On the Road for Obama

Tales of an Obama Volunteer’s experience in a swing state

by Fauzeya Rahman

Fauzeya with her canvassing team in Colorado.

Once the euphoria of November 4, 2008 wore off and the world calmed down from a collective post-election high, I took a moment to stop and let it sink in.  The countless months as an Obama-bot were over and we could all breathe a sigh of relief; our efforts paid off and Barack Obama would be our 44^th president.

I caught the Obama bug around February of 2007, around the time when he spoke at Auditorium Shores in Austin to thousands of eager listeners hanging onto every word.  Fast forward 18 months and the bug had manifested itself as a full-blown attack.  I had it bad, and sitting in Texas reading about the campaign wasn’t enough for me. I needed to be a part of it.

Texas being Texas, aka a strong “red” state, campaigning here would not have been as effective as it was in swing states.  My friends and I received an email from the Obama campaign calling on volunteers to go to a swing state for a weekend to help the cause.  Before we knew it, we were at a Saturday Camp Obama session in Houston, deciding which weekend would be best to go to Colorado to volunteer.

Two weeks later we arrived in Denver; armed and ready with enthusiasm and awesome looking Obama t-shirts.  We were set up to stay at a volunteer’s house so we didn’t have to worry about hotel arrangements.  We went straight to the campaign office in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, to receive our assignment.

After getting pulled over for speeding, we met some other volunteers at the office.  Many were locals and some had migrated from other states.  John, our volunteer coordinator, came from California to help out.  He came because California was already decidedly “blue,” and he thought he’d be of more use in Colorado.

Fauzeya and her friends ready to hit the trail for one more day.

We spent our first day canvassing, where we had lists of households with either undecided, leaning , or definitely Obama supporters.  Each day we went canvassing, we had a slightly different message we were sending.  Our first day’s message was to first identify undecided voters and classify them in either the Obama or McCain camp.  Since Colorado had the benefit of offering its citizens the option to complete a mail-in ballot and avoid lines on Election Day, we encouraged voters to submit their ballots.

We split up into groups of two and divided up our lists.  It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to describe canvassing as a bit surreal.  Here we were in the middle of Colorado, for the first time seeing leaves actually change color for fall and meeting a diverse group of people that we would otherwise not have the opportunity to discuss politics with.

We encountered every reaction imaginable.  From die-hard Obama fans, to die-hard McCain supporters, to those who had no idea, to those who refused to share their decisions with us, we really saw it all.  Some people applauded our efforts and that made us feel awesome.  Some instead chose to slam doors in our face, which wasn’t that bad actually because at least we could laugh about it.

Fauzeya and her friends begin their first day going door to door.

I was very impressed with the unusual voting patterns we observed when canvassing.  On one street, we met a dedicated Obama supporter who lived right next door to a man who yelled at us from his rooftop that he’d never come down from his roof for Obama.  Some streets seemed to be divided with one side of the street voting one way and another side voting the other.

By the end of our first day, we were feeling confident and comfortable with the task at hand.  Although we had a few negative reactions, we were still in very high spirits.

Our naïve attitude wore off slightly the next day after we spent two hours receiving several complaints from people saying that they had at least five people knock on their door that week and they were less than thrilled to see our faces show up.  Add that to an afternoon of heavy rain and we headed back to the campaign office in low spirits.  When we returned to the office, we informed our coordinators of the feedback we had received. They explained that often these are just consequences of living in a swing state.  Sure enough, several things were different in Colorado.

During every TV commercial break there were at least four politically-themed commercials that aired.  Residents received constant pamphlets in the mail, phone calls and door-to-door visits.  While at times it must be frustrating, dedicated volunteers saw it as absolutely necessary, and that in and of itself, was impressive.

Fauzeya with her volunteer host family, Dena and James.

President-elect Obama’s message resounded so deeply with people from all across this country that they came out and volunteered in record numbers.  Whether they made phone calls, donated money, went door-to-door, housed out-of-state volunteers, or even packed up and went to another state for several weeks, they all came together and did what they could to make sure everyone’s dream became a reality.

When the moment of truth came and it was official, news coverage showing people rejoicing and reacting emotionally carried a lot of weight.  This election was different in every way imaginable, with the candidate himself, his message,  his universal appealand the volunteer efforts of his supporters.  When Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech in Grant Park that night, the thousands of calls and door-to-door knocks and rallies across the country were all well worth it for the man who was “never the likeliest candidate” for President.

“Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington – it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this earth. This is your victory.” -President-elect Barack Obama