Blog Center: Kurt's Blog - Archived Entry

On Friday morning a bus left Austin for Orlando loaded with 50 Austinites determined to do whatever is necessary to rid our country of the poor Presidential leadership. Although the trip was sponsored by the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the participants included 4 volunteers from Driving Votes.

Despite a few vehicle problems, we arrived in Orlando after 23 hours, caught two hours of sleep and were ready to hit the streets. Like most campaign trips I’ve made, accommodations require volunteers to be quite flexible. In our house, we numbered 16 people, 7 beds, 1 sofa sleeper, plenty of floor space and two bathrooms….one with a clogged shower drain. These conditions result generally help enhance the memories as well as future stories to be told.

On both Saturday and Sunday we all worked two shifts canvassing selected neighborhoods in the suburban area southeast of Orlando. We received some quick training, a rundown on important issues in Florida, our walk list, map, script and literature.

The area that I worked on Saturday was adjacent to Disney World (I’ll refrain from any negative remarks concerning this media giant that seems intent on the re-election of W) called Celebration. It is a “Pleasantville” type of community developed by Disney. In the “strange but true” category, we were told that at one point Disney hired people to walk the streets to help reflect its image as a small town Americana village. It was an eerie experience for canvassing.

On Sunday, I walked a lower middle class area in a small town called St. Cloud. Some of the damage to the homes and trees was still very evident there. Despite demographics that would point to a good Democratic area, we were quite surprised to find support for W in the area. We concluded that these are the NASCAR types to which W appeals.

Perhaps my most unusual contact was an undecided woman who has a son returning to Iraq for a second time. Her son serves in the Special Forces and supports W as a result of pay increases and other benefits he’s received under Bush. The woman’s quandary was voting her heart or voting to support her son’s feelings. I spent a few minutes discussing my own concerns as the father of 18 and 16 year old sons with a son-in-law who may be deployed to Iraq as well. I hope she decides to vote her heart in this case.

After our long day Sunday, we met at a local TGIF with about 20 staff and volunteers from the LCV. We had the patio to ourselves, all 70 of us, except for a small table of Bush supporters who for the most part fell a bit out of their environment. I say for the most part because one of them was a bit inebriated and periodically yelled out anti-Kerry and pro-Bush remarks. We found it rather humorous and ignored it for the most part, but his wife was very embarrassed and actually left at one point. We did manage to provide a round of applause when he finally left with a chorus of Kerry chants.

As we enjoyed our dinner, the LCV number crunchers quickly compile some numbers for us. Here were the results:
- over 9,000 doors knocked
- over 1,200 new strong Kerry supporters identified

An unbelievable result for two days of hard work by a wonderful crew of motivated Texans. Some of the volunteers were so motivated, they stayed behind….we had 5 additional empty seats on the way home as a result!

All in all, another tremendous experience in our efforts to make a difference in an important swing state in the upcoming election. For those who have not gone on such a trip, it is very difficult to explain the sense of fulfillment that comes with such a trip and the comradery you develop with your fellow volunteers. We have already exchanged emails and many of us are getting together to watch the final debate tomorrow. In addition, a number of the volunteers will be checking out Driving Votes to take part in trips scheduled over the next few weeks.

FLORIDA WILL BE BLUE ON NOVEMBER TWO!