Working for the Votes: McCain

Just two of the 20 PACE Center volunteers in New Hampshire are campaigning for Republicans. Bryan Gergen '08 and Chris Nenno '08 are campaigning for Arizona Sen. John McCain. We met them in McCain’s Nashua field office after they returned from a short McCain rally this morning. Short being the operative word, as McCain only spoke for two minutes, 40 seconds before moving on to his next event on this the last full day of campaigning.

The office was on the second floor of a building with more people than it could support. Volunteers were standing in the hallways and outside other companies’ doors to make phone calls encouraging voters to choose John McCain. That was what Bryan and Chris were doing this morning, contacting people who had expressed that they were divided between supporting McCain or another candidate. Sometimes they received answering machines, and other times they reached supporters of other campaigns, ranging from New York Sen. Hillary Clinton to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Yet they also had success , finding supporters to whom they offered rides to the polls. Each answering machine message ended with the phrase “This call was paid for by John McCain 2008.” Sometimes the people in the room sounded like they were speaking in a round.

Working for the Votes: Richardson

Bill Richardson’s Manchester field office is located in a strip mall about seven minutes from downtown Manchester. When we arrived about 50 volunteers, staffers and supporters had crowded into the largest of his three rooms to watch the New Mexico governor debate. Their ages were split, old supporters and young volunteers.

(Governor Bill Richardson, Jacob Aronson '11)

Jacob Aronson ’11, a Daily Princetonian copy staffer, was among the volunteers. He’s the one Princeton volunteer from the Pace program and has mostly spent his first few days calling voters around the state. However, at 2 a.m. Friday he joined other members of the Richardson team at the airport, greeting the governor as he arrived from Iowa.

Similarly, the entire group moved toward the door when Richardson arrived for a post-debate event. He made his way around the room, shaking everyone’s hand and thanking them for their support. A tired-looking Richardson then left without making a speech.

Working for the Votes: Obama

The Obama for America headquarters seemed large and busy as easily 100 people worked on assembling groups to go out canvassing or to provide visibility, which means to stand on the side of the road and hold a sign supporting the candidate. The colors inside were bright and the volunteers were young.




There we met Toni De Mello GS and Melody Chan GS, who we followed as they canvassed to see the typical work of campaign volunteers. They drove out to Bedford, N.H., which looked typically New England from its white First Congregational Church to the snow on the ground. The snow is what causes the most problems for the canvassers. It’s difficult to walk from house to house. It was later in the afternoon and the pair had a Princeton car, so they drove instead.

They stopped at a home and rang the doorbell. While we were with them we saw them arrive at homes where no one was home, while another time they disappeared into the house to speak with a man for a good 20 minutes and try to answer any questions he had about Obama’s policies, and finally, another person announced that he had decided to vote for Obama. That was their favorite.

Working for the Votes: Kucinich

Campaign signs blanket Elm Street, Manchester’s Main Street, often accompanied by volunteers shouting slogans. Most of the campaigns' state headquarters are located on or nearby Elm, making it the locus of campaign activity. Even just going about normal business doesn’t insulate you from the events. Matt and I had just ordered our lunch when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and his campaign chose our restaurant as the site for a meet and greet.

The building at 786 Elm is the headquarters of Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, where Michael Collins ’11, a Daily Princetonian staff photographer, is working through the Pace Civic Engagement Program. His job has kept him out of the cold; he's compiling maps for the volunteers who will be canvassing. He’s one of about 20 volunteers who work out of a two-room second-floor apartment. The restaurant below, which is known for hosting candidates who want to look just like regular people, is more of a draw than their small workplace.

It looks a bit like a sparse dorm room after another roommate has moved away. There are bits of trash on the floor and empty wall space where the staff hasn’t taped up campaign signs. One room has two mattresses sitting flush with the ground and a bunk bed. Guests sit on a bench seat that looks like it was taken from a car.

A large group of volunteers stood at the corner of Elm, chanting and waving their “Kucinich for President” signs. On the other side of the crossroad a smattering of Ron Paul and Hillary Clinton supporters gathered, while a McCain group marched back and forth on the other side of Elm Street. Cars drive through this election gauntlet and occasionally honk, drawing excited cheers.