Getting out the vote

This morning the kids and I and a couple of Mike's friends went to New Albany, Indiana, to canvass for Obama. I was a little apprehensive, as talking politics to total strangers is NOT my idea of a good time. At this point in the campaign, however, the emphasis is on making sure that people make it to the polls to cast their ballots. So we were sent out to a low-income housing area with a 6-page list of voters, each of whom had been identified in the past as being Obama friendly. Our job was to make contact and remind the voters about early voting and see if they needed a ride to vote on Election Day.

That sounds simple enough, and we started off with a bang. Voter 1 wasn't home, but some of her family members were there, including an elderly woman who happily took a flyer and ranted a bit against Palin. Mostly what we found over the rest of the morning though was that people either weren't home or the voters we were looking for had moved. In the latter cases, a lot of the new occupants declared themselves to be supporters. In the end, we had 3 voters identify as McCain supporters, including the fellow we dubbed Naked Guy, although I'm pretty sure he was wearing underwear.

After we finished off our list, we went to IHOP for lunch. IHOP is a rare treat around here, as the nearest Kentucky location is a good 100 miles from Fort Knox.

Mike and Annabelle already had campaign shirts that I bought them when I went to Louisville earlier, but Gabe and Courtney wanted to get shirts as well, and the New Albany office wasn't selling anything. We made a quick stop in Louisville on our way home for shirts:



All in all, it was a great experience, and we're hoping to go do it again next weekend!