A day in the life of a McCain volunteer

Last weekend my good friend Maria was in Virginia to attend a rally for John McCain, and yesterday she went up to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to help out in that battleground state. While that wasn’t as photo-friendly of an event as the rally was, she still had some pictures for me and a narrative of her day as well, part of which I’ll use for the post.

I went to the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters in DC yesterday to hop on the bus to the PA State Party HQ in Harrisburg for McCain phone banking. I arrived at the RNC approximately 6:15 AM. The RNC was nice enough to serve breakfast to us.

Yes, she took the picture at oh-dark hundred. And I thought you weren't a morning person, Maria.

There were two buses. One was bound for Sterling, Virginia, which is a suburb of Washington D.C. But the majority of the people wanted to go to Harrisburg just get out of DC, for which I cannot blame them. The scenery is a lot better.

Speaking to her afterward, Maria said Harrisburg was a pretty town and I'm inclined to agree, at least based on this photo. Too bad the weather wasn't better.

Maria went on to discuss some of the people she worked with during the day. As you can tell from this picture, it was predominantly younger folks.

Here's some of the help which arrived at the Pennsylvania GOP headquarters in Harrisburg.

One thing Maria remarked about was the fact that a few of these “volunteers” were leaning toward voting for Obama but they were helping the McCain campaign for volunteer hour credit. There’s something wrong with that picture, but it goes to the heart of whether volunteerism should be compulsory.

I’ll say that at least she had a nice room to work in:

Obviously the Pennsylvania GOP isn't completely down on its luck to have such a nicely appointed headquarters. Then again, I've not been to Maryland's to compare the two.

And what did Maria think about her efforts?

I think that McCain will get PA by a very slim margin based on the phone calls that I have made yesterday. However there are quite a few PA voters from the list are still undecided but I think they will vote for McCain. I had quite a few who are supporting Obama. I called voters from the Lancaster/Harrisburg area. The woman from the RNC says that those areas are very Republican friendly. I guess we will find out if that is the case next week.

Here's Maria hard at work, making the phone calls to help John McCain carry Pennsylvania - or so she hopes.

It’s worth noting that all wasn’t nose to the grindstone there, she did get to have a little bit of fun. I never thought John McCain was such a two-dimensional figure though.

Well, now we know where Sarah Palin's running mate is. Someone needs to get our Sarah and their John McCain just to have them both in our area for a change.

As a closing, Maria noted:

I saw this very cool sign – Italian Americans for McCain. I said I must get that sign! I met an Italian American woman yesterday who is very active in the Pennsylvania GOP who said that she will try to get me a sign and send it to my address. I was told that their state GOP is the only one who has that sign…the state has a large Italian American population or so I gathered.

With a last name like Ialacci there's no doubt of Maria's nationality or interest in securing the sign, is there? Notice it was paid for by the state party so it is unique to Pennsylvania.

We were fed Italian Hoagies for lunch from an Italian deli a few blocks away. They were good but bad for my waistline. LOL!

Unfortunately, we didn’t get the opportunity to do any door knocking because of the downpour of rain. I wanted to do door knocking so I could get more scenic photos but that’s okay.

Anyway, I was glad that I helped our friends in PA. Hopefully PA will be in the win column for us next week.

Well, those of us in Maryland who are going to helplessly watch as the sheeple along the I-95 corridor outvote us sane folks on the Eastern Shore hope so too. I appreciate Maria allowing me to share her thoughts and photos with the rest of you. Campaigning isn’t all glitz and glamour, most of the time it’s doing work like she did yesterday (as did I, out walking my neighborhood in the wind and occasional shower to support Andy Harris.) Helping a politician can be a thankless task – especially if you suffer the heartbreak of falling short on Election Day – but there’s always room for more help when it comes to running a political campaign.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

4 thoughts on “A day in the life of a McCain volunteer”

  1. Hi Michael,

    I just got home from my visit to my family abode and I was so upset that my McCain Palin magnet was off my apartment door. I am going to complain to the leasing office. It was gone!! 🙁 People beware if you have stickers and signs displayed it will be stolen or vandalized.

  2. Michael,

    I just got word via email from the RNC that they are having a couple of buses to our battleground neighbor to the south-Fredericksburg and Centreville VA. So I will be out there helping our McCainiacs in the south. Hopefully I will have great pictures this time.

Comments are closed.