A day with the Minneapolis Obama office

Last Wednesday, I spent a full day with the wonderful folks in the main Obama campaign office in Minneapolis.  Two sessions of phone canvassing and one round of door-knocking were squeezed into a productive and fascinating day.

 

There was a steady stream of volunteers all day, coming in to help phone bank and also door-knock.  Here are some of the amazing people who were working the call sheets with me and who all had their individual and successful style and patter.

   

and then of course me:

In the late afternoon, I went on a door-knocking run in a neraby neighbourhood.  A middle-class suburb, but one with a lot of houses split into rented flats.  It was mainly Democratic in terms of yard signs and support, but there were some McCain and even a couple of Nader signs too.

    

On the way back, I stopped off in a fine cheese and wine store to pick up some gifts for the friends I was staying with.  I got chatting to the guy who was helping me choose a good wine.  He was a Europhile and had studied in England … and even maintained an interest in British politics and news sites. 

I got back in time to the office for some dinner.  This woman took on the all-important and much appreciated task of organising a food rota each day, so that every dinner there would be a fresh home-cooked meal for the Obama staff and volunteers.  To enable us to keep on working!  She is holding up a t-shirt which has is a print of a original Obama painting done by a local artist.

I stayed in the office to watch Obama’s 30min TV advert, and also to take a few fun photos.  I even managed another 30mins phone canvassing, before it was time to go.  One of the staffers, Mary, offered me a lift back to where I was staying; eventhough it was about a 45min roundtrip detour for her.  What a wonderful person.  She was raving about Cincinnati and had relatives there, so I hope I am doing her proud by enjoying both of her cities.