"Starting tomorrow, it's tomorrow." -notes from PA part 2

It's 10 pm and I'm in the downtown Philadelphia HQ. There are still about 20 or more people calling, working, talking. Today I worked at the office in the poor black neighborhood. At night I transferred to the downtown office, to be closer to my host.

A few notes from yesterday and today:


• I'm staying with this very eastern spiritual, vaguely hippie woman. She signed up via the Obama campaign to house out-of-state volunteers. Her boyfriend was over last night, and he mentioned- politely, modestly- that he was a solid Nader supporter. I held my tongue. She turned off a night light last night. "Isn't it beautiful? It's a Himalayan salt candle."

• This morning a few kids from the neighborhood- Curtis (age 13), Denise (11) and Otaia (8) came to the office and wanted to help canvass. So me and my pal Adam took them out. Adam went with Curtis, I went with the girls. They helped hand out Obama stickers and voting info literature, I talked to voters. They had a little bit of kid impatience- 'is this the last house? is this the last house?' but amazingly, they all volunteered to join us for a Second canvassing shift. I absolutely thought they were bored but they all wanted to go again. So we did. And we had a great time together. We're kindof low on buttons at the office, and we get asked for them all the time, but we made sure to give each of the kids a button after they headed home.

• Once again, everybody we've talked to is registered, wants to vote for Obama, and knows where their polling place is. This is a neighbprhood that badly underperformed their vote in the primary, and turnout in places like this is crucial to guarantee the win. I'll be here tuesday morning to make sure they show up to vote.

• "I'm 34 years old and I'm voting for the first time!"- this great, funny guy we met on a stoop. On my last canvassing trip, it was pretty quiet until the last house, we met about six people hanging out on the stoop. They were all very animated and funny, joking around with us and eachother. "Vote McCain!" they shouted. "Right on! Country first!" I shouted back. We all laughed and talked about Obama, and it was all very helpful, answering their questions about the voting laws.

• This was one of the darker moments, but it was also really special. A canvasser, just in from New York for the weekend, was taking the bus with me from the poor neighborhood to downtown. We're waiting for the bus by the street. All black neighborhood. A car pulls up across from us, at the red light. White guy, clearly drunk, yells at us from the passenger seat.

"What are You doing here?"

"We're volunteering for Obama," says my fellow canvasser.

"Obama!? Are you some kind of Nigger lover!?"

"Yeah, I am."

and that was it. (green light, car's gone).

I turn to the guy and say, "that was a really cool response, I really liked that."
He says, "I wish I could say I came up with it. Back when I was a kid, my mom's friend told me the story of when he was down south, back in the civil rights days. And when one of the white guys down there asked him the same question, that was his response."

... and you know, this is the next chapter, guys. This campaign, this moment in history… it's all on the same continuum with that struggle for equality and respect. Just like that retort is handed down to the next generation, so is the mission. And we're on the frontlines, man.