Democratic Headquarters

On Thursday afternoon I rolled into the Akron Central Democratic Headquarters on 3 Merriman Drive. After being interviewed by the office manager Liz, I was assigned to Brad, one ofthe field organizers. Brad has been assigned to Cayahoga Falls, a blue color neighborhood, which in the past had been known as Caucasian Falls, due to the restrictive covenants in property deeds prohibiting sales to any persons of color. It has changed some since the 1970's, but not much. I was given housing with a family nearby (more about that in a later post).

Here is Brad showing me the territory of Cayahoga Falls.

On Friday Brad got me oriented to our mission and I worked the rest of the day on the phone bank. You have to be able to handle a lot of rejection with equinamity. But we do make a few connections with people ready to be persuaded to Obama and we even manage to recruit a few volunteers. By mid afternoon the parking lot is packed with 30 - 40 cars.

Thursday, Akron, OH

Well, I finally rolled into town and found the Obama Headquarters. AND was put immediately to work on the phone bank.

After Liz, the person who orients new out-of-state volunteers had time to orient me, she decided that I could best be used working with their other organizer, beginning tomorrow.

The campaign has housed me with a wonderful ardent Democrat and her son, who is a senior in high school. And is as smart as Obama. The colleges are recruiting him! He also has broken about every track record in the league for cross country this year. I'll bet they are after him. Nice to see such a focused young person.

Unfortunately, Akron and the surrounding cities are suffering through a major economic downturn. I can imagine that college hopes are a distant dream for many families here. I can see why Obama's economic message is beginning to resonate here in Ohio.

Tonight we watched the debate. It was great. Form did not win over substance, no matter how folksy. Two snap polls gave it to Joe.

Even my conservative friends are beginning to value competence over party label.

Well, it's late and I'll put up some pictures tomorrow. John

Wednesday, October 1

It was wonderful t see wind-powered Kansas as I drove through the rolling countryside early in morning.

I stopped by the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum on my way through Abilene. When I saw this familiar quotation from President Eisenhower, I was reminded of how great it felt to have a president that people respected.

"Every gun made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. . .This is not a way of life at all. . .Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." from "The Chance for Peace" Address in 1953. Eisenhower understood that a nation cold, hungry, under educated and poorly housed was a cache of "weapons of mass destruction" hidden in our midst.

I still have my "I Like Ike" button.

Later that evening I listened to a program about a person in Harlem making a real difference in the outcomes for many kids there. The program is called "Baby College." It is a program for parents wanting something more for their children than they have had. Drawing from the latest research on child development, these parents begin learning parenting skills that make a difference. The program includes schools from preschool to 12th grade. Children coming up through this program are now in the third grade, and in one of the poorest parts of the nation have scores on the New York state test that are on par with those of the the most affluent parts of the state. The write up of this program is in a new book, Whatever It Takes. As I heard the testimony of parents in this program, tears of hope flowed down my cheeks. Go get it. There are many signs of hope, even in the midst of Wall Street meltdown.

When I looked at the polls this morning, I saw more signs of hope. Obama up in Michigan, Florida (imagine -- Florida!), Ohio and Pennsylvania. Maybe our job in Ohio will be just bringing the votes we already have and making sure they are counted. That's a lot easier job than having to recruit the votes in the first place.

I'm going to add a couple more pictures from Abilene but I'm not sure where they will end up. Aparently I have two duplicates. But I can't seem to delete the copies. The building is downtown Abilene and the hose is the Eisenhower home. Oh well. Time to hit the road.