How can we lose?
October 2004 Archives
Well this morning I spent 3 hours --wasted 3 hours-- doing something I've never done before: hanging flyers on doorknobs. I know it was a complete waste of time, because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the doorknob flyer was never made that changed a single vote. So why did I do it? Because I felt like I had to do something. Anything.
Last night I answered the phone and heard a recorded message from the Mount Vernon District (my district) Democratic Party, asking for volunteers to distribute doorknob flyers. I thought, what the hell. I showed up at 10am and there was a small knot of people at the meeting place, surrounded by Kerry/Edwards and Jim Moran (our congressman) signs of all sizes. I was handed a map with a section of the district outlined in green marker, a list of instructions, and 150 flyers. All the flyers said was VOTE DEMOCRATIC on Nov. 2, with the names of Kerry and Moran side by side.
As I walked around a neighborhood I'd never visited before (Woodlawn 2 was the designation of my territory), I kept trying to imagine a voter standing in the booth on Tuesday, trying to decide whom to vote for, and thinking, "Well, I remember the doorknob flyer somebody hung on my door Saturday morning. That really impressed me; I guess I'll vote for John Kerry." Right.
Actually, these flyers weren't paid for by Kerry's campaign--they were paid for by Moran's, and the guy running this volunteer effort was part of the "Moran for Congress" team. Hanging doorknob flyers to remind voters of an upcoming election is just about all Moran has to do to get reelected every two years; his is a very safe seat in a heavily democratic district.
Yes, I did say this was a heavily democratic district, and yes, this is Virginia I'm talking about. Mount Vernon is part of Fairfax County, which is very democratic. According to the Fairfax County Democratic Party (I sent them money this year; I also sent money to the Mount Vernon District Democrats. I sent money all the hell over the place from Alaska to South Dakota to Pennsylvania and to half a dozen other congressional and senatorial campaigns. I sent money to Wesley Clark, John Edwards, and, oh yeah, John Kerry.) Where was I? Oh yeah-- the Fairfax County Democratic Party. According to some literature they mailed out, they figure John Kerry can win Virginia if he can win Fairfax County by 45,000 votes.
Additional literature from the Mount Vernon District democrats claimed there were as many as 20,000 unregistered potentially democratic (almost certainly democratic, truth be told) voters in the Mount Vernon District, and they were pulling out all the stops to register voters and get people to the polls.
Actually, it's exciting to be involved in this effort. Virginia is expected to go for Bush by several percentage points. It would be an incredible victory for us if we pulled it off for Kerry. Watch Virginia Tuesday night. We might not turn blue, but we just might make it close.
Okay I'm jumping the gun; it isn't Friday, but then this isn't a cat, either. Since the New York Times has now officially endorsed "Friday Cat Blogging", those of us with dogs have to survive any way we can.
So here's my "Almost Friday Dog Blog", and a special Halloween entry, at that:
the green eyed puppy
Thank you Adam Felber, for pointing out that with their new, scary ad, the Republicans are literally crying wolf (scroll down to "Wolves" to download the version appropriate for your media player and connection.)
Ugh. Fourth business trip since the beginning of September. It would have been 5, but one conference was held in Rockville, an hour by metro from my house.
Finally getting the luggage stuff straightened out. Bought 2 new pieces, one to check, one carryon. Both have wheels; no more lugging the laptop around airports in a tote bag that also serves as purse/carryon. Now I have a small purse that fits into the carryon along with the laptop and various necessities. Voila-- everything is on wheels.
Bigger suitcase to check. Must pack clothes suitable for the meetings, and clothes suitable for nice restaurants, and clothes for hanging out in the hotel room, or running down the hall for ice. Must pack extra everything, to allow for a second change of clothes after hiking around test sites out in the desert.
I judge hotels solely by the shower: water pressure is usually the main criterion, but hot water with low water pressure trumps cold water any time-- as I discovered in this very nice hotel in Williamsburg this morning, when I called guest services and was told that there was no hot water in the hotel; "engineering is working on it." My clean hair is a testimonial to my endurance.
Enough free food at the reception this evening to cover for dinner, nice. Free dinner means I can splurge and order a bottle of wine from room service.
Getting the brush-off from some people, this is nothing new, but I'm getting the answers I need before giving up. This takes guts I didn't know I had a few months ago.
Because I came alone on this trip, I sit alone to eat. When I feel forlorn, I think about kid and puppy. Poor puppy! Down in Charlottesville with no back yard and no doggie door! Poor kid! Trying to study with puppy in very small apartment and no back yard. Hang on for 3 more days-- I'm coming to the rescue. The boss says the traveling will taper off before the holidays. I can only hope.
On February 28th I wrote that I had just installed a 20,000 hour light bulb. Yesterday it burned out. It burned at night for seven months and 10 days; about 220 days, give or take a few. I turned it on when it began to get dark in the evening, and I turned it off when I got up in the morning. I won't bother with fancy estimates; let's just say it burned for 12 hours a day for 220 days, or 2,640 hours, which is about 13% of the promised number of hours. This country is going to hell in a hand basket.
Who started this? Was it Calpundit with his "Friday Cat Blogging"? Or Tbogg with his "Friday Bassett Blogging"? Here's my own Friday Kid+Dog Blogging:
Me
