Turning My County Blue

USA Today and ABC news drew up a list of the 12 most important counties in the nation. Clackamas county, just south of Portland Oregon, where I live, was on the list. Clackamas county is a pretty solid historical "red" area because it is rural and vast. I knew changes had been in the air for a long time, however, due to shifting demographics. People in this area have been complaining about "damn californians," "mexicans," and of course "portlanders" for decades.  We are now going to see their effects on ballot boxes all across the country.

As a volunteer organizer for Obama and with OLCV on Toby Forsberg, Brent Barton, and Charlotte Lehan in Clackamas county this really excites me.  We really have the first opportunity of our lifetimes to elect people both locally and nationally who will represent our interests in the 21st century. Counties like Clackamas have become more diverse, suburban, and aware that we "must all hang together, or we will surely hang seperately." And as Obama is fond of saying, Change does not come from the seats of power.  Change comes to them.  That is why I began volunteering for Barack Obama back in June even though I was unemployed, in debt, and disaffected with Obama's recent vote on domestic surveillance.

What I found was that asymmetrical organization is how politics is going to be run in the 21st century.  With the rise of instant communication in the form of cell phones, emails, and internet communications of all kinds campaigns do not need to be run out an office anymore.  Amazingly, campaigns shouldn't be run that way to be the most effective.  See, folks want to be contacted by their neighbors.  They want their neighbors to be ones taking the time to do all the work.  It makes everything close to home and allows everyone to feel as if they are involved in campaigns.  A campaign operative calling on the phone is not very effective and endorsements only go so far.  But someone who grew up in the local area or has lived there for most of their life has the street cred to say that Toby Forsberg is my man and he should be yours too.

Even more importantly in a Presidential race where race still matters are face to face ambassadors.  All kinds of folks - Republican, Democrat, white, black, latino, asian, old, young, rich, poor - want to vote for Obama but they need to feel reassured that its ok for them to do so.  This is why canvassing is vitally important.

What we have done in Canby with $0 and almost 0 direction from the campaigns is set up 2 phone banks a week, 2 canvasses a week and voter registration efforts happening almost every day.  Canby has a population of about 15K and has voted Republican for all of its history.  The founder of the CanbyDemocrats group, Nancy Sebastian, knew back in January that if the Democrats waited until September to get organized it would be too late.  So she started rounding everyone up at the beginning of the year.

We will not know until after November if our blood, sweat, and tears were able to flip Canby from Red to Blue.  But we do know that it is making a difference.  When we first started canvassing and phone banking the people we contacted were breaking towards McCain but as the weeks and months ticked by it slowly ebbed towards Obama.  Now we are seeing a decided advantage for Obama.

We are winning our struggle and just have to continue the push.  The Canby Democrats group is not unique.  Groups like it exist all across America.  But that does not mean you shouldn't start using the same resources we used to use the last 30 days of the campaign to work for change in your own neighborhood right now.  Find some friends who want to canvass with you every week, get in contact with a local campaign and start knocking on doors.  Face-to-face contact is absolutely the most effective method of convincing voters that your guy should be their guy.

If you live in Clackamas county and need a place to plug in just contact me and I will find a place for you.  We need help in Canby with Toby Forsberg and Barack Obama.  Brent Barton needs help over in Estacada and Happy Valley with canvassing and on the phones in Portland and Oregon City, and Charlotte Lehan needs help with canvassing and on the phones as well.

Get involved, make a difference, and turn your county blue, green, red, indigo or whatever color fits your fancy.  Just so long as you're doing it cause hey: if you aren't doing anything about it now, don't bitch about it later.  The tools are at your fingertips like they have never been before.