Wednesday, November 05, 2008

We Did It!

After months and months of hard work, the election is finally over. We did it and I can have a life again! America elected Barack Obama! No more driving to Delaware. No more calling complete strangers and asking them who they're voting for. No more knocking on strangers' doors to see who they're going to vote for. No more calling people and begging them to volunteer. No more stressing about volunteers. No more obsessive news watching. It's going to be great!

I am so happy and excited and thrilled and exhausted. I've spent the last four days bunkered down in a union hall for about 12 hours a day with some of the nicest people I've ever met, trying desperately to Get Out the Vote in Delaware County. We didn't win Delaware County but we brought the Republican lead down 7 points! That in itself is amazing!

Yesterday, I got up at 4:30 a.m. to start working and didn't stop until 10 minutes before the polls closed. I spent the day training about 40 volunteers, keeping track of where they were going door-to-door and managing lists of the doors we needed to knock on. At 3:30 p.m., we got word that turnout was a little lower in Ohio than we would've liked (I think it was because of the early votes!) so everyone had to hit the streets. We took a carload of people to some of the local apartment complexes and tried to get the apartment dwellers to get out there and vote. My friend John was dispatched to OSU to drag drunk guys out of bars to get them to vote!

I'm just amazed at the people who helped this campaign. We had armies of high school students...retired couples...people with their kids. We had people of all ages, professions, races, and genders. It was just an amazing community effort. I have to say this ... community organizers may not be as important as mayors (according to Sarah Palin), but we sure can win elections! The best part is we now have an extraordinary team of people in our community who are used to working together and who can get stuff done! Delaware County beware!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Eljabo - thank you for all of your hard work in helping with Obama's campaign. Such a successful outcome would not have been possible without people like yourself willing to give so much time and energy. Well done!

hillsideslide said...

i second that Nerdshoveler!

Alise said...

What an awesome day! Thanks for your dedication to Obama's cause and for helping him win in Ohio!

Eljabo said...

Aw thanks guys! I'm glad I had time I could give. I still can't believe we got Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, Ohio AND Indiana. It's amazing!

Anonymous said...

I'm sad - whatever will you blog about now?

Eljabo said...

I've got plenty to blog about ... New Kids on the Block, The Pick-Up Artist, weird guys who text me in the middle of the night... it's all good times from here!