Canvassing virgin goes door-to-door in Perinton
I’d never gone door-to-door for a candidate before but I heard Eric Massa speak and was inspired. I was a little nervous when I got to the campaign HQ, but there were quite a few people there and they were all really nice and gung-ho. One of the campaign folks gave us an overview of the different places we could go and what to ask people. One of the guys there had done some canvassing a couple weeks ago and said he accidentally knocked on a bunch of GOPers doors, thinking it was a mistake that they were missing from his list. He said over half of them supported Massa, and the rest said no but were nice about it.
So I felt a little better after that. I’m a friendly outgoing guy, but the idea of going up to someone’s house and talking to them was still kind of intimidating, so I got paired up with a guy who’d done it before. It was a beautiful day (this was the Sunday before Columbus Day so it was about the last really nice day we had this year), and so some folks weren’t home. We dropped off literature and went on our way.
But for the folks that were home, it was really interesting. Other than one woman who politely said she always voted Republican (but thanked us for coming by), everyone was at least neutral to enthusiastic about Massa. One woman said as soon as she saw our Massa t-shirts “You got my vote” even before we could say anything! Some said they didn’t know enough about Massa but made a face when we mentioned Kuhl. One guy talked our ear off. He said he normally voted R but he was really concerned about the way things were going in Iraq and the economy. Things were going ok for him (we were in a pretty swanky development in Perinton) but he had family elsewhere that were having a hard time of it. These seemed to be common issues people had regardless of party.
The attitude was generally negative towards Bush. When the guy I was paired with said “If you’re not happy with what the Bush administration is doing, vote for Massa”, the guy we were talking to said, “Well you got my wife’s vote– she can’t stand Bush.”
All in all, we covered about 50 houses. I was anxious at first (it’s Perinton, hardly a Dem bastion), but after a couple houses I got into it, and was disappointed if no-one was home. After, I felt like we had taken the pulse of the neighborhood. I thought of the people doing this all over Monroe county and even in the Southern Tier. It gave me a warm, we’re-all-connected kind of feeling. Even if people decided not to vote for Massa, they saw a couple guys who were nice, decent Democrats, bothering to take the time to actively participate in democracy. So the next time they hear Rush Limbaugh or whomever slams Dems, maybe it’ll be a little harder for them to believe. Maybe not. Either way, it was a great experience for me and I hope you all give it a try.
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