Page 2 of 2 < Back
The Many Chasing The Few
The most effective out-of-state volunteers find ways to connect with Dubuquers, unionist to unionist or student to student. But in going door to door in search of a few more supporters, it is hard to compete with someone who already knows the life stories of the people who answer the door. That is one advantage that Tom Reisdorf, 53, a Vietnam War vet and Precinct 14 captain in the Kerry campaign, has when he walks up and down Jackson Street in the working-class North End. It is the same route he followed for 20 years as the local letter carrier.
"You were my mailman!" Brigid Rahlf, a domestic violence therapist, said as she opened her door at 2676 Jackson and saw Reisdorf. Rahlf, 38, told him that she had not made up her mind on whom to support, but was "thinking of going this time" to the precinct caucus only a few blocks away at Fulton School. The key issue for her, she said, is health care, and she related that to the war in Iraq. "As a therapist, I see the fallout war has done in the human services field. Violence in any form is not okay."
Reisdorf told her that Kerry, as a Vietnam War veteran, understands the fallout from war better than the other candidates. Rahlf did not press him to explain Kerry's Senate vote in support of the war. He handed her an "I'm for John Kerry" pledge card, and she signed it.
As Reisdorf approached 2672 Jackson, he knew that this was the home of a former meat cutter at the packing plant that closed and left hundreds of North Enders jobless. Ron Francois answered the door. "I doubt it," he said, when Reisdorf asked him if he might attend the caucus. He had liked Gephardt, Francois said. "But I changed my mind on him" because of Gephardt's support of the war. Now he was leaning toward Dean but staying home.
Pledges to Go
No one home at 2668 Jackson. Reisdorf figured it would have been a difficult sell in any case. The homeowner, Jim Lewis, a veteran, had never liked the fact that Kerry, as a young Vietnam War veteran, had spoken out against that war.
John Atchison, 35, a part-time worker at the Tri-State Blind Society, answered the knock at 2662 Jackson wearing a faded University of Iowa shirt. He rolled his eyes at the mention of Bush. "Don't get me started," Atchison said. "The idea of millionaires getting tax cuts while the working man busts his buns to try to get ahead in life!" He signed a pledge card, but Reisdorf sensed he was not the type to go to a caucus. "I'll turn in the card, but they shouldn't count on it," he said.
Gene Meyer, a Vietnam War veteran at 2650 invited Reisdorf in the back door, spoke cordially and signed a pledge card. Betty Meyer at 2636, whose late husband was a Teamster, said she would not go. Reisdorf was not discouraged. He said he understood the mood among North Enders, who were disillusioned about politics. Every time it rained in their neighborhood, their basements flooded, but for all the money spent on other things, they could not get new sewers. None of the men running for president could do much about that.
Across the street at 2617 Jackson, Anita Meyer, who works at the Mercy Medical drug store, said she hadn't made up her mind on the candidates, but was upset about the war and the tax cuts for millionaires. "They've got to take care of things at home," she said.
Would she consider going to the caucus and standing for Kerry? Reisdorf asked.
"If I'm not bowling," she said. "When is it?"
"Monday night."
Monday night, it turned out, is her bowling night at Creslane's on Main Street.
Reisdorf repaired to the local bar, Goetz's Tap. Campaign ads for Dean, Kerry, Gephardt and Kucinich played on the TV in the right corner of the bar. Across the way, Steve O'Brien, a retired construction worker, was nursing an Old Style. He had a lot to say about politics. The war was fought for all the wrong reasons, he said, and working class families are losing "way too many people." Dean "kind of scared" him. Gephardt "was all right." Kerry was his favorite. But he had never been to a caucus and didn't expect to go this time. "I'm probably one of those who'd rather sit here and complain about it and let someone else make the mistakes."
Tom Reisdorf would rather do something than complain. The postman will canvass Precincts 14 and 16 again over the weekend, despite a bulging disc in his back, and make his way to the Labor Temple at 1610 Garfield Street at 6:30 Monday night to stand for his candidate. He is, in the end, his own best Dubuque recruit. |
