Deborah Lipp

I spoke, as you know, to a lot of voters. Over fifty calls yesterday alone, of which fifteen or so resulted in conversations. (I left about 20 phone messages.) Over two hundred calls total, so make that about fifty conversations.

The number one issue people mentioned to me was corruption, followed by healthcare. If I mentioned the war to such people, they said “That too” but it wasn’t first on their minds. What was first on their minds was “Get the bums OUT.”

People have changed parties. Uninformed people who didn’t know their candidates’ names were committed to a straight Democratic ticket, especially former Republicans. I still think it was worthwhile to repeat the name a couple of times.

It was hard to feel I was getting out the vote, because almost everyone I spoke with was pretty firm, one way or another. They’d already voted, or were about to go out and vote. No one needed polling place information when I offered it. I didn’t take that as a sign that I was useless, I took it as a sign that voters were unusually interested, and that’s a good thing. I honestly feel I’d work to get out the vote even if I wasn’t working for Dems. (I mean, I wouldn’t work for Repugs, but I’d be happy to do party-neutral calling. It’s the patriotic thing to do.)

Nonetheless, most of the calls I made yesterday were in Virginia, so if we take the Senate, you know who to thank. 😉

Democratic control of the House (33 seats ahead, 14 races undecided).

Draconian anti-choice bill defeated in South Dakota.

Senate tied at 49/49, so if you’ve been lighting candles, don’t blow them out yet. We need both Montana and Virginia to gain the majority.

Update: Senate at 50/49. Dems won Montana. We still need Virginia for a majority.

Per Daily Kos, MoveOn.org is offering a $250,000 reward

for new material evidence leading to a felony conviction for an organized effort of partisan voter suppression or electronic voting fraud

Take that, ratfuckers.

People, if you see it, report it!

So last night I was doing my MoveOn calls. You get a script, and you say the name of the Democratic candidate you’re supporting. It’s all done on-screen; you click a button with the response info, and the next phone number pops up with the script and the buttons. It always tells you what race you’re calling about, and I always look up the candidate before calling, because sometimes the voters I reach have questions about him or her.

So I’m calling Minnesota 1st, where Iraq vet Tim Walz is running against Gil Gutnecht. I place a call, and the script says, “We’re supporting Tim Walz, the Democratic candidate for…” I place another call, the script says “We’re supporting Tim Walz, the Democratic candidate for…” I place a third call, the script says “We’re supporting Gil Gutnecht, the Democratic candidate for..” What?

I check the web. Yes, Gutnecht is the Republican. Yes, my script says he’s a Democrat. No, the district I’m calling hasn’t changed.

I quick email MoveOn and tell them they’ve been hacked.

I place three calls for Walz while my screen says Gutnecht, and then my screen switches back to Walz.

Fucking sons of bitches. That’s all I have to say.

between now and election day. I’m on the phone.

Tell you what, if you’re considering volunteering, just try one call and see how easy and convenient it is. So easy. And it makes a difference. This is too important and you know it.

I’ve told you about this before, but here’s a twist: You can call from home.

Sign up here and, if you can’t get to or organize a party, you can just sit at your computer and make calls. The system is set up really nicely, maximal convenience for you, the volunteer, and you’re making a difference. A big difference; get out the vote calls WORK.

You’ve got six days to get us a new House and Senate. Several key races are tied. Tied. That blows my mind. And you’re calling into those key districts; I’ve been calling Ohio and Indiana.

The beauty of calling from home is you can squeeze in a few, then stop, then start, then stop. I can make fifteen calls while letting the soup boil, then turn it down, add more vegetables, and make ten more calls before it needs to be stirred.

Six days, people. Let’s make them count.