Local Obama HQ
Remarkable

Went canvassing again yesterday. Found some time--well, actually I didn't; I just ignored some work--and wandered on down. There were about fifty people standing and listening to a speech by a former admiral explaining why he was supporting Obama, then everybody broke to go canvass. I got assigned a way-back rural area I didn't even know existed. Had to creep along with one eye on a crappy Mapquest printout. One cranky McCainiac, two persuadables. Everybody else not home or not interested in talking. When I got back, there were kids everywhere painting Obama signs, people outside painting Obama signs, people at the phone bank to the side, people wargaming tactics... Seriously, I've never seen a campaign like this before. In 2004, for example, you couldn't find someone at Democratic HQ to save your life. It's a porch on the back of someone's house (still). You could wander in and take whatever chum you wanted. There was a jar to make donations if you took t-shirts. There was no Kerry HQ in town. The Obama HQ is open ten to ten every day but Sunday when it's one to ten. There are almost always people there. Sometimes there are more people than things to do. Whereas past campaigns I've volunteered for seemed to be creeping along on a trickle of energy, this one is powered by a gusher of it. It's an inspiring thing.