Phone Banking

[Max]

In the past few weeks I’ve been paying closer attention to this election than ever before. More so than any election before now. I’ve always been a Democrat, but I’ve only really been able to look at and process the information for myself for a short period of time.

I was ten during the last election. I was following it, but through my parents. I got my information from them. Chewed down, kid friendly, ten-year-old level information. So I got a general idea of what was going on, but it was, inevitably, biased and incomplete.

This election, though, I started paying attention for myself. I looked at statistics. I went on both candidates’ websites to look at their different plans, and I researched the pros and cons of each plan. I watched the debates. And I came away from them with the firm opinion that Obama was the better choice. When I was watching the debates, I was able to see how Obama always had an answer that was intelligent, and an answer that made sense. And how McCain was contradicting himself. Supporting two different plans which had contradicting overlaps.

And then there was Sarah Palin. Enough said.

So, basically, I realized for myself what bad shape the country – and the world, for that matter – would be in if McCain won. And, to be honest, it scared me. It scared me enough to want to help in whatever way I could.

At first I didn’t think there was anything I could do, seeing as I can’t vote. I tried to donate money to the campaign, but I was two years too young for my money to be accepted.

Then I thought of phone banking.

I quickly dismissed the idea, or at least any hope of it working out. I mean, if I’m too young to donate even a dollar, I couldn’t be old enough to call random people in their homes who don’t know me and ask for their money or support or time and effort, right?

Wrong.

I looked on the website, and it didn’t specify. No “Only 16 and older” qualifications. So I jumped at the opportunity. I got an account with the site, watched the tutorial video, set up my Skype account, and dialed the first number.

I was calling someone in Nevada, and I was supposed to ask who they were voting for and what issues mattered to them the most.

I was so scared the first time. It took me about five minutes to actually push the dial button. Then another three times dialing to actually get to the first ring without hanging up.

Anyway, after all that suspense, the guy I was supposed to be calling wasn’t there. When I finally did get someone, though, it went pretty smoothly. I did my prewritten shtick, asked them the questions, and they answered them. Then submitted their answers online. Simple.

After that, it only got easier. And it started to get fun, too. I called people in Nevada, California, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and a bunch of other states. I was basically asking people who they were voting for and asking them to volunteer.

I found that I was also using the information I’d learned from initially researching both candidates to my advantage, too, in answering their questions.

I got a wide range of responses. There were people who offered to travel to other states to help with the campaign, people who gave long speeches about why they couldn’t help though they wanted to, people who hung up on me midsentence. There were the angry McCain supporters, the avid Obama supporters, the impatient undecided voters, the why-should-I-tell-some-random-person-on-the-phone-I’ve-never-met-who-I’m-voting-for people.

My favorite conversation went something like this. (I’m going to call the lady I was talking to “Helga” for the purposes of the dialogue and respecting her privacy.)

Me: Hi. I’m Max Brown, and I’m calling on behalf of Barack Obama’s Campaign for Change- ”

Helga: Oh, so you’re an anti-Christian, then.

Me: ...No.

Helga: Well you’re supporting Barack. And he is.

Me: Um, no, actually, he’s not.

Helga: Yes he is. He’s Muslim and anti-Christian and anti-American. And he just wants to destroy this great country America.

Me: No. He doesn’t. He-

Helga: He does. He wouldn’t be sworn in on the Bible. He’d only be sworn in on the Koran. It’s true. It’s facts. He’s Muslim and he’s anti-American.

Me: No, actually, if you go to the website www.fightthesmears.com you’ll see that-

Helga: Do you know where he went to school? Do you know how he was brought up?

Me: He’s from Hawaii. He went to a school there. He was brought up Christian.

Helga: He was brought up Muslim. And he just wants to destroy America. And all you young people are just jumping aboard the bandwagon because everyone else is, and you’re not doing any research, and you don’t look at the facts. All the young people are just doing it because it looks cool to their friends. And you’re just listening to all the garbage he tells you to believe. And you’re anti-America and anti-Christian.

Me (seeing that continuing the discussion would be completely futile): Um, no. Actually I’m not. And neither is Barack. But we can just agree to disagree on this one. However, if you’d like, you can go to the website www.fightthesmears.com and you can see pictures that-

Helga: No, you’re wrong. Bye.

Click

Me: ...Bye.

I’ve gotten a couple people like that. Most are nice enough, though. The best feeling is when you actually sign someone up to help in some way. Because you’ve actually made a difference, added another brush stroke to the big picture where there wasn’t one before.

Anyway, once I saw how simple it was, I arranged a phone banking party. I invited some friends over, got out some cell phones, and we started calling people like crazy. One of the phone-bankers was ten, and she might’ve been the most enthusiastic of the bunch.

It was really fun. We had snacks and sat around the table, calling people. We made a game out of it – who could call the most people.

Also, the Obama Neighbor-to-Neighbor site has its own version of that game as well. It tells you what place you’re in – in terms of the number of calls you’ve made – out of everyone on the site.

I was up to 5th place at one point, and now I’ve made about 400 calls. My friends also made about 100 each. We set up a bunch of people to volunteer, and helped the campaign know how to direct its advertising and promotion in different places.

I even helped clear up one person’s confusion about Barack’s religion, with the site www.fightthesmears.com. (I like that site a lot, in case you couldn’t tell.) And nothing, nothing, feels better than knowing that you’ve done that. Knowing that you’ve added your two cents, your straw in the camel’s very large backpack, your nail in the coffin.

It’s a whole movement, where every person is working towards a common goal, and every person is equally important. Where every person is equally necessary, and every person is necessary.

And I’m glad to be part of it.

[Sam]

People are so nasty when phonebanking, sometimes. I was calling on Thursday, and out of 150 calls, I probably got fifteen really rude ones.
One informed me she didn't vote for baby killers . . . . .
Another told me he didn't want to die, so he was voiting McCain, then hung up(WTF?)
People sometimes . . .

[Lindsie]

props to you! I was, regretfully, oblivious to the world until about age 17. it's stories like yours that encourage me to do more and learn more and try to help my younger siblings understand that they can be involved too!