From Dan Torres in New Paltz:
It is seven o’clock on a chilly Saturday morning at SUNY New Paltz. There are about twenty college students, and one high school stowaway getting ready to partake in a day that is bigger then them. They have all gladly given up a Saturday to go canvass for Barack Obama. Now they eagerly await a bus to take them to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. But why Wilkes-Barre? Well it is a key county in a state that is still up for grabs during this Presidential election, and a state that is keen for the Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama.
The bus came two hours late, but every student was more then willing to wait. It arrived on campus with students from Marist, Vassar, and a few other colleges scattered in. Soon the students got to know each other as they paired up to go door to door upon arrival. When we landed in Wilkes-Barre we were greeted by volunteers who gave us the “run down” of what we would be doing. They also reminded us that “without Pennsylvania Barack cannot win” this may have been seen as a hyperbole statement but its message was not lost on the students. We would simply be going door to door in a poorer community and ask undecided voters who they are leaning towards, and possibly hand out literature. We were advised not to go into any house or take any food or water from people. This of course is for safety reasons. Lastly we were told “don’t forget this is a gun loving community.”
I then started on a five hour walking adventure with my canvassing partner Adrian Ponce, a SUNY Binghamton student studying biology. “I really just think Barack is a stand up character…I have a lot of respect for McCain but our country really needs change, and I know Obama can provide that” said Adrian. We were handed a map and a list of a few hundred people. We met a wide variety of people going house to house. Adrian having duel citizenship with Mexico and the United States was even able to speak with Spanish speaking voters as well. Some houses we were scheduled to go to were boarded up with a large yellow bank notices on the front door that soon became too familiar. I suppose it made a lot of sense we were handing out booklets on Barack’s stance on the Economy. We were also handing out invitations to an Obama rally in Scranton, with guests Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential choice Senator Joe Biden a Scranton native.
Many people were very warm and receptive to our presence. Quite a few houses even proudly had Obama-Biden signs in there yard as well. But it wasn’t lost on me how quiet the neighborhood was. For a Saturday I saw almost no children playing and only a few cars driving by. There were certainly a few McCain signs, but as I jokingly said maybe they were just Halloween decorations. I did encounter one man who seemed less then willing to talk about the election. He wore a baseball cap and appeared to be in his late twenties and said “I don’t care if he is black or white as long as he fixes this damn country” in an election where everything that is said is so well scripted, it was almost refreshing to hear a real uncensored thought by a concerned American. It didn’t go unnoticed by me or Adrian how the community of Wilkes-Barre certainly struggles economically. To me it was also an example of the times we live in, people are really just trying to make ends meat. At times I felt
almost guilty coming from the bubble known as New Paltz, I can go to sleep knowing that I won’t have to pack my bags because the bank is coming, but I wonder if these people can.
We ended the day calling more undecided voters. You could hear the quiver of concern, and the genuine excitement in the many people’s voices I spoke to. At the end of our day we received a “good job, and come back soon” from a member at the Wilkes-Barre, Obama Headquarters. As we got on the bus for what was to be a two hour plus drive home after five hours going door to door, and another two hours making phone calls. I realized that for the first time in my life I had just seen America.
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