Look Mom! I'm a Campaign Volunteer!

The time stamp on this post is a bit misleading. According to Blogger it's about 11 p.m. In Pennsylvania it's actually about 2 a.m. But I am so excited about what’s happening here in Pennsylvania that I can’t even think about sleep right now. (OK, that’s a bit of a lie. I’m tired but my mind is going a million miles an hour that I need to get this all written so my mind will stop spinning and I can get some sleep.)

I got to the campaign office in Media, Pennsylvania at about 5:30, after taking taking more time than I had planned to get refreshed at the hotel. If you must know, I took a shower to revive myself after the long flight and I kinda accidentally took a bit of a nap that lasted about 2-3 hours. It was much-needed rest since I didn’t leave the campaign office until 11:30 and am starting EARLY tomorrow morning.

The office is staffed by 3 campaign employees, all in their early- to mid-twenties: Beth, Cindy, and Billy. I’m sure I’ll get to know them better over the course of the next 5 days but here are my initial impressions. Beth is the boss of the office. She hails from New York and is a recent college grad who majored in Political Science (and something else that I don’t remember—maybe music?) She’s been with the Clinton campaign since New Hampshire. She’s a bit bitter about the fact that she worked in (maybe headed the campaign in) Delaware when the campaign was “pretty much ignoring the small states.” She’s also been to Texas and possibly somewhere else with the campaign. Cindy is from Texas, also a recent college grad, and has been with the campaign since June. Billy is from Ohio (though he went to high school in Santa Barbara, CA), and joined the campaign as an employee after volunteering in Ohio. He left culinary school to work for the campaign.

Cindy, Billy, and Beth

You can tell that these young staffers are passionate about getting Hillary elected president. They are doing amazing things organizing volunteers and showing leadership to the many volunteers who walk through the office doors each day. During the time that I was in the office this evening, I met at least 10 volunteers and I know that many more were in and out of the office as I was in a back corner making phone calls. While it seems unorganized at times, and I think Beth, Cindy, and Billy are really ready for a break, they somehow keep the office moving and keep inspiring volunteers to get where they need to be.

So what do all these volunteers do? I’ll answer that on another day. I’m finally getting sleepy so just want to say a few more things about my day before I get a little sleep.

On arrival at the campaign office, one of the first things I learned is that I will be accompanying Billy to a Town Hall event tomorrow morning. I could hardly contain my excitement as this will be an event similar to the event Lenora and I attended in February. I’ll be a microphone holder for people asking questions. (Is there some irony in the fact that I asked my question without a microphone?) Can’t wait to report back on that!!!

My main task today was calling other out-of-state volunteers, planning to arrive over the next couple of days, to confirm when they’re planning to come so we can create an accurate volunteer schedule. Everyone I talked to is so excited to be coming to Pennsylvania to help get Hillary elected. The few who needed to change plans and were unable to come wanted to know what they could do to help win Pennsylvania. I directed them to hillaryclinton.com where there’s a link with instructions on calling voters. It’s currently set up to call voters in Pennsylvania and Oregon. Living in the “Hillary Lovefest” it’s hard to remember that she has a tough road ahead of her if she’s going to win the nomination. But one task at a time. The next couple days are all about Pennsylvania!