Reflections on the Drive Back Home

My first entry on my experience traveling to New Mexico to campaign for Obama was made on the drive over. This is my second entry and it is being made on the drive back. The entire time we were here we worked going door to door getting out the vote or phone banking. There was one exception.

(Locals line up for Biden rally)

On the first day we helped staff a rally for Joe Biden. That was a treat.

(Biden takes on McCain and Palin for negative attacks and ignoring the real issues that matter to working families.)

Other than the Biden rally, we worked out of a small field office in Anthony, New Mexico. Anthony is a city within Dona Ana County which is located in southern New Mexico. It borders Mexico and Texas. The state and national border lines crisscross this area.

(Jeanne and I take a photo during our door-to-door canvassing. We knocked on over 500 doors in the Sunland Park area. Well named, it is all sun few trees.)

The Obama campaign knows that all politics is local. Here is one example. The first thing full-time organizers of Anthony did when they arrived was to canvass the area asking voters about their local concerns. They understood that if they had any hope of increasing voter turnout in this impoverished community they had to connect their national campaign to their local concerns. Voter turnout had previously averaged two voters for every ten registered voters. They also had to recruit and train locals to speak to their neighbors and bring in more people to walk the streets to encourage participation one on one. This is where the San Antonio volunteers played a role.

(Our great field organizer Luis preps us for another day of canvassing.)

When Jeanne and I spoke to reluctant voters we brought up their local challenges. We told them if their community voted in larger numbers and were organized they could hold their local and state officials more accountable. And if this happened they could do something about the area water treatment plant that had to close due to high levels of arsenic from nearby dairy farms or the underemployment in their area or the illegal dumping that happens behind their homes.

Until November 4th Democrats will continue to reach out to Dona Ana County residents to include them in our great democratic experiment. My hope is that when election day passes the local community will have more experience voting and more knowhow to make a difference in their government.

(Local organizer of Mecillas, New Mexico at town square.)