Saturday, October 09, 2004
Exit Stage Left, Of Course
Not much happening at the Harvest Fair. Annual thing in a nearby town. Nearby as in 50 miles away. No tables and very little politicking, which in a way was nice. Mostly folks selling produce offa the back of their trucks, music and hay rides for the kids, and good food. The trucks tell the political story. It was about 33-33-33, meaning that about a third of the folks had no stickers, a third had aWol stickers, and a third had Kerry stickers. There were even a few Badnarikis. One guy had a W’04 sticker that he had turned into an aWol sticker by using cutouts from other bumper stickers. Nice idea, I thought.
Grass hay sells fast there, because all they grow is alfalfa and oats. They grow great chiles, though, cheap and hot. When I go back home, folks’ll line up to buy those chiles, because chiles don’t grow well around Nowheresville. Not much profit in it, but I’m a lousy capitalist anyway. The plan was to wrap the sweet corn and tomatoes in a top ten lies sheet, but even at eight and a half by fourteen, that only works for tomatoes. So I just handed them out. I don’t think I made any converts. One guy wanted to know if it was okay to give Liberal hay to his horses. I think he was kidding, cause when I told him the only side effect I knew of was that his sheep might learn to read and write, he chuckled. Heh. Didn’t stay any longer than it took to sell 28 bales and a couple bushels each of corn and tomatoes, sitting on the tailgate singing what folks used to call protest songs.
And, I voted this morning before I left. Yep. Mailed in my absentee ballot, certified mail. One little lance into the boil, hurrah!
Here’s what I’m seeing, for what it’s worth. Voter turnout is going to be the key to winning this. Yeah, like I said in other posts of a more paranoid nature, there’s a chance they’ll steal this thing somehow. But as my best friend pointed out, sheer numbers will make that harder. Aside from that very real possibility of pollcats, the real thing is going to be getting Dems, Greens, and Indies for Kerry to the polls. (Unless of course in your state—or nearby states—you can still register folks. That’s first.) GOTV now is all about working the phones and following up. (Knocking on doors isn’t too practical around here, but maybe where you are it is…don’t go alone!) The precinct captain here has the numbers for newly registered and inactive Indies, Dems and Greens, and the volunteer work right now is following up and making sure they got their cards and know where their polling places are, if they need a ride on e-day or whatever. So I said, sure, give me some names. Off a list of 150 for this precinct, I got fifty and two other vols got 50 each (in a county that has about 100,000 people and ten precincts or so I think). Guess I’ll be busy for a week or two. Then I’m supposed to follow up right before and on e-day with the live ones (who say they’ll vote). Don’t want to call at bad times, you know, so it has to be done when I’m not a work or on the road, and when folks aren’t likely to be eating or sleeping. And when I’m sober and halfway perky. This cuts into total hours. First three I’ve called today that were home said they had their cards and were going to vote. One said to call him if anyone needed a ride, since he was retired and could drive all day. Wow.
And signs. The GOPers around here apparently have an endless supply of these huge 4x6’ signs, while all we’ve got are these dinky 18x24” signs. The coordinator said there wouldn’t be any big ones coming, so what we should do is make our own out of plywood and paint. I haven’t done that, but I see that a couple people have, and they’re pretty nice copies from the small ones, too. Right on the main highway. I didn’t think the signs and stickers were that important until I realized how good it made me feel when I saw how many of my neighbors were for Kerry, too. Not as many as for aWol, but more than I would have thought.
Local Dem HQ had coffee and doughnuts and teevee for the debates, but I didn’t go. From the posts, I see our man kicked ass. Me, I’m tired of pointing out the obvious; i.e., aWol is a lying idiot who doesn’t give a shit about poor folks, and could very well start WWIII. Same for all of Bushco. Yeah, I’ll keep handing out top ten lies paper and buttons (I have six buttons left), but more and more I’m thinking, why waste time? Folks either know this and are voting for Kerry, or they’re brainwashed fools. Screw stopping by the revival tent. Thus, light posting from me, more’n likely. Get out the vote! To the barricades, me hearties! Force them to obviously steal it! (Which then would mean, back to the barricades!) Direct action brings satisfaction. It takes a village to stomp a weasel.
