This "report" gives a down-deep true feeling about what it is to be out there working for a candidate. It is not an endorsement of Joe Biden, but rather an example of the dedication in the land to head off oligarchy. Posting this report is not an endorsement of Biden, but rather and endorsement of campaigning, action -- and voting!
By Sue Bergeron
It's 7 degrees in Manchester. I'm not there yet but I'm on my way. Up at 6 o'clock, I've got my 50 lb. suitcase full of winter clothes and everything else you would need to try and persuade rock-headed voters into making up their minds to vote for my struggling candidate Joe Biden. This time I'm in the 4x4 pick-up. Ron and I have swapped vehicles so I can get around in the snow better. The little red Ford Ranger can off-road but it has power-assisted, not power steering, so I'm thanking the Gods of the Universe my arm has finally healed. I'll be checking into my Air B&B and then it's off to the main HQ for a huddle with NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen's husband, for a canvass kick-off, and then it's hours of canvassing in the snow.
I find my hosts, ten minutes from HQ, and the house is a massive three story modern colonial with every amenity. They are a second generation Vietnamese family and their heritage is apparent throughout the home. There's a Buddhist shrine in the living room and Asian furniture abounds. Debbie and Ken are welcoming and friendly. I can't help but be confronted with the stark reality of the scene before me: These people ARE the American dream. Ken's father came here escaping oppression. Donald Trump is trying to short circuit that from ever happening here in the future.
It snows hard all day. But I don't stop. Near sundown I meet a woman from Kentucky who elbows me and says, "Hey, Sue, wanna go out again?" "After dark?" "Sure, why not. Maybe somebody will open the door." So the campaign reluctantly hands us a packet, sending us up into the snowy hills of Bedford. It turns out to be a mistake. It's Trump Country Nobody gets hurt, but "Kentucky" slips in the ice several times, we get lost more than once, and we have a terrible time navigating the dark rural area because of minimal visibility. During the ride I"m anxious to pick Kentucky's brain about Moscow Mitch. What gives with the people of your state? Your numbers are in the basement on everything! She is frustrated, too. She believes it's because of his support of Trump and nothing more. We head back and wrap it for the night, after doing calls until 9 PM. I quit after a guy tells me to "Suck my Dick." All the phone workers heads pop up when they hear me say, "Please don't tease me, Sir. I've been away from my husband for a very long time." (They couldn't hear the other end of the call.)
February 10: It's Presidents Day and the kids have off from school. That means lots of people will be home. I'm out the door early for a campaign worker meet and greet with Mrs. Biden. Dr. Jill Biden is an educator and a staunch supporter of her husband. A tiny thing, she asks me, "Would you like a selfie?" and when I hug her I think She'll disappear inside my heavy jacket. A Dutch group has shown up to follow the campaign. They have a reporter and a translator with them. They are interested in tracking America's government "in transition." I found that almost scary. I would have liked to stay and try to find out what they were thinking but I was shooed away and headed out the door.
The last day before the election turns out to be the worst for me so far. The campaign sends me off-roading deep into the backwoods of New Hampshire in the freezing rain because I have the 4x4. On the way, I drop off Russ, a Harvard man, who will travel entirely on foot, to complete two packets (about 100 families in the city. I can't really describe the pain and the beauty that collided out there---the classic scenes of snowy New England with its smoking chimneys and red barns, and me clunking and twisting the steering wheel, jamming the little red truck into 4 wheel drive again and again to climb up impossible hills. The pain and the stiffness that set into my ancient bones as I jumped in and out of the truck to deliver Joe Biden's message---to no one. They hid inside. I could hear the kids thumping around and the dogs barking. I could see cars in the driveway. But no one answered. The few that did come to the door had made up their minds---finally. Their faces were mean and hard as the granite namesake of their state. "I'm sorry. No." And then the door would slowly close to me, who was standing there looking like a wet drowned cat about to die. Among all the disappointment there were two nice people I met in my travels on Presidents Day. Brian interrupted his lunch to invite me in to warm up by his wood stove and commiserate about Trump. He was deliciously disapproving of every policy that Trump had ever foisted on the electorate. Brian was friendly and decent and I would have liked to gotten to know him more. But in the end, he had decided on Mayor Pete and I couldn't sway him. Then There was the lesbian who rushed out into the freezing rain to pull her dog off of me. It was a cute golden labradoodle who wasn't hurting me. I just laughed at "Bridget" and patted her head. I told the woman that Bridget probably saw the JOE2020 hat and got excited. "That's right," she declared, "My wife and I are voting for Joe tomorrow. He was supporting LBGT rights long before anybody else and we're supporting him." I thanked her profusely and headed back to the truck to clean off the mud from my clothes.
As night fell on the city of Manchester, Trump came rolling into town for another one of his hate rallies. Cars and trucks began to line the main drag, as the great unwashed headed, like lemmings, like the Morlocks from The Time Machine, toward the arena where he had conned them before. I saw drug addicts. I saw poor people wearing pajama pants, cigarette dangling, baby stroller in tow, headed toward Dear Leader. Joe Biden had scheduled a rally at the same time at a church, across town. I had planned to go but I was wiped out. Trump's stunt was all about stomping Joe Biden, crushing him to death. That's what he does to his opponents. He doesn't just defeat them---he has to crush and humiliate them, like what he did to Marie Yovanivich.
I arrive back at my room and collapse on the bed. I've been in an information blackout for days. There's no cable in my room---only Netflix. No time to surf the net during the day when I'm working. I open the net and start searching for the news. "Aides and allies are leaking reports that it's the end of the Biden campaign." Who's leaking?? I can't imagine that's true. I check the polls. Joe's in fifth place in New Hampshire.
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