First, let me welcome to any new readers that have found their way to me via NH PrezWatch. I invite you to read my initial posts to get a feel for who I am & why I'm blogging. I intended to be neutral (I'm always slow to decide on the primary) but a handshake from John Edwards changed all that back in January. Anyway...back to my primary obsessions.
I'm letting go of my obsession over two things: out-of-staters working in in NH for the primary, and caller ID. As my cousin in Rome says, "Lemme 'splain":
I have to admit that I had a little bit of an attitude back in the spring regarding all the out-of-staters bombarding our turf, phone banking and canvassing, showing up at local meetings, trying too hard and being too friendly, with their accents and their obvious lack of knowledge of the granite state. I now humbly admit I was a little harsh, and can see their value. Truth be told, they are here to do a job that locals can't do because we're too busy with life and work! All campaign staffers work unbelievable hours and they can because they aren't distracted by family & friends, beaches and concerts, kids and school. They don't have time to have fun or put down roots. They've got people to meet, events to plan, emails to return, calls to make. So, a salute to the newest granite staters. I hope some of you like it enough to stick around or enroll in UNH, or at least stay in touch.
Now, on to caller ID. Is having a candidate's name on the caller ID a good thing or bad? Would the UNH survey center be well served by getting a UNH ID or not? I decided not to worry any more. I worked a phone bank last night. Unlike my last attempt, this time we didn't use staffers cell phones (with "John Edwards for President" on the ID). We used landlines...is it a coincidence that more people actually picked up, and I had a less disastrous experience? Or was it just easier to call when I had a great event to plug (JRE at Prescott Park, Sunday at 5:30pm!)? Oh well, I guess I just got tired of worrying about it.
So, what's my new obsession--because I couldn't just drop these without something new to chew on? Lists. These public lists of registered voters that any campaign can get. They provide name, address, phone, sex, age (though NOT reliable given how many people over the age of 100 I chatted with last night), party affliation (D, R, or U--undeclared). Are these really the only folks who vote? Or the only ones who campaigns call? Everyone is over the age of 50 it seems. Where are the young professionals, the recent graduates, the 30 somethings?? Are they too transient to show up on the roll? Are they not registered (yet)? And, therefore, are all the campaigns all calling the same cohort or retirees, and missing a huge chunck of likely voters?
At about 8pm last night I decided not to call anyone over the age of 40 and guess what? I couldn't find anyone in my pile to call! This is my shout to you readers, age 18-40: Get out there and REGISTER TO VOTE! I don't care what party (I highly recommend U!). I don't even care if you screen your calls or hang up on me (well, I hope not but I'm learning not to take it personally). Just please tell me that this next election matters to you!!