Yours in the revolution our past heroes envisioned,
Grass hay sells fast there, because all they grow is alfalfa and oats. They grow great chiles, though, cheap and hot. When I go back home, folks’ll line up to buy those chiles, because chiles don’t grow well around Nowheresville. Not much profit in it, but I’m a lousy capitalist anyway. The plan was to wrap the sweet corn and tomatoes in a top ten lies sheet, but even at eight and a half by fourteen, that only works for tomatoes. So I just handed them out. I don’t think I made any converts. One guy wanted to know if it was okay to give Liberal hay to his horses. I think he was kidding, cause when I told him the only side effect I knew of was that his sheep might learn to read and write, he chuckled. Heh. Didn’t stay any longer than it took to sell 28 bales and a couple bushels each of corn and tomatoes, sitting on the tailgate singing what folks used to call protest songs.
And, I voted this morning before I left. Yep. Mailed in my absentee ballot, certified mail. One little lance into the boil, hurrah!
Here’s what I’m seeing, for what it’s worth. Voter turnout is going to be the key to winning this. Yeah, like I said in other posts of a more paranoid nature, there’s a chance they’ll steal this thing somehow. But as my best friend pointed out, sheer numbers will make that harder. Aside from that very real possibility of pollcats, the real thing is going to be getting Dems, Greens, and Indies for Kerry to the polls. (Unless of course in your state—or nearby states—you can still register folks. That’s first.) GOTV now is all about working the phones and following up. (Knocking on doors isn’t too practical around here, but maybe where you are it is…don’t go alone!) The precinct captain here has the numbers for newly registered and inactive Indies, Dems and Greens, and the volunteer work right now is following up and making sure they got their cards and know where their polling places are, if they need a ride on e-day or whatever. So I said, sure, give me some names. Off a list of 150 for this precinct, I got fifty and two other vols got 50 each (in a county that has about 100,000 people and ten precincts or so I think). Guess I’ll be busy for a week or two. Then I’m supposed to follow up right before and on e-day with the live ones (who say they’ll vote). Don’t want to call at bad times, you know, so it has to be done when I’m not a work or on the road, and when folks aren’t likely to be eating or sleeping. And when I’m sober and halfway perky. This cuts into total hours. First three I’ve called today that were home said they had their cards and were going to vote. One said to call him if anyone needed a ride, since he was retired and could drive all day. Wow.
And signs. The GOPers around here apparently have an endless supply of these huge 4x6’ signs, while all we’ve got are these dinky 18x24” signs. The coordinator said there wouldn’t be any big ones coming, so what we should do is make our own out of plywood and paint. I haven’t done that, but I see that a couple people have, and they’re pretty nice copies from the small ones, too. Right on the main highway. I didn’t think the signs and stickers were that important until I realized how good it made me feel when I saw how many of my neighbors were for Kerry, too. Not as many as for aWol, but more than I would have thought.
Local Dem HQ had coffee and doughnuts and teevee for the debates, but I didn’t go. From the posts, I see our man kicked ass. Me, I’m tired of pointing out the obvious; i.e., aWol is a lying idiot who doesn’t give a shit about poor folks, and could very well start WWIII. Same for all of Bushco. Yeah, I’ll keep handing out top ten lies paper and buttons (I have six buttons left), but more and more I’m thinking, why waste time? Folks either know this and are voting for Kerry, or they’re brainwashed fools. Screw stopping by the revival tent. Thus, light posting from me, more’n likely. Get out the vote! To the barricades, me hearties! Force them to obviously steal it! (Which then would mean, back to the barricades!) Direct action brings satisfaction. It takes a village to stomp a weasel.
Yours in the revolution our past heroes envisioned,
