Stories from the Campaign Trail Part 2

After a long day of knocking on doors, we would go back to the campaign office to make phone calls. So while it was hard enough to talk to strangers all day face to face, you then get to "rest" while speed dialing more strangers. I sat there trying to read the names staring back at me on the automated phone screen and stuttered out hesitantly a "Good evening, is ...Brian Jones there?" "...Mary Smith?" "...Ah-neeesh Chop...too..tur...todo...doo..reee? o? ee? there?...." (It was those types of incidents when I hoped the person wasn't actually home and thus spared my horrific pronunciation.)

Then we'd get the people who would just cheerily state that if they get one more call like this, they were just not going to vote at all, thank you very much!

I'm really feeling good now!

We finally went to bed and woke up the next day to start knocking on doors and ride in some interesting stranger's car all over again.

Thankfully, the stranger we got this time was not as chatty, and not as crazy. I.e., he didn't say things like "Yeah, the Democrats are early voting because they'll do anything they can to cheat!"

Ummmm, sir, I understand you believe the Democrats are always wrong and because we are both Republicans, you believe I'll agree with you on anything you say whether illogical or not, but early voting is not actually cheating in any way...

But I couldn't say anything to him because he held our lives in his hands. And in his Clown Pocket car. So I just made a weird face and continued to stare into the blackness that was my window in silence...

I will miss the Clown Pocket car a little though. I fondly remember the time we pulled over for a second just to check our maps and the elderly gentleman inside the house we were in front of saw those giant Romney posters and promptly flipped us off....

I had heard, before this trip, stories from other people who have done this in the past. Stories about funny things that would happen, or ways in which our two major political parties would fight each other on the trail. Like the time, years ago, when supposedly Party 1 rented up every single rental van in an area just so Party 2 wouldn't have any rides to go door to door.(The unused vans then just sat in a parking lot....where Party 2 allegedly proceeded to slash the tires....)

Sounds mature, right?

But I have to say, I was all fired up for some fun competition so of course when we ran into some Obama campaigners on the sidewalk, I have to say I was very disappointed that they didn't want to engage in fake friendly combat.

Even after I initiated football tackling motions towards them.

Awk-ward.

But onto my stories about the actual door knockees we encountered.

For the most part, people were friendly. Like I said, we already knew which people were likely voting Republican and which were undecided but leaning that way. However, there's always a chance you get it wrong and end up yelling to an angry man from the other side of the street to "go ahead and come get me in your PAJAMAS, mister!"

That thankfully did not happen to me but it did happen to another guy on our trip. At the time of him telling me this story, he was sheepish for taunting the man about his pjs but the man did come out of his house - in pjs - to chase our campaigner for knocking on his door....hilarious.

I did nearly get chased as well, though. I'll explain in the next post.