Towards the middle of the day I had mixed emotions.
To say that a grassroots political training camp is a playground for chaos is an understatement.
Sadly, its our fault: We’re democrats. We don’t really like to take orders. We ask questions. We question authority. So, it takes twice as long to inform us of stuff because we have to ask ask ask……
We started day two (I am by passing Day One because it really was nothing more than a deep and intensive education in personal telemarketing. That said, it was invaluable but I could have learned it in half the time)
We started Day Two by being divided into Congressional Districts. This was immediately a problem.
While I was standing on line to get coffee with my friend, Kara, a pair of hands reached between us, cutting in front of 9 others, and grabbed for the coffee. “Well, no one’s pouring from this one!” she said.
But we were about to reach for it.
Ah, fuck it. We let it go. It was contentious and, hell, there are over 400 people here. I’ll never see her agai–
She was sitting directly in front of me in my CD table.
She’s a force to be reckoned with, I’ll say and I mean that in every good way possible. But she wanted to be the team leader. So did I. Because, well, I think I would be good at it. I think when I have produced plays I’ve been exceptional in the delegating and overseeing and I have learned a lot about being grateful in those situations. So much so that I think that’s partially the reason that the foundation (www.lizzielulu.org) has taken off the way it has.
But I didn’t want to fight her. Let her have it. Yawwnnn. let’s start the day.
4 hours in it was apparent that we’re not really learning all that much. Oh, there’s a TON of information, but it’s so dry and dull and, well, seemingly pointless.
As we were breaking for lunch it occurred to me that my district, which covers Silverlake, Los Feliz, down through a narrow corridor in Hollywood, to just about everything below the 10 from East LA (East of USC by far) all the way to Marina Del Rey, was too big. We needed to be cut up. If we were forming alliances and relationships with people in in our district with whom we were going to work, it should be with someone nearby, right?
I went to the woman in charge of that only to discover that she was furiously working on how to parcel up the city.
After she and I worked on that, the task was mine to tell the 50 or so of us and redeploy to new seating.
Oy. That’s a treat. Lemme tell ya. If it were Republicans then, no problem, they would just do it. But it’s democrats. They have questions, remember? It was a nightmare.
BUT
We got it done. We had our tables put together! Order from Chaos! I was now in Congressional District 33 South East!
Maybe I could be in charge now—
“We’ve been running CD33 SOUTH since the primaries” said these two diminutive older women in ObamaGear. “We’ve got phone banks running on Crenshaw. We’re having a meeting on Thursday.”
Ooooookay.
On the bright side, we don’t have to go looking for a place to hold phone banking, it’s already set up. In fact, it’s kind of like being hired to work in an office, with limited experience but being put in higher charge than the workers. except that I will be busting my ass too.
By the end of the day, we were back to making calls.
We’re calling Nevada, because we’re close to it and we think we can turn it with our ground game.
Judging from the hang ups “I’m voting for McCain!” click. “We’re Republicans!” click, it’s a daunting effort. But, somehow, it all sunk in.
I started using my own personal experiences (family car dealerships hurting because of lost marketshare to hybrids, something that could have been prevented had McCain NOT voted against certain bills and had the Big Three listened to Obama. Or my experience with being labeled and knowing how hard it is to defend one’s self from a negative attack smear) and you know what? It started to work! I actually turned a republican in Nevada from a “leaning McCain” to “Leaning Obama”.
See, they hate John McCain. Their just scared of new. Scared of black. Scared of voting for the left. Scared.
So, we’ll turn them.
I will be hitting the road in October for a weekend to canvass in Las Vegas. I have a friend who will be spending the whole month there. It’s exciting.
You can be a a part of this. In fact you should. If you believe in a candidate as I do Barack. If you think this election is important, the most important of my lifetime, I think, then you can spend two hours making calls. It’s pretty easy.
This really is the most amazing grassroots and empowering political experience I have had. It really feels like we’re making a difference.
If you want to get involved, visit barackobama.com and find out where the office is in your area. Or, and especially if you live in LA, call me, email me or call 310-836-2009 for Obama Headquarters in Los Angeles.
We really can make this happen, you know. It’s pretty cool.
Hi Allen,
I was there in the cafeteria with you this weekend. My experience was quite different, perhaps because I was in CD31 which had about a dozen campers. We all cliqued really well and our first organizational meeting is tomorrow in Chinatown. Next week I’m off to Vegas for five weeks to try and deliver the state. Yes we WILL!
Well, I didn’t enunciate this but, that first grouping we had, of just 10 of us, really worked well. The woman who grabbed the coffee turned out to be a spectacular force and there were great people there.
Once we started to split (and 33 split four times!!!) it got crazy.
First North and South.
Then North South and Central
Then North, central, Southwest and Southeast.
And finally back to just South.
It was a clusterf*ck.
I think the entire “Camp” could use a little organizational overhaul.
My name which starts with Lu wasn’t on the first day’s list. And there was no one between Lisomething and M. That’s not good.
And you recall that sheet with the “These are false, let’s fact check them”? The “these” that was being referred to was an accusation on a previous, unincluded, page. Now, if I was a Republican and I got my hand on a document with Obama’s imprimateur and a list that declares all of his accomplishments were, indeed, lies, I would be making great hay out of it.
It was sloppy. That’s all. Invigorating, but sloppy and unfocused. I get it, they’re tired.
Congrats on going to Vegas for the five. I am just going to try to go out for a weekend (1.5 year old at home. Not easy to leave).
Keep me posted on where you guys are.
Please put me on your list of people to call for volunteer work in our neighborhood. I’ll do whatever – most evenings and weekends.