From Mary - Reflections on Election Day 2008

Mary is really to blame for my involvement in the campaign. I met her a couple of months ago as a result of my networking process (part of my business development). She is Executive Director of a large and influential nonprofit organization in Milwaukee. At the time she mentioned that she was volunteering with the Obama campaign and we talked a bit about why it seemed so important to her. Her son was a field organizer - a bright, young man who like hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of other young people, had inspired his mother to be involved. Thanks, Mary - for the push to care about my children's future and the man who would be their President...


From Mary:

The campaign had incredible discipline. In mid October I said to my son (and a field organizer), “I not canvassing this weekend. Colleen (my daughter) is getting married in eight days and Barack is up by 10 in the polls.” Without missing a beat, Tyler told me, “Wash your mouth out with soap. You can take the weekend off because of the wedding, but it has nothing to do with the polls.”

From my vantage point, the campaign behaved the same at all times— it consistently ran as if it were losing. It did what it planned on any given day regardless of whether it was 10 points up or 10 points down (except more volunteers would show up when it was down). In fact, the campaign in Milwaukee ran as if it were losing until the polls closed on election night.

I returned to the field office from a day of working “Get out the Vote” in high spirits. It was 5:10 p.m. and I was ready to head home, do a few errands, and get ready to watch the returns. But as I walked inside the door, the somber mood was palpable. One of the volunteers turned to me and explained, “we hit our numbers in this office, but statewide turnout is lower than expected which bodes poorly for Obama. We are going to be reassigned in the field. We are waiting for orders." I found my son and he asked if I would stay the night. “Of course” was the only answer.”

He handed me a list of phone numbers of volunteers who may have missed a scheduled shift. “Call and ask if they can come in now.” One by one, I started dialing the numbers on the list but at 5:45 the orders changed. The office was closing, volunteers were asked to move up to the Second Street office. I quickly gathered up boxes of uneaten pizza and jumped in the car and drove the 15 minutes to Second Street.

The volunteers welcomed the pizza and started training us for “poll line management”---how to encourage the voters in line to stay there until they voted. I helped one staff person map out poll locations and assign volunteers. Oops - an important message from HQ. Don’t leave the office, wait for further instructions. While you’re waiting assemble into groups of two to four. We paced, chatted, went to the restroom and wondered if anything we could do now would really make a difference. But we were down to the wire and no one would walk out now.

And then the final order. Shake the bushes, knock on doors, ring door bells, find those have not voted, get down on you knees if need be. Get that person to the polls.

My group drove downtown and parked on the lower east side. We divided into pairs. My partner was a lawyer and impassioned Obama supporter without any canvassing experience who was very uneasy with our assignment. I assured him that we could do this for an hour and with the right spirit we would have fun.

But the first two or three groups of people we met on the street were not citizens. Several individuals ignored us or told us to get lost. This was dismal. We decided to walk through Metro Market. “Have you voted today?" we asked the shoppers. Each one smiled back and said yes. We found a small group watching election returns in the café. Two middle aged men told me they had not voted, were not registered and had no intention of voting. I got down on one knee and they turned their attention back to the TV.

At 7:59 we reconnected with our team. And at 8:01, the media called Wisconsin. And quite frankly, there was no better place to be at that moment than with the die hard, kick ass to the last moment Obama team.