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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (78551)	10/18/2004 2:52:15 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793905

Slant Point - Philly. Bush. Steak. Rocky. And More Bush. So I headed down to Philadelphia Saturday morning to meet up with a group of about 25 New Yorkers who had assembled under the NYCForBush.com banner to walk the streets of the heavily-Democratic South Philly. We assembled at the downtown Marriott where our team captain, George, briefed us on the day's work. In that first hour of waiting for people to arrive, I was struck by three amazing facts that left me extremely optimistic for Bush. First, the simple numbers. 25 or so New York City residents traveled on their own dime, paid for their own hotels and were about to put in their own volunteer effort for Bush. In PA. Second, the sheer diversity of the group. I expected all young people ready to walk the streets for hours, but we had people of walks of life - kids, seniors, Jews, Christians, Chinese, Greek, White, you name it. And last, probably most significant, I think I met at least 3 people who were life-long Democrats who were voting for Bush this year. All of them had become outcasts or were in hiding among their NYC friends, but none cared. Bush had to win for them. We all hopped aboard the dismal subway system (worse than NYC) and dropped by the GOP office inn South Philly. There to our virgin eyes was a full-on campaign office. Signs, banners, copy machines, staff, stickers, you name it. Some from NYC have never before witnesses such... normality outside the Big Apple. We spread out in groups of 1-3, canvassing neighborhoods for registered Republicans from former voter rolls. My groups had a blast and success, and I'll share a few stories. The first door I knocked on was an elderly widow who was the quintessential undecided voters. We spoke for about 10 minutes, perhaps too long with the work ahead, but necessary nevertheless. She expressed concern for her grandchildren saying issues for her hardly mattered since she had little time left on this earth. I talked of education and taxes and security. We bonded well in a short time. Strangely, she started to mention the two candidates but couldn't quite get Kerry's name right. Something like John ____. She didn't know it. This led me to believe the undecided factor was all about Bush. She just needed convincing he was good enough to go it again. And I did convince her. We ended the conversation with her agreeing Bush deserved a chance to finish what he started, in Iraq and on the economy. We dropped off lots of flyers and door hangers to homes where the residents were not home. I have to insert here my joy at having on doorbell per home to ring, something you'll rarely find in NYC. Near the end of the day it started to rain, but we pushed on. In this district known to be totally Democratic, we found quite a few Bush supporters. It’s the old non-obvious types. Flags in the window, troops ribbons on the doors, etc. Amidst all the Kerry/Edwards signs you'd think they were just patriotic Dems, but the dirty little secret across many urban parts in this land is that Republicans are identified almost exclusively by these badges. Soon we came across a pretty sketchy neighborhood with burned out houses, abandoned buildings and suspicious youths hanging out on the corners. One person asked if we were cops. What do you expect with 3 white guys in a section 8 housing project? Yet our list had registered Republicans in this area, so we were determined to hit them all. Soon a couple kids warned us that a certain house was a crack den. Oddly, that address was on our list. We left that door alone - that door only - and called it a day. Walking around the corner I spotted a house with a veteran support poster in its window. I had to knock. The guy came to the door and told us he was a carpenter in a union, but was voting for Bush. After some unkind words about Kerry starting way back in the Vietnam Days, the guy offered us a ride back to the GOP office. That made our day. There, we loaded the guy up with stickers and posters and he promised to spread the news that the office was in the neighborhood. Back at the office, we heard two words that could tear us away from politics - cheese steak. After being dutifully informed Geno's was the Republican-friendly establishment (I don't even want to get involved in that war), I proceeded to step in line just like we do here with the Soup Nazi and order the right way. "Whiz with," I said, and the guy didn't blink and eye of recognition that I was an outsider or a cheese steak virgin. And to top it off, I actually ordered my first-ever Freedom Fries. A great meal indeed. The day was a great success, and factoring in 25 or so people hitting 100 doors each, that's 2500 potential voters multiplied by their friends and family. If we can get 25K more votes in Philly, Bush could take the state. That was our goal and I was proud to have helped. I'll have more on day 2 doing the tourist thing later.