Adventures in Canvassing: the Media are Largely Right for a Change

I spent yesterday canvassing for Kucinich in Cedar Falls, Iowa with two other Kucitizens from the Twin Cities.

What we found is almost entirely in line with what the media are now saying about Iowa.

To tell the truth, the largest single group of people on our list of registered Democrats was the "not answering the doorbells." Whether this meant that they decided to avoid all canvassers by not being home or whether they were hiding under their beds with the shades pulled down, at about 2/3 of the addresses we tried, we had to be content with leaving literature. (Since the houses mostly looked empty, it would have been interesting to survey the shopping malls and movie theaters of Cedar Falls to find out if they were noticing any surge in business.)

Of the remaining 1/3 ("We've got a live one!" was how we felt when we finally spoke to an actual Iowan after the first eight doorbells had brought no one to the door) the overwhelming majority were planning to go to the caucuses but were still undecided. Counting up the people who had decided and looking at the yard signs and window signs in this college town, it looked as if Dean had a slight lead, followed by Kerry and Kucinich, then Edwards. We didn't see any evidence of support for Gephardt, although he may be stronger in industrial towns.

So the media are right about one thing. The Iowa caucuses are wide open.

Side notes: There was no snow at all in Cedar Rapids, and temperatures were in the high 30s to low 40s, although it was cold enough that the streets and sidewalks were beginning to ice over as we left. One of my companions was brought up only 20 miles north of Cedar Falls, and she said that she had never experienced an Iowa January with no snow.

Driving up I-35 back to the Twin Cities, we passed by two billboards outside of Faribault, Minnesota: "Minnesota's quality of life is due to neighbors, not big government" and "My doc told me that I had a heartbeat ten days after conception." We all made mental notes about not moving to Faribault any time soon.

All in all, this was a fascinating, sometimes exhausting and frustrating (when we couldn't find a house in Cedar Falls' odd address system) experience, and excellent training for organizing for the Minnesota caucuses on March 2.

This is normal nowadays. Most are simply not home until late in the day. You are also dealing with the subconscious stigma of the door-to-door salesman, even though such are much less common than they used to be. However, leaving lit on the door is a bit more effective, since few marketers still use the flyer method.

the people we did talk to were living examples of "Midwestern nice." Even the Republican who had recently moved into a formerly Democratic address was polite and pleasant in turning us away.

(The two exceptions were a woman who told us curtly "We're not getting involved this year"--how could a registered Democrat not get involved?-- and a teenage boy who was having an attack of adolescent snarks.)