Life of Wry

A lot of the political ground game is tedious. It’s wandering around a campus, approaching strangers (usually young unsuspecting students), seeking out those who are unregistered, hoping to convince them to take five minutes to fill out a long form. Or it’s a marathon of calls made during an afternoon of phone banking to people silly enough to answer their phone, and hoping to convince them to vote for a fantastic progressive candidate. Or it’s meandering methodically through unfamiliar neighborhoods in some faraway town, knocking on dozens of doors on a Saturday afternoon, hoping for a meaningful conversation with someone unbothered by being interrupted from whatever they’re doing on a weekend, and willing to hear what you might have to say about registering or voting or…

It’s vital work, but none of it is super fun. Not being a victim here, I choose this. And that’s because I’m convinced that what the experts say is true: to make the ultimate difference in the outcome of an election (in our case, propelling progressive candidates into office because their votes on important policiy matters matter!), you have to make sure as many democrats vote as possible. To expand voter rolls, you have to register new voters… left leaning ones. As critically important, you have to work on the registered democrats you already have and make sure they vote… which means relentless GOTV efforts. They say it may take “seven touches” to compel a sometimes voter to become a regular voter. Touches are calls, postcards, conversations, texts. And here we are.

I’m glad to do this work. It’s my way of channelling my horrible sense of doom and anger around politics into something constructive. Gives me a touch of righteousness, like, I’m doing my part.. not just complaining or crying into my beer.

So… my effort today was postcards. These will be sent to registered democrats in District 13 in Virginia who are only occasional voters. The candidate, Lashrecse Aird, lost her seat in the last election by just 500 votes, thanks to a huge effort by reps to flip the VA Statehouse back to red. Sister District’s working on a whole bunch of races there, races that will be close, and which are winnable with some effort on the part of grassroots activists like us. Flipping Statehouses, or keeping them blue, is important work.. as Statehouses are where critical policy stuff happens.

May seem quaint, but it’s not. It’s a touch. Touches matter. Small part of an important whole. Someone’s gotta do it.

Tomorrow, I’ll be writing a fundraising appeal for Lashrecse. The election’s in two months.

Oh, here’s Lashrecse with a few of us at a local fundraiser a couple weeks ago.. she’s the one without a nametag: