Calling For Obama
By Paul Rogat Loeb
I admit it. I'm addicted. Since the primaries and caucuses began, I've spent practically every free hour reading article after article, and poll after poll, charting the shifting sands of the Democratic presidential race. As I've become inspired by Barack Obama's potential to engage ordinary citizens, and its roots in his organizer past, I've written articles I've hoped would help, talked incessantly about the campaign, and donated repeatedly--most fruitfully in a program that's allowed me to encourage other new small donors by equaling their contributions. But as I've cheered each successive victory and each new gain in the polls, I worry that my stance is just a bit too reminiscent of rooting for my favorite baseball team. It's time to do something seemingly more mundane, but always a bit nervous-making, and that is to get on the phone.
I've made phone calls in practically every election, and it matters. In 2006, I volunteered roughly 30 hours with MoveOn's CallForChange program, working my way across the country to call states with key Senate or House races. I convinced about a dozen people to go to the polls who wouldn't have otherwise, including some who at first said their vote didn't matter, and others who simply forgot it was election day. I was hesitant at first, but the web-based system that gave me the phone numbers prevented people from getting called multiple times. The script gave initial talking points that I later replaced with my own. So long as I was polite and low-key, the people I spoke with seemed to appreciate the conversations, or at least not to mind. While a dozen votes sounds pretty minimal, given the time I spent, 100,000 fellow MoveOn members were also participating, and if their efforts each bore similar fruits, we're talking a million votes . So when John Tester won by just 1,700 votes, Jim Webb by 7,200, and Claire McCaskill by 42,000, I felt proud to have done my part.
So I've just now started calling for Obama. He's tied or ahead in Texas. He's gotten strong new union endorsements from SEIU, The Teamsters, and the United Food and Commercial Workers. Chris Dodd and civil rights icon John Lewis have backed him and more superdelegates are switching. But nothing's guaranteed. Clinton could still come back if she does well enough in Texas and Ohio, and as she launches attack after scattershot attack, I fear that she'll give legitimacy to just enough Republican talking points to damage Obama come November if indeed he is the candidate. So the March 4th votes are critical. Whether our own states have already voted or have yet to, the Obama campaign voter calling program
Paul Rogat Loeb is the author of The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear, and Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time. See www.paulloeb.org