Another fine day of canvassing for my local candidates.
One conversation:
“Hi, I’m Clif. I’m with the Democrats.” (That’s me speaking.)
“Democrats? Oh, no. I’m a constitutionalist. I believe in the Constitution.”
“Oh, great! Same here!”
“No, I’m a real constitutionalist.”
“Yeah? Me too.”
And we go back and forth like that for about 45 minutes.
Kidding! She just said, “Uh huh. Right. Bye.” and closed the door.
Legislative District 17
Another convo:
“Hi, I’m Clif. I’m with the Democrats.”
Roughly 50-year-old male answers the door:
“The Democrats?”
He literally thumbs his nose at me. Which I thought was pretty funny.
Thing is, I was looking for a female voter at that house. I can’t tell you how many times I get a grumpy spouse who doesn’t like Democrats or doesn’t like being bothered, but then I ask for their spouse and find their spouse extremely receptive.
I remember one of my first times canvassing this happened. The spouse answered and was like, “We don’t want any.”
His partner overhears and says, “Who is it?”
“The Democrats.”
“Get out of here!” she tells the spouse, literally pushing him out of the doorway. Then she signed whatever petitions I had and complained about ol’ President Pussygrab.
Another convo:
“Hi, I’m Clif. I’m with the Democrats. I’m out collecting signatures for two candidates who are running for the state Senate and House in our district.”
“The Democrats? Oh my god. Where do I sign?”
“Haha! Yeah, I talk to people all the time who are so happy to find that there are others of us out there.”
“Yeah, my friend said to me the other day, ‘You ever feel like the white speck in the potting soil?’ I was like, ‘Yeah!'”
I tell her that there are more white specks than she probably realizes. (Not my analogy, folks!) Actually, most people I speak to don’t realize that the state is almost equally split between people who lean Republican and people who lean Democratic.
Of course, that varies from district to district. I’m kinda lucky in that I’m in a purple district with great candidates who have a real shot at winning.