This is the sequel to Hope & Change in Philadelphia. Sunday morning I headed north to Scranton. I joined a canvassing team going door-to-door in a big apartment complex - home to a multicultural mix of recently-arrived immigrants from Russia and India, as well as African-American, Latino and white residents. Many were not yet U.S. citizens, but among those who were, we found very strong support for Barack. A lot of residents didn't know where to vote. Fortunately we were able to give them that very important info - and Obama buttons to wear on their way to the polls!Sunday night Barack spoke at a huge rally along with Caroline Kennedy and Sen. Bob Casey. Barack spent Sunday night in Scranton, then Monday morning he showed up unannounced for breakfast at Glider's Diner. Two high school seniors who got wind of the visit cut classes to go to Glider's and meet Barack. They confessed their shameless act of truancy to Barack, so he wrote each of them an excuse to give to their principal. Too bad it didn't work. The students were suspended anyway, so they decided to volunteer all day Tuesday at the Scranton for Obama office. National media picked up the story and gave it wide exposure. You MUST read the full story, which appeared in the Washington Post.Not to be outdone, a Glider's customer walked off with Barack's breakfast plate containing his half-eaten waffle and sausage - and put it up for sale on eBay. High bid was $20,000. Don't believe me? Read the full story here.People were talking about a story concerning Hillary Clinton's grandmother Hannah Jones Rodham, who owned a lot of rental property in Scranton and wasn't shy about evicting poor tenants who got behind on their rent. Read the full story here - you won't regret it.Monday morning before canvassing, we put up some Obama signs. Not just yard signs, but the big 4x6-foot and 4x8-foot signs that I had brought from Vermont. We zip-tied signs to chain-link fences on highway overpasses, and attached them to rows of stakes pounded into the ground. A Quizno's sub shop even "adopted" one of our signs.Little did we know how short a life our signs would have. As soon as darkness fell, the goons attacked. By midnight all our big signs had vanished. To make matters worse, the Obama signs on highway overpasses had been replaced by 8-foot Hillary signs.I wish I could say cool heads prevailed, but they did not. Local volunteers were thirsty for revenge. By Tuesday morning, there were no large signs for either candidate remaining on any of the highways leading into or out of Scranton. We spent Tuesday going door-to-door again to remind our supporters to go to the polls. I made food runs to deliver fresh fruit and cold drinks to a group of Scranton poll workers who were stuck at their polling station from 6 am to 9 pm without a break. I also stopped by the polls in nearby Dunmore, where Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O'Brien, a major Obama supporter, was out front greeting voters. Corey has attracted a lot of attention from the national media, including this story in the Washington Post. In addition, Corey was instrumental in persuading Barack to visit Dunmore on April 1st. Scranton was an awesome place to volunteer. The staffers were young and full of energy. The local volunteers were enthusiastic and filled with a passion for going above and beyond the call of duty. I'll be busy looking for an excuse to go back - maybe for the general election!Also read my previous post: Hope & Change in Philadelphia
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