Campaigning in Pennsylvania

Caitlin Noerenberg


Every weekend since the second weekend in September, Dave Halpert and 20 or 30 of his friends drive to cities and towns in Pennsylvania going door-to-door canvassing for Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential election.

Every one has different script, but all say generally the same thing, “Hi, my name is David, I’m a volunteer with Obama and were just seeing if you decided which way you are leaning in the election?” It becomes more of a conversation, not trying to convert them in terms of switching their votes, just seeing where they are coming from. He has had two long talks with McCain supporters just trying to find where the other guy is coming from.

He said, “After you introduce yourself as a volunteer, most people, especially with this election, want to talk about it and they will either say they are for Obama or McCain. If they are undecided, you ask what issues are important to them and then majority of the people will take 5-10, sometimes 20 minutes to talk about things and you get to hear Americans talking about different issues that are important to them, and it’s actually fun talking to them.”

When asked if he ever gets the door slammed in his face, he said usually not, its uncommon, but it does happen on occasion. Although he’s not saying that every time he and the other supporters talk to a person, they convince them to vote for Obama. If the person believes Obama is a poor candidate then you won’t influence him. Some people are so against Obama they will make mean-spirited comments.

Dave believes a lot of people are trying to reverse what Bush has done in the past, “a lot of people are upset with the way the country is headed and want it to change… It really makes a difference with one-to-one contact, but then again a lot of people it might not affect their decision.”

Due to some complications, I was not able to join Dave and his friends on one of these campaigning trips to Pennsylvania. It seems reporters are not always welcome, but rather they are strict on going door-to-door with Obama supporters only.