Every Thursday I host a phone bank at my home in Springfield, OR. We spend 2 hours calling Nevada, and doing volunteer recruitment calls. The best part of doing it from home is the convenience and the comfort and knowing there is a cold beer nearby in my refrigerator. I have met other interesting Hillary supporters and it proves we are stronger together. Our house is small, just over 800 square feet so it is a bit crowded, however that provides each of us the opportunity to pause and hear the techniques used by other phone bankers.
Calling Nevada is certainly challenging. I can see why they claim it is difficult to poll. Compared to other states I have called, Nevada has an unusual number of wrong and disconnected numbers. The leader of our Lane County for Hillary group, Ron, explained that every wrong or disconnected number now, saves organizers time and effort in the last weeks of the election when we ramp up GOTV efforts. Calling Nevada is also challenging because, frankly, some of the people are down right rude. Last week I got called a bitch, by one woman who said I had the wrong number. I suspect, that many people who live and work in Nevada work unusual hours and so it makes them extra cranky.
Last week I had a challenging call where I spoke with a former Bernie supporter for a lengthy amount of time. He was a 22 male who was not going to vote in the presidential race. He was big into CT and started in about Hillary Clinton, the Rothschilds, and the Bilderberg group. I cut him off and basically said that those conspiracy theories are rooted in antisemitism. He was silent. Then we started talking again, he asked about Hillary’s paid family leave, he wanted to know if it included men, I said, yes. I don’t have any idea if I convinced him, but he promised he wasn’t voting for Trump and that he would research Hillary on her website. I also think I convinced him to at least vote on the down ballot races and he said he would. I genuinely felt sorry for him. He was so taken in by conspiracy theories.
Overall it is a positive experience and it feels good to be helping in a swing state. One thing I have observed in this election is the fear and dread many people feel, which is one of the consequences of Trumps nasty, foul, bigoted campaign. I think people are shell shocked and almost paralyzed by the fear and dread. I suspect this is contributing to the so called enthusiasm gap. Enthusiasm is a positive word that makes me think of a celebration. Because our adversary is a soulless demagogue it is hard to feel a sense of celebration. We instead fell a sense of desperate urgency. I personally think that is part of the strategy of the GOP. Bombard us with nastiness and negativity to terrorize us into submission. It’s right out of the Klan playbook.
I think Hillary is right to start talking about her positive ideas and strengths. More than ever I admire her determination to fight for our country and its values. We can do this. We MUST do this. If an introvert like myself, can host phone banks then anyone can.
So far at my Thursday night phone bank, we have made a total of 468 calls, talked to 60 people, and confirmed confirmed 46 votes for Hillary and Catherine Cortez-Masto. We have only recruited 8 local volunteers at our phone bank, but that is only a minor part of our calling.
However, we need as many volunteers as possible so if you live in Eugene/Springfield, Oregon area, sign up for one of the phone banks. You can find them listed as official events at Hillary for America Website
We run phone banks at our local coordinated campaign office at 11th and Oak, everyday of the week. We have in home phone banks, Wednesday nights, Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons.
During this election we must remember our love IS stronger than their hate.
Keep Calm and Phone Bank!