Upon returning from the Democratic National Convention "Fired Up," I committed to supporting the Obama campaign at a renewed level.
I went on to the OFA (Obama for America) website and signed up to travel to Nevada to canvass and register voters. I connected with a fellow delegate from my district. We both have 15-year-old sons and thought this would be a great experience for them.
We traveled to Reno last Friday and took our sons to the training Saturday morning. We were trained on how to approach residents in designated neighborhoods. We were charged with determining if the residents were registered to vote. If not, we were armed with getting them registered. If they were registered, we confirmed that they planned to vote and encouraged them to vote early if possible. We let them know how to find their polling place if they intended to vote on Nov. 6.
I am really proud of my son Travis' participation in this process. We were out in the neighborhoods from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. He didn't complain once. He helped me knock on doors, talk to residents and gave them information on first lady Michelle Obama's speech at the University of Nevada/Reno on Oct. 3. He wants to help get President Obama re-elected and embraced this since he can't vote.
Canvassing is really necessary and invaluable to the campaign so it knows where it stands with potential voters in the swing states. Other than being tiring, it's not a horrible thing to do - I actually came away feeling invigorated and pumped up!
Most residents were very open to talking to us and were appreciative of the work we were doing. Even residents with an opposing view of mine were polite and nicely told us they weren't interested.
I derived the most satifaction from getting information to people who really needed it. Many folks were in need of where and how to vote and were grateful to have us bring the information to them. Every vote really matters. At the convention, we learned that President Obama won North Carolina in 2008 by an average of five votes per precinct and by an average of 30 votes per precinct in Florida. That really proves the importance of not taking any vote for granted.
I intend to go back to Nevada as often as I can between now and Election Day. OFA provides you everything you need from information, role playing, materials and support to make a weekend of canvassing as easy as possible.
If you're interested in going to Nevada to work on President Obama's campaign, you can sign up @:
http://OFA.BO/CA2Vegas-10-5 or http://OFA.BO/CA2Reno-10-5 for the October 5-7 weekend
http://OFA.BO/CA2Vegas-10-19 or http://OFA.BO/CA2Reno-10-19 for the October 19-21 weekend. You can also contact Rosy De Sanctis, the Nevada trip coordinator @ rdesanctis@ofacalifornia.com.
Once signed up, the coordinators can assist you with rides to Reno or Las Vegas and/or lodging in Reno or Las Vegas.
I encourage all Obama supporters to walk the talk and stay FIRED UP AND READY TO GO!
