Proud to Turn New Mexico Blue: Now with Pictures!
This weekend, I traveled to Albuquerque (ABQ) with about 100 other Texans (mostly Austinites) to canvass in New Mexico for Obama!
The Texans for Obama campaign was awesome enough to charter two buses and three energetic bus drivers to get us there. Our bus driver was Jerry, who was a hilarious older gentlemen who called the bus "Dear" and had a cell phone ring tone that sounded like a shrieking angry wife (his description). We left Friday evening around 7pm and drove all night to arrive at 9am at the campaign office in Albuquerque. (I realized somewhere along the way, that we were driving on the highway that Dimitri and I had camped alongside on our trip to Marfa and Roswell a couple of years ago and I was flooded with nice memories of seeing the rich red plateaus and bright blue sky of the southwestern Texas landscapes for the first time. Yay!) Anyway, the trip up was full of meeting new folks and trying to sleep on rumbling, uncomfortable seats. The lady next to me ended up taking some sort of sleeping pill. (She was like a walking pharmacy and kept offering me various medications for ailments I don't have.) She passed out and just kind of slumped over on me which was okay because it gave me carte blache to use her as a pillow. She sure wasn't gonna wake up anytime soon.) So, I slept for maybe 20 minutes or so here and there between bumps in the road. On the way, we stopped a couple of times in the early morning hours so the bus drivers could switch out/bathroom breaks and some us wandered through the fog around the main streets of tiny town NM at 4am. The view of stars was mighty fine and a group of us huddled together in the back and watched the sun rise as the bus rolled on.
The ABQ Obama office welcomed us with muffins and coffee and lots of encouragement. They were so enthusiastic about our mission there and several of the key folks running the ABQ office were actually Austinites who had relocated there for the last 6 months of the election. We were surrounded by so many idealistic, intelligent and compassionate young people. The average age of the folks running the office was 25 or so. There was definitely an air of idealistic change surrounding the place and the walls were covered with pro-Obama artwork from local artists and children. They fed us quickly and gave us a quick overview of canvassing and sent us on our way into neighborhoods about an hour after we arrived in town.
Now, the basic goal of our canvassing was to go to pre-selected houses in neighborhoods and remind people to go out and early vote (which started there Saturday morning). We avoided houses that were obviously McCain (yard signage) and knocked on doors and talked to people about the importance of early voting. If they were on the fence about Obama, we tried to convince them by figuring out what policies were important to them and to educate them about Obama's stance on that particular issue. All in all, people were very friendly and impressed by our commitment to travel 14 hours to talk to them. The vast majority of people we talked to were Obama supporters and just needed to be prompted to head out to the polls. We did our best to motivate them to do that. The folks that we talked to were impressed, amazed and inspired by our commitment as we regaled them with stories of our sleepless bus ride and our passion for united change. I have no doubt that these interactions prompted many people to vote early and blue. On Saturday alone, our group of 100 Texans made contact with over 6,000 households in the area. :o)
After a long day of canvassing, the Texans were kidnapped and taken to various tex-mex restaurants and a couple of bars. By this point, I already had a crush on one of the guys running the ABQ office. He had a girlfriend but that didn't stop us from flirting, sharing some tequila and making the googly eyes for Obama. :o) Additionally, we were joined by folks from other states that were also canvassing in New Mexico. The Texans boarded the bus back to the hotel drunk on HOPE and spirits. There was a sense of camaraderie that I easily put on the level of any burn event. Everyone was happy and exhausted and inspired. And in our hearts, we knew that we were doubtlessly where we needed to be, doing what needed to be done. That is not something that most people experience in their day to day life and jobs and it was life affirming.
Sunday morning, after 7 hours of sleep, we were back out canvassing at 11am. We worked until about 4pm and then headed back to the campaign office to board the bus for home. The mood was still heightened and drunken in a different way. Folks who had just met were now innocently curled up with each other with a whole new level of comfort for the bus ride back. Everyone brought food and gifts back on the bus and were sharing it with their neighbors. We stopped at a Walgreens and my seatmate and I bought copies of Iron Man and Be Kind, Please Rewind to watch on the way back. (If you have ever seen Be Kind, Please Rewind, you know how perfect the message is for such a trip.) The drive home was much more like a slumber party as we sang campfire songs, drank beer and fell asleep in clusters.
This morning, we arrived home in glory to a parking lot set up with breakfast foods, gleeful Obama supporters, hugs and welcome home signs. It felt really good and really important and as we pulled into the parking lot home, I really finally had a sense of the importance and impact of our mission to New Mexico. This weekend, our group of Texans managed to make contact with at least 9,000 households (and nearly 10,000 voters) in the Albuquerque area for Obama.
I came home and slept for 5-6 hours this afternoon but I am still rather sleep deprived so pardon any mispellings etc. I'll have some photos soon. :o) Also, check out some photos here: http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/missdeekupps/DSC00014.jpg. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtruairf/2959005639/in/set-72157608221420365/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/31611870@N06/. : )
My new friend Gerardo and I. He specializes in green home construction if anyone needs a contractor.
