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Baracking the vote, from the Bay Area to the Silver State
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You may have heard of some Golden State interlopers who recently headed to Nevada to encourage people to Barack the vote and turn the traditionally red state blue.
Among them is yours truly, going door-to-door to union households to canvass registered voters and to campaign for Obama and local Democrats.
So far, I’ve toured tract homes and townhouses in Sparks, bedroom communities in Reno and dusty trailer homes in Dayton, near the famed Moonlite Bunny Ranch and other brothels.
It’s fun to visit new places.
This blogger is hardly the only Bay Area doorbell ringer here.
“To me, this is the most exciting election in 40 years,” said Eric Wolfe, 58, communications director for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245, based in Vacaville. “I think another four years of Republican rule would be the absolute ruin of the nation.”
The San Francisco resident said he was astonished by the number of Republicans he met as a Reno-area campaign volunteer who felt betrayed by their political party. One such trade unionist was a man who Wolfe met as the 70-something tinkered on a car outside his hilltop home.
“He wasn’t just walking away from the Republican Party,” Wolfe said of the half-century GOP supporter and three-branch military man. “He looked around and found that the Republican ideology he had been supporting all these years just wasn’t going to work anymore. He gave us the thumbs-up when we were leaving.”
Neil Zarchin, 53, a postal worker with the National Association of Letter Carriers Greater East Bay Branch 1111, said he was amazed by the response he has got as a campaign volunteer in Washoe County, where Reno is, and outlying areas.
"There is a clear majority, at least among union households, for Obama," the Moraga resident said. "I did not expect that. It's very exciting. It feels like being a part of history.
"It's a little frustrating living in California because it's such a safe blue state. It's hard to really make a difference in a national election. Nevada's the nearest swing state."
As for me, I’m here with the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC, the union that represented me as a Peninsula and East Bay reporter until I and many colleagues got laid off thanks to a financial meltdown in the newspaper world. The CWA is part of a coalition called Labor 2008, along with the IBEW and the NALC.
Obama cosponsored a bill called the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to organize, hence his union endorsement. Opponents say the law would hurt small businesses and let unions bully workers into joining.
Only about 12.6 percent of employees in America are unionized. Nevada is a rare example of a state where membership is on the rise.
Thanks in part to grassroots campaigning by Bay Area volunteers and others, polls at the end of October showed that Nevada went from a toss-up state in the presidential race, to a solid-blue state that none other than Republican strategist Karl Rove’s data gave a 6-point Obama advantage to.
It's magical to walk up to door and meet a wary resident, then say, "We're union folks, and we're talking to union households about the election." People warm right up when they know you're part of their community.
And I learned the name of the Silver State is pronounced Neh-vea-da, not Neh-vah-da. Duh!
For more info: Learn more about the union's campaign issues via the CWA Web site. Learn more about Labor 2008 via this AFL-CIO blog.
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