Candidates (and voters) galore

There's enough action here before the Tuesday (May 20) Kentucky primary election that one can practically trip on presidential candidates. Friday I was interested in finding out when and where Senator McCain would speak to the National Rifle Association meeting in Louisville (maybe I would protest, I imagined, even though I have liked some aspects of McCain), but it turned out he had already spoken that morning, just blocks from my work at the same place where Senator Obama - whom he dissed - had spoken Monday night. Then Saturday morning when I was buying pet food, I noticed supporters of Ron Paul (pictured above right), the former Libertarian presidential candidate now a Republican Congressman still running against Senator McCain, outside one of our local Borders bookstores. I stopped by and picked up a magazine. (I like some things about Paul - including his analysis of 9/11 not totally unlike that of Reverend Wright, saying that we did some things - some not admirable - that helped lead to 9/11, but some of the material in this magazine was right-wing (and sometimes cross-over left-wing) conspiracy theory (like that our government was involved directly in 9/11) like that of some of my dissertation research anti-abortion informants (and in particular like the United We Stand group I visited in Ohio with connections to the Militia movement and leftovers from the Ross Perot for president campaigns). Anyway, when I got home I realized from the paper what the woman who handed me the magazine for some reason did NOT tell me: the reason they were out there at Borders was that Congressman Paul was about to appear there at that Borders, to sign copies of his book. I could have actually met him (like I had President Clinton).

Even though I still feel ambivalent about the race, after dropping Vincent off at a party and going with Stephanie to a movie, I did follow her preferences and my own pattern of rallies and volunteered making phone calls for the Clinton campaign Saturday night for a couple of hours, at the Clinton headquarters on Bardstown Road, near where we saw the movie. There were several unusual aspects of this: I've made lots of calls for candidates before, but this was the first time I've used a fancy telemarketing-type system where I didn't even make the calls. Once I got started, the machine made calls and I just heard a buzz and started talking whenever someone picked up the phone. They had a couple dozen people there - and apparently other volunteers around the state and around the country making Kentucky calls. Another odd thing was I'm used to working on close races. Technically, Senator Clinton is 20 or 25 points ahead in the polls in Kentucky and - except for the fact that I was calling people on Saturday evening and some of these people had already gotten a bunch of calls (we got one with a recording of President Clinton's voice this morning), this was relatively easy. They were having me call people who they thought would be supportive - Democrats with I imagine certain demographic characteristics (I didn't ask what). With the telemarketing system, I didn't have names or towns, but I a lot of people - on their lists and home on Saturday evening - seemed to be middle-aged and older women, probably many from small towns and rural areas in Kentucky. Certainly, plenty were pro-Hillary. A few were pro-Obama, and others just didn't want to answer phone calls. I reached one baby shower and one family where someone had just died. I connected one older couple with a ride. I didn't go for the little bit of Obama-bashing I heard from voters on the phone and other volunteers (mostly white women). The campaign field staff we talked with were men, and it was interesting to talk strategy with them and Stephanie, once she got there right before 9 p.m., as it was to the volunteers. When I was first was getting the complex instructions for the phone system, I did ask what we should say to voters who supported Clinton who were pessimistic about her chances, and I got the line about how she could still prevail from one of the field staff. And I did pass that line on to a couple of discouraged Clinton supporters I talked with (so both were unusual for me with campaigns: the candidate is way ahead (in the state), but the race as a whole may be close to over.

Both Clintons (without Chelsea?) will be at the fairgrounds Monday night. Of course, now I'm tempted to stop by the Obama campaign to see how the volunteers, the staff, and the voters answering their phones or their doors are different. We'll see, and also about Monday night.