Saturday's Jon Runyan GOTV Effort: Reactions (by KingShamus)

On Saturday I went out to Tom's River NJ to do some get-out-the-vote work for the Jon Runyan. Runyan is running against Jon Adler, a typical douchey Democrat who wants to save the freakin' world with your money. In covering the race from afar, it seemed like I should get a glove and get in the game.

Ace of Spades organized the event. Tagging along were Mr. Bingley  (who blogs at the terrifically titled Coalition of the Swilling), ThisHeavenlyHell (a frequent commenter at Ace's place) and several other members of the Moron-Sphere (who forgot to e-mail or text me back with their handles).  We all met at Runyan's campaign headquarters. At first I thought I'd be doing phone work, but instead the campaign coordinator dude asked us to do some voter canvassing of the district. It was beautiful Indian summer day for walking around the neighborhood, so I was stoked to get out of the HQ and see what the area was all about.

Toms River is actually much bigger than I had previously thought. Socio-economically speaking, it seemed fairly diverse as well. In getting to the neighborhood I was going to canvass, I drove past million dollar McMansions and worse-for-wear 1950's ranch homes, often within a few blocks of each other.  The area we were canvassing was a middle/working class neighborhood.  Nice homes, but nothing particularly massive or gaudy. 

Better still, the people we talked to were overwhelmingly friendly.  Beyond the very occasional rude jerk, squirrelly weirdo or overscheduled dude on their way out the door, it was all good in the hood.  Granted, the way our canvassing lists were compiled, we were dealing with 'soft' Republicans for the most part.  Even with that ideological semi-advantage, I still thought almost everybody was fairly rad to chat with for a few minutes.  Many of these supposedly weak GOPers were not at all weak about expressing their intense dislike for President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.  Often times, all we'd have to say to a person was "Jon Runyan is against Obama" and that would be good enough for them.

Afterwards we all gathered back at a local watering hole, scarfed down some tasty grub and quaffed a few hearty adult beverages.  Discussions were made, predictions of Republican congressional gains were bandied about, jokes at Michelle Obama's expense were tossed around and a good time was had by all.  Ace and the Morons are a great bunch of conversationalists and it was nice to geek out to some in-depth political inside baseball type stuff with all-around cool folks. 

As far as the actual GOTV work, I gotta say it was really easy to do.  I'm a grade-A doofus and if I can do it, anybody can.  I didn't get on the phones, but it seemed like it would be fairly simple to grasp.  I'd say walking the neighborhood was probably easier than making calls.  You get to talk to people, throw a quick candidate biography/political position list at them and then remind them to vote on Election Day.  QED.

So now you really have no excuse not to do this.  If you're any sort of interested in conservative politics, you're 9/10's of the way to mastering canvassing/phone calls.  The other 1/10 involves you just showing up.  The GOTV link is here again, but if you don't want to do that just find a candidate you like, call up his or her campaign HQ (it'll be on the candidate's webpage) and ask what they need you to do.  They'll be stoked that you volunteered for the cause and you'll be amped up from playing a small but vital role in kicking back the statist menace that threatens to kill the closest thing to paradise the Earth has ever seen.

Hey, there are way worse things you could be doing with your spare time.  

Be The Wave, fellow conservatives.

BE.  THE.  WAVE.

Cross-posted at Blog De KingShamus.  Thank you, Juliette.

Comments

[EKA]

Hello, I really apologize for the off-topic comment, but I couldn't find a way to email you. I teach an MOS to soldiers and try to fit in some extra Afghanistan cultural knowledge for them whenever I can. You used to have an essay linked on your site about how Judeo-Christianity stigmatized homosexuality, thus elevating the status of women and protecting exploited, powerless males. I wanted to look over it to help me explain to my soldiers the phenomenon of rampant male-male sexual relations in Afghanistan and how the dominant male isn't really considered "gay." It is the only thing I have ever read that explained why social stigmatization of homosexuality was actually a net good to society (with, of course, the small percentage of people who actually do prefer the same sex losing out). Could you please point me to this essay? I'm afraid if I try to search for it I'll get an ocean of fundamentalist claptrap or porn. Thank you so much and thank you for your service to our country.

[KingShamus]

I'll be honest, I dunno what essay that is. Maybe you're thinking of a piece Baldilocks did?

[EKA]

No, I'm certain it used to be linked in one of the sidebars here and was an external essay, not written by Baldilocks... I think it even used to have a graphic associated with it, something like a Renaissance-era depiction of a Jewish patriarch or something.

[Mr. Bingley]

Thanks, King.

It was fun AND effective.

What's not to love?

[05Grunt aka Tad]

Baldilocks..it has been, well, years. I am delighted that more and more "people of color" (as opposed to "colorless" folk, like myself for example) are gaining more and more in real leadership and real thoughtful roles. Huh? Start with my favorite and work in lots of directions. My favorite: Dr. Thomas Sowell. His web-site, as I am sure you know, is loaded with real scholarship. You, Ma'am (respectfully...not like "Uh, General, I had to work hard to earn the title Senator and I would appreciate it if you'd addressed me as such." [Or Words to That Effect]...anyway...Ma'am, you're in the forefront of very bright people who dig around for real answers and just flat will not accept the same old lines that for decades have worked against the people of these United States. We can do better. Schools (K-12 and colleges and universities), the MSM, the Entertainment biz....all who have mass audiences and are dragging our youth down. We are not becoming better, brighter, more compassionate...we are just tolerating (and thinking that is tolerance). We seem almost to not notice all the crime, corruption, crudeness, and awful/scary things. Women, in some respects are better off than in the 1950s and before...but, in very many respects are worse off. That should not be.

Oh, oh. I go on too long. Nice to know you're out there and still slugging. Always nice to visit AF bases and ride in AMC (formerly MAC...and before that MATS [Military Air Transport Service])...yes, I am that old. LtCol (and former SSgt [E-6 in the Marines]) in America's Corps of Marines. You've got my salute.

[David]

I so hate Jon Adler's type that promises a lot and does nothing. Politics-like... Man, don't promise if you can't deliver is that so hard ?

[nike shox]

In the name of God, That is it.God bless you all, and God bless America !

[Donna]

ace of spades did a wonderful job