mmm, self-made waffles — in less than three minutes! We huddle around the TV, set to political news of course.
- Head out to Doña Ana Democratic headquarters. After a brief introduction our group begins partnering up for GOTV efforts. There are 17 of us in all, so I end up as odd-man out.
- Meet J.P. Kachaluba, my canvassing partner and a New Mexico local, and gather an information packet about Precinct 103 (where we will block-walk).
- Houses in the neighborhood assigned to us mimic adobe structures. Lawns, for the most part, feature rock and cactus gardens.
- Our first knock turned up an angry older man — "tired of politics," he said — and a slammed door. Sir, you live in a swing state; your vote is therefore worth more than mine. Do not take this for granted.
- Other knocks result in more success. A few Kerry/Edwards supporters didn't know where their polling locations were, so hopefully the information we provided will help get them there.
- Lunch. What'll it be, asks a menu at a Mexican restaurant: red or green? Christmas please.
- Trend noticed: voters in larger houses, who previously voted Democratic, are more likely to have switched to Bush.
- After finishing a large portion of our area, J.P. has to leave, so we head back to headquarters.
- Myself and others in my group rest and a number of us return to the precinct I walked earlier (to get where J.P. and I didn't have time to). As I'm (somewhat) familiar with the area, my peers designate myself as guide. The plan is to send off pairs to individual houses as we walk around the neighborhood. This proves largely successful.
- At about mid-point in our efforts, Jim wipes out.
- Back to headquarters where we are put to task calling voters. Not too many we manage to reach respond well to our efforts, but this was to be expected. Phone banking proved my most difficult assignment. Told to stop calling at 20:30.
- Return to hotel. Are we actually going to Mexico as planned on the way to Las Cruces? We do. More on this excursion in a later post.
- Sleep, glorious sleep.
Sunday the 31st
- Waffles.
- At headquarters we find a buzz of activity. We're told of a group of lady Republicans at Lohman and Telshor. Only one thing to do: send out the troops.
- We arrive with two very large Kerry/Edwards signs, which dwarf the small Bush/Cheney placards the women at all four corners are holding.
- Within thirty minutes, the ladies had abandoned their posts. Edge: Kerry/Edwards.
- Victory ours, we headed back a final time to gather up and caravan back to Austin.
There's also Burnt Orange Report wrap-ups of our adventures in New Mexico: Viva Las Cruces, The Ground Game and Back in Doña Ana County... If others are added, I will refer to them here.