Election Day

Besides going door-to-door in the black middle class Louisville suburb of Newburg on the last Saturday in which KY residents could register to vote in October, I again this fall volunteered periodically making phone calls for the Congressional campaign of moderate Southern IN Democrat Baron Hill over in Jeffersonville, across the river from downtown Louisville (see 'Biden rally"). Although I was in the IN Democratic Party office down the street from the Obama campaign office, I was also often calling for Senator Obama and gubermatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson. Having coming back late from Ohio on election eve, I got up as early as I could on Election morning (Stephanie being in Guatemala and me having taken the day off from work for the first time) and got to the office in Jeff 20 minutes late - and missed saying hello to Congressperson Hill in the proces (he was in the camper above headed to another one of the district's many counties). below were the signs for some of the Democrats running in Southern IN. Stephanie and I spent a very memorable election night two years at the smoke-filled, free beer for everyone bingo parlor in Jeff. You might recall that Election night 2006 was a good night for Democrats, including for then former Congressman Hill, but the Democrats in Jeff were almost entirely focused on very local races, including the upstart campaign of Danny Roddan for sheriff.

I had gotten slightly acquainted with some of the campaign staff. Also there on loan from the Congressional staffs were some of Baron Hill's local district staff and some D.C. office staff, including a man I questioned about Baron Hill's relatively anit-immigrant stands. Also there was a Clark County Democratic Party vice-chair, Nancy, whose entertaining e-mail campaign-related e-mail updates we had been getting daily for the previous couple of months. Nancy had also enjoyed reading Stephanie's Governor Palin blog entry.

Making calls for Congressperson Hill this year was relatively easy, since this was not a good year for the Republican brand even in Southern IN. This was especially true after Hill voted - twice - against the financial industry bailout. I made calls that week and that bailout is all many people wanted to talk about. (Hill - a fiscal conservative and friends with my Tallahassee congressperson, fellow "Blue Dog" Democrat Allan Boyd (father of one of Stephanie's students when she taught at Aucilla Christian) - surprised me by voting for the fiscal stimulus bill earlier this week.) Mentioning Obama went OK - although one man was frank that he couldn't support Obama because Obama is black. Calling for gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson - a former Congressperson and Clinton Administration Agriculture Department official - was tougher. People didn't dislike her; they just hadn't heard of her. Republican incumbent Mitch Daniels - with a pro-jobs development reputation - was relatively popular. Since a tight primary race had decimated Thompson's campaign account, she had little money left - and now money for TV ads in the Louisville media market when probably 10-20% of IN voters live in Southern IN in the Louisville media market. She was from northern IN and - with no ads - many people just hadn't heard of her.

These folks were sitting next to me making calls.

Southern IN is a relatively Anglo, relatively blue collar, relatively rural suburban part of the metro Louisville area (and outyling counties). There are relativly small African American and Latino populations. Housing is more affordable than most places in Kentuckiana except perhaps for Louisville's West side. Baron Hill ended up winning the election easily (locked in a race for the fourth time in a row with Republican trucking magnate Mike Sodrel, who had beat Hill four years ago and had his seat for the two years after that). Obama ended up squeeking by with an IN win, including winning Jeff's Clark County, where I was calling from. Governor Daniels demolished Jill Long Thompson (and another Republican - a former official in Stephanie's school district - who had promised to consider forgiving lost Ike days and the like - squeeked by with a narrow win to become IN education commissioner.)

Below is a picture that Nancy took and put in her e-mail newsletter of me taking a break and having something to eat on Election Day! Congratulations, President Obama and Congressperson Hill!

-- Perry