Week Four - The Sprint to Election Day

Bob has some amazing photos. I pulled them off of his Facebook feed. I seem to be terrible at remembering to take photos. And he took a ton of me at the doors!

I finally got a list of supporters from the Reproductive Freedom For All or RFFA (formerly ProChoice America - NARAL). In my first days here, I was tasked with contacting organizations that had endorsed Engel but technically could not be contacted by staff. As a former NARAL staffer and with the reference of Soniran, the Organizing Director for the Engel Campaign, they agreed to let Gail, Bob and I help activate their Tucson and southern Phoenix people for a canvass in Casa Grande. Casa Grande is located sort of mid-way between Phoenix and Tucson.

We got the 1200 names on Monday and started right in dialing to recruit for a Sunday's canvass and anything else they would do in this last week and a few days of the campaign.. Whenever we had a spare hour, we were back on the phones. I do think we dialed about 400 people and found 8 new volunteers and a few who were already engaged. The hardest part was just finding someone to pick up the phone. Frankly, I was surprised we got as many as we did.

The weather finally cooled down and the campaign switched to all day canvassing. Gail went out every day knocking doors. I don't know how many people she talked with, but she was nothing short of amazing. I do think some of this was fueled by DQ Blizzards...

When Bob and I weren't on the phones or getting materials ready for the Saturday and Sunday canvasses in Eloy again and Casa Grande, respectively, we were out in a wide variety of neighborhoods knocking on doors. Some miserable low-income apartments, others decent middle class homes, and some fancy haciendas with pools. It was gratifying to see so many supporters, but the real thrill was helping a voter with information on how and where to vote. It is why we are here.

The Eloy canvass on Saturday had an unexpected crowd of locals come to canvass. Fantastic! We were able to give out all the precincts covering hundreds of doors. Our job was to make sure those Democratic supporters got out to vote. Early voting was over so we pushed hard on making sure they knew where they could either drop their ballot off or vote on Election Day.

Sunday's drive up was in a torrent of rain. It's about an hour and 20 minutes to Casa Grande and about 45 minutes of it was speed windshield wiper driving. Since we had all the materials, we had to really hustle to get there in time. We were about 2 minutes late.

A big group of RFFA volunteers showed up to knock doors. We got about 20 packets out that day covering about 700 doors. That's a big showing in a small rural town. Bob and I knocked out our first turf, ate lunch, and headed out for a second turf.

Both Eloy and Casa Grande houses were often guarded by big and not so big dogs either tied up or roaming behind fences. I would make lots of noise at the gate and while entering to make sure Fido wasn't sleeping in the yard. My first door in Eloy on Saturday included a very scary encounter with a pit bull-looking dog who was slow to come out from behind the back of the house. He scared the living daylights out of me. I let out a blood-curdling scream and got my ass out the gate with Fido barking and snarling behind me. A narrow escape.

In Casa Grande, on our second turf, I wasn't so lucky. This time I was standing outside the gate talking to the homeowner when this little fucker jumped up about 4 feet off the ground a bit me in the pinky. It drew blood in two places. It didn't hurt much, but a dog bite is a serious affair.

Bob and I went to the local Urgent Care Center where they gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and ointment. They also wanted to know about the dog's health. Because I had the owner's name, address and a photo of the dog and house thanks to the canvassing app, I called the owner to get the dog's shots status. He was not vaccinated for anything, including rabies. Ugh.

Now let me tell you a little about rabies. Untreated rabies is 100% fatal. Once you show symptoms, there is nothing you can do about, and you die. Because the little fucker had jumped up so aggressively while I wasn't even in the yard, I was not going to take any chances.

They sent me over to Emergency Room in Casa Grande for a rabies shot. It was all pretty quick and easy since I have good travel insurance. Otherwise walking into Urgent Care would have cost at least $500 and not sure how much the ER visit would have cost.

I got all my paperwork so I would have it for the next rabies shots I needed when I got back to Victoria. The protocol is you get shots on day 0, 3, 7 and 14. We called, or really Bob called Animal Control to let them know about the dog. They said they would be monitoring the dog in quarantine for 10 days.

Bob and Gail took really good care of me. I was a bit in shock and couldn't make many decisions. Gail got us food and Bob did most of the calling around and contacting Sheryl. As Bob said, that's what friends are for. I survived.

Only two more days left to get out the vote for the Dems to get Harris and Engel and Gallego and some down ballot Dems elected. Czytaj więcej