The Texans for Obama campaign was awesome enough to charter two buses and three energetic bus drivers to get us there. Our bus driver was Jerry, who was a hilarious older gentlemen who called the bus "Dear" and had a cell phone ring tone that sounded like a shrieking angry wife (his description). We left Friday evening around 7pm and drove all night to arrive at 9am at the campaign office in Albuquerque. (I realized somewhere along the way, that we were driving on the highway that Dimitri and I had camped alongside on our trip to Marfa and Roswell a couple of years ago and I was flooded with nice memories of seeing the rich red plateaus and bright blue sky of the southwestern Texas landscapes for the first time. Yay!) Anyway, the trip up was full of meeting new folks and trying to sleep on rumbling, uncomfortable seats. The lady next to me ended up taking some sort of sleeping pill. (She was like a walking pharmacy and kept offering me various medications for ailments I don't have.) She passed out and just kind of slumped over on me which was okay because it gave me carte blache to use her as a pillow. She sure wasn't gonna wake up anytime soon.) So, I slept for maybe 20 minutes or so here and there between bumps in the road. On the way, we stopped a couple of times in the early morning hours so the bus drivers could switch out/bathroom breaks and some us wandered through the fog around the main streets of tiny town NM at 4am. The view of stars was mighty fine and a group of us huddled together in the back and watched the sun rise as the bus rolled on.
The ABQ Obama office welcomed us with muffins and coffee and lots of encouragement. They were so enthusiastic about our mission there and several of the key folks running the ABQ office were actually Austinites who had relocated there for the last 6 months of the election. We were surrounded by so many idealistic, intelligent and compassionate young people. The average age of the folks running the office was 25 or so. There was definitely an air of idealistic change surrounding the place and the walls were covered with pro-Obama artwork from local artists and children. They fed us quickly and gave us a quick overview of canvassing and sent us on our way into neighborhoods about an hour after we arrived in town.
Now, the basic goal of our canvassing was to go to pre-selected houses in neighborhoods and remind people to go out and early vote (which started there Saturday morning). We avoided houses that were obviously McCain (yard signage) and knocked on doors and talked to people about the importance of early voting. If they were on the fence about Obama, we tried to convince them by figuring out what policies were important to them and to educate them about Obama's stance on that particular issue. All in all, people were very friendly and impressed by our commitment to travel 14 hours to talk to them. The vast majority of people we talked to were Obama supporters and just needed to be prompted to head out to the polls. We did our best to motivate them to do that. The folks that we talked to were impressed, amazed and inspired by our commitment as we regaled them with stories of our sleepless bus ride and our passion for united change. I have no doubt that these interactions prompted many people to vote early and blue. On Saturday alone, our group of 100 Texans made contact with over 6,000 households in the area. :o)
After a long day of canvassing, the Texans were kidnapped and taken to various tex-mex restaurants and a couple of bars. By this point, I already had a crush on one of the guys running the ABQ office. He had a girlfriend but that didn't stop us from flirting, sharing some tequila and making the googly eyes for Obama. :o) Additionally, we were joined by folks from other states that were also canvassing in New Mexico. The Texans boarded the bus back to the hotel drunk on HOPE and spirits. There was a sense of camaraderie that I easily put on the level of any burn event. Everyone was happy and exhausted and inspired. And in our hearts, we knew that we were doubtlessly where we needed to be, doing what needed to be done. That is not something that most people experience in their day to day life and jobs and it was life affirming.
Sunday morning, after 7 hours of sleep, we were back out canvassing at 11am. We worked until about 4pm and then headed back to the campaign office to board the bus for home. The mood was still heightened and drunken in a different way. Folks who had just met were now innocently curled up with each other with a whole new level of comfort for the bus ride back. Everyone brought food and gifts back on the bus and were sharing it with their neighbors. We stopped at a Walgreens and my seatmate and I bought copies of Iron Man and Be Kind, Please Rewind to watch on the way back. (If you have ever seen Be Kind, Please Rewind, you know how perfect the message is for such a trip.) The drive home was much more like a slumber party as we sang campfire songs, drank beer and fell asleep in clusters.
This morning, we arrived home in glory to a parking lot set up with breakfast foods, gleeful Obama supporters, hugs and welcome home signs. It felt really good and really important and as we pulled into the parking lot home, I really finally had a sense of the importance and impact of our mission to New Mexico. This weekend, our group of Texans managed to make contact with at least 9,000 households (and nearly 10,000 voters) in the Albuquerque area for Obama.
I came home and slept for 5-6 hours this afternoon but I am still rather sleep deprived so pardon any mispellings etc. I'll have some photos soon. :o) Also, check out some photos here: http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/missdeekupps/DSC00014.jpg. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtruairf/2959005639/in/set-72157608221420365/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/31611870@N06/. : )
My new friend Gerardo and I. He specializes in green home construction if anyone needs a contractor.
