Driving Votes: Ben T.'s Blog

I attended in person the 2nd Presidential Debate last night in St.
Louis. The excitement on Washington University's campus was
palpable. Huge stages set up from CNN, Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC;
journalists from across the U.S. and the world scrambling around
bumping into anti-war protestors, anti-Bush protestors, politicians
from both sides of the aisle, secret service. Undecided voters
here? I doubt it. Everyone was showing their true colors.
Inside.
Charles Gibson chats with us, the crowd, seated up in the bleachers,
away from the "undecided voters" on the floor, out of camera shot
from anything the public sees at home. Tension mounts until Gibson
announces two minutes till airtime. He's reading the teleprompter.
Out they come--Bush and Kerry. Watching at home you can sense the
heat, the vigor, the struggle between these two candidates, but in
person you can FEEL it. You can see the calm, collected intensity of
Kerry; the anxious, fidgety energy of Bush. And after 90 minutes of
American politics at work, I found myself asking one question: How
can ANYONE in this arena, ANYONE watching this debate at home, ANYONE
in this country have the slightest doubt about which of these two men
will be the next President of the United States? From Bush's
response to stem cell research to his environmental discussion
of "harvesting" old growth forests to protect them to his inattentive
arrogance—the choice is clear.
Bush does not listen, he does not hear, he does not understand. We
MUST insure that Americans make their voice heard so that a Kerry
victory is ringing in Bush's ears all the way back to Crawford, Texas.

I've been off the "campaign" trail for a few months but this debate
reinvigorated my spirit. The work we have done and continue to do is
so vitally important. I KNOW John Kerry will win this election.
After seeing that debate, there is no doubt in my mind that we will
all make that a reality.

After thousands of miles, and thousands of people, we left Philadelphia calling a close to this chapter of our driving votes foray. Michelle and I alone registered a total of 265 voters in five states, knocked on over a 100 doors in Philly, and spoke with thousands of people about getting Bush out of office.

In early October, we will be back on the trail in Utah campaigning for local races and intitiatives on the ballot in November.

We registered a total of 165 voters in New Mexico and Arizona! After a hiatus backpacking in the mountains of southern Colorado, we are back on the road registering voters in Mid-Missouri.

We edged away from the larger cities in Missouri in favor of hitting the smaller town of Columbia. Looks as if our total for Missouri after 2 1/2 days of registration is 54 new voters. And the folks here seem as if they will jump at the chance to vote Bush out of office. I don't believe Michelle and I registered one Republican!

Still a hefty number of convicts out there. However, in Missouri, once you have been finally discharged, all your civil rights are automatically restored. It's amazing how many folks do not know this or much else about their democracy.

Shell and I are certainly learning a great deal during this trip. Who knew the intricacies of voter laws could be so captivating?

Best quote from the Midwest so far:
"I do NOT want to register. If I vote I can complain. And I complain about enough already!"

We're off to Ohio tomorrow. From the polls it seems that Ohio, Penn, and Florida are going to be the BIG swing states. Imagine if Kerry takes all three!!!