Obama Phone Banking Results - Wright comes up :(

Well, I finally took the plunge and phone banked for the first time tonight. Here are the results:

*** Most people either weren't home, or didn't pick up the phone.

*** Some people were not interested, but all were polite.

*** Told a couple of undecided voters about some of my reasons for choosing Obama. Told them to check websites like FactCheck.org, VoteUSA, league of women voters as non-partisan sources of information. They liked that.

*** Some relatives of the people I called said they were voting for Obama anyway, no need for us to call back.

*** No one was interested in volunteering at this time, due to prior commitments, but they would consider it later on.

*** One household stated emphatically that they are not voters, and they don't care AT ALL about politics.

*** One woman said they were 100% for Obama until today. They hadn't heard about what happened over the weekend, and all of a sudden today Rev. Wright is all over the place speaking for Obama, and they don't understand what's going on. I said, no, Obama speaks for himself and that Wright felt a need to defend himself, and that Obama was trying to be a gentleman by not beating up on someone who was good to him in the past. She has a multiracial family, and this bothered her a lot. She said she called her friends to see if they knew what had happened, and they too had only heard the clips being played over and over again on TV.

She asked why didn't Obama say something? I told her that Obama did make a statement today. In addition, his foreign policy adviser Dr. Susan Rice, Senator Dick Durbin and Campaign Manager David Axelrod have been making the rounds to explain they can't shut Wright up, but that Obama disagrees with Wright. She thinks Obama should come out more forcefully against these latest statements because this really discouraged her and her friends.

I hope that the voices of many people phonebanking for Obama will help turn the tide. But I can only call 25 people at a time, so my forum is limited. I didn't catch all that was said that the Press Club breakfast today, but the updates I'm getting aren't great. So I'm now of the opinion that Obama himself needs to be more vocal on this issue.

and willing to deliver a soundbite.

And Obama supporters said he had no reason to it was none of his business (Never-mind it's his pastor of 20 years) Now it comes back to bite.

or early afternoon, and he is at a rally tonight!
http://www.newsobserver.com/1181/story/1037876.html

of his black supporters under the bus. Believe me, he's in a fix.

Maybe you guys can go into more meat and potatoes during those conference calls. Certainly you should have more of them for newbies like me.

I just logged in to phone bank that night and it was posted on the main screen, so I shared. Their organization is beyond anything I have ever experienced.

Some of my fellow volunteers here in PA are heading to both Indiana and NC. I wish I had the time to join them!

You can do it. We ALL can!!

No more TV this week!

I'm preparing for the delegate challenges at the Texas state convention in early June.

I so enjoyed the reports on Crispini's thread. :D

We have many fewer challenges this time, but some could move 40-50 state delegates at a time if successful - and they go both ways. El Paso and Bexar counties had some bad juju going on.

That's fairly hard to believe.

when I reach people who love Barack but are worried about the latest Media ploy, a few words and they are back to fine.

I just reminded her that Obama is his own man, and that there's no religious test in this country to be President. Obama's focus is on making education more affordable, build up our infrastructure so that bridge collapses and other natural disasters like that can be reduced, etc.

and just need reassurance.

I am not one of those, so it is hard for me to comprehend the HUGE amount of undecideds we had here in PA at the end. I am the kind of person who makes up her mind rather quickly and sticks to the guns, even if it was the wrong decision. I just chalk it up as a learning experience and do what I can to make it work. Indecision on things keeps me up at night.

I called over 400 people on April 22. These are quick calls, but very important. My call script for answering machines went something like:

This message is for <name>. <Name>, my name is Yael and I am a volunteer here in PA with the Obama for America campaign. This is just a courtesy call to remind you to vote in our primary today. Your polling location is at <building/address>. If you have any questions or need assistance getting to the polls, please call the local office at <number>. We would really appreciate your support! Thank you and have a great day.

I would say that over 90% were answering machines as we called all day.

These go really quick and make a huge impact. The people who were home really appreciated the in-person followup.

(Ps -- these calls were to ALL registered Dems, not just identified Obama supporters -- hence the comment about courtesy calls. They may handle Indiana and NC differently. Our staffer said that there are 4 organizational models but did not do into detail about what they are and where they are being deployed).

About answering machines - you're allowed to leave messages the day of, but not before the primary? At least that's my understanding from the call script.

on election day. We kept overhearing each other and saying -- "Hey, I liked that!" and modifying our messages to include the latest stroke of brilliance.

:rofl:

As they were just courtesy calls, it wasn't as important to stay on a certain message -- so was a lot of fun.

Please stay strong!

work making those calls. You did a fine job it sounds. It's just a bad news day all will be fine soon.

I said that one of the things Wright explained was that different churches have different worship styles, some loud, some quieter and more formal like Catholic masses. She was ok with that.

He's streaming live right now at the rally..just coming up...maybe he'll say something there
http://www.newsobserver.com/1181/story/1037876.html

doesn't Obama say something?" Is she kidding? He only gave one of the great speeches in American history addressing this matter, weeks ago. Why should he say more? And why didn't you tell her to listen to that Moyers inteview, if she wants to see what Wright is really all about?

Bitching and moaning a bout the reality doesn't change it.

When Fox Noise jumped on the clips, some people were freaking out, saying "Obama has to address this now." The idea was to end the controversy. Obama gave his speech on race, satisfying those who were nervous, but the media created another scandal out of his speech.

Fast forward 10 weeks, the never-ending smear on Wright (including Hillary during the debate) continues.

Wright has every right to defend himself. I think Dick Durbin speaking out against Wright last night, not having seen the speech, was folly. They keep doing the very thing that feeds the media assholes.

Two things Obama has said:

"He doesn't speak for me."

"He has every right to speak his mind."

What else does he need to say?

I hope Wright becomes a thorn in the side of his critics.

We were on the phone about 9 minutes, so that gives me hope that she will seek out more information and not become even weaker in her support.

Wow -- GOOD FOR YOU!!!

It really is a lot of fun. Here, The Obama supporters are really happy that someone from "the campaign" called. The Hillary supporters were VERY cordial. Just said "I am voting for Hillary" and thanked me for the call. I only had one person bite my head off and that was because they didn't want to be bothered. Understandable. That is the phase you are in right now -- cleaning out the call lists.

He definitely does need to be more vocal, but it's already getting to be too late. He waits too long.

The more we phone bank, the more we interrupt people's attention at the prime time they would be watching TV and getting the wrong idea about the Obama campaign. In contrast to some punding coming thru the tube, they will be interacting with real people like us.

Please K&R because the light bulb just went off in my head, and maybe it will for someone else, too.

But I hate how everyone in the media is saying that this is hurting him badly. How do THEY know?!

We can make a difference, one call at a time.

Click the ObamaPhone to call now!