Get Out the Vote Day 2

This morning, my friend Erica and I strolled through Center City Philadelphia in search of some delicious breakfast, and ID'ed a cute Belgian Waffle place near our hotel. The city has so much history, and the quaint side streets and carefully tended row houses reflect the simple beauty of an earlier time. We stumbled across these lovely brick homes during our morning expedition.Soon after, we drove out to the Barney trailer to make some calls to local residents. The guy staffing the 12 computers inside estimates around 300,000 calls have been made there in the past few weeks. And we were only calling union members within the city. It was a great operation.When the robo-calls got to be too much, we headed outside to make colorful signs for a rally we're holding in West Philly on election day. The goal is to raise awareness of the issues facing middle class Americans, such as healthcare, the right to organize, and trade.With less than fifteen minutes' rest, we jumped back into action and met up with the Obama Campaign office in West Philadelphia for a round of door hangars. The people we spoke with where so excited, and a majority of the lawns we passed were decked out with Obama signs, posters, stickers, and banners. It was such an encouraging, uplifting sight. I have to say that almost every window and street front in Philly is representing its Obama flair (and the only McCain sign we've seen was a bumper sticker from an out-of-towner). I'm trying not to watch the polls and just focus on our task at hand, which is helping Obama take Philly in a landslide to help couterbalance the rest of PA. The fear here is voter suppression, both indirectly through long lines and poor staffing, as well as directly through intimidation tactics at the polls. We heard one story from the last election that men in suits drove up to a West Philly poll in unmarked black Cadillacs and approached each person in line, asking for their IDs and if they have any outstanding debts or parking tickets. Hopefully that won't happen this year, as we have over 400 lawyers volunteering to monitor the polls, but we must be prepared for anything. The Republicans won't give up this state that easily.

Well, it's off to bed before another long and varied day of election work. We're all anxious for Tuesday to get here, but tomorrow will be important to get everything ready for a smooth Election Day.