Local Obama canvassers outsourced to New Hampshire
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KEENE, N.H. - The Barack Obama campaign is as active in Massachusetts as it is anywhere else, but you'd have to go to New Hampshire to see its members in action.
On any given Saturday or Sunday, scores of volunteers from the Pioneer Valley and around the commonwealth pour into canvass New England's only battleground state. They travel by car, van and bus into the area surrounding Keene, a city comparable in size to Northampton, Mass.
"Basically, it's all been outsourced," said Mara Meaney-Ervin, president of the Smith College Democrats, which brought 16 members from its headquarters in Northampton to the Obama campaign office in Keene on Saturday.
"That's not to say that there's no campaigning going on in Mass. It's just that the focus is elsewhere," said Meaney-Ervin.
Meaney-Ervin, 21, is no stranger to the campaign process. She took time off from school before the Democratic primaries to work for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's presidential campaign. She said that when Richardson lost in the Iowa caucus, she started paying attention to Obama's campaign after his speech that night.
"By the end of the speech, I was a convert," she said.
GazetteNET's video of Valley canvassers at work for Barack Obama over the weekend.
The Smith Democrats took the hour-long drive across the border to the Granite State as part of the weekend's "Student Invasion," an effort by the Massachusetts Democratic Party to get more than 500 New England college students into New Hampshire to canvass for Obama, former N.H. Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who is running for U.S. Senate, and incumbent U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, who is seeking re-election.
Emma Ruddock, who oversees canvassing and phone banking for the commonwealth's Democratic student outreach efforts, said that about 400 students from Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Canada came out to volunteer.
Canvassers cover an assigned territory, outlined on a "walk list," either in pairs or by themselves. The walk lists provide names and addresses of independent and on-the-fence voters, so canvassers aren't going to every single door. "The walk lists are quite ingenious, actually," said Meaney-Ervin. "You get MapQuest directions to a starting location, a map of the area you'll be covering and a list of names with some information on them and options for how to respond to their questions."
On Saturday, volunteers arrived in waves to the Keene office, a small, unassuming building just off Main Street, cluttered with pro-Obama paraphernalia both official and homemade. Once there, volunteers undergo brief training by staff from the Obama and Shaheen campaigns.
Smith Democrat Elaine Harris said that identifying themselves for the Shaheen and Hodes campaigns is integral for a successful Obama presidency.
"It's just as important to campaign for local congressional candidates as it is to campaign for Obama in New Hampshire," she said. "That way he'll have a Congress to support him."
The canvassing experience also affords volunteers the opportunity to speak with a diverse voting block. "It's been a phenomenal experience in terms of meeting people from New Hampshire," said Marsha Zimmer, of Northampton. "Two weeks ago I talked to two people in their 80s. They were lifelong Republicans and had a son serving in Afghanistan, and they said they're voting for Obama."
While the town of Keene is often considered a Democratic stronghold, the state itself has never been beholden to either major party. New Hampshire went to George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election, but gained increased attention from Democrats when Sen. John F. Kerry seized it in 2004.
The result has been what Meaney-Ervin calls canvasser "saturation."
"Honestly, if I lived in New Hampshire I'd want to hide under my couch until the election is over," said Beth Jacobson, the Smith Democrats' treasurer. "But some of them really enjoy talking to younger people who really care about the issues."
Don Benoit, a subcontractor and New Hampshire voter, spoke with Smith canvasser Alana Eichner about why he's an Obama supporter.
"In my line of work, I haven't gotten any breaks. It just isn't going good for that type of work anymore," Benoit said. "I'm for Obama. I think it's definitely time for a change."
The 16 Smith Democrats completed seven walk lists between Keene and the more rural town of Sullivan, which has a population less than 1,000. Overall, they covered about 420 houses.
They were not alone.
The Northampton Democrats and Northampton for Barack Obama have sent cars and busloads of volunteers to Keene nearly every weekend since September. Students from all of the Five Colleges in the mid-Pioneer Valley, spearheaded by Democratic student groups, have also been making the trip on a regular basis.
The Obama campaign is not the only ticket represented in New Hampshire, either.
Given the state's reputation prior to 2004 as a Republican bastion in liberal New England, the New Hampshire John McCain Victory campaign launched "Super Saturday" this weekend, encouraging volunteers to come to its campaign offices across the state to make phone calls and canvass.
Recent polls have shown Obama to be ahead in New Hampshire, but supporters have not relented in efforts to convert every voter they can.
"There's a ridiculous number of people who make their decision in the voting booth," said Meaney-Ervin. "If they can remember something you told them about your candidate, it can sway their decision."
