A Week in Ohio
Posted by on October 30, 2006 at 05:33 PM
So I've been on the ground in Ohio for a week. I'm in Columbus, stationed at the Ohio Democratic Party headquarters and working with the Ohio Coordinated campaign. It's a crazy place - the offices seem huge and are constantly teaming with people - staff hurrying in and out, volunteers rotating between shifts on the phones or door-to-door canvasses. In every corner someone is on the phone trying to schedule something or someone, most likely trying to rangle another few hours out of a volunteer for GOTV. In short, it's a cacophony of campaign sounds, and it's wonderful.
So how did I end up here and what am I doing? I'm sure you're all dying to know. So here's the deal... Every campaign cycle the DNC works to send as many staffers out into the field as possible to help our campaigns in any way possible. In my case, I got an e-mail asking if I would like to go campaign, and of course, I said yes. We were asked to name places we would be interested in going and then the powers-that-be matched us up with what the needs were out in the field. I requested a number of places, but Ohio was my 1st choice, and luckily it all worked out. So now I'm here until Election Day.
Last week I spent most of the week working on putting together lists of polling locations (the Ohio Secretary of State does not maintain one, so you need to gather a list from each of Ohio's 88 counties) and also worked on the absentee ballot request program that the ODP has organized. It's good basic field work - something I haven't done for a while, and it feels good to get back to it.
I'm trying to keep you guys filled in on anything super exciting that happens - like President Clinton's visit on my 1st day here or Michael J. Fox's rally with Sherrod Brown, but for the most part I am not here as a blogger - but as another set of hands to help paint Ohio blue!
If you, for reasons I could not possibly comprehend, have not yet made your way to your local campaign office, there is no time like the present! Every hour from now until Election Day is precious time and even if you can only donate a few - it will be worth it.
