Galveston

Crunch time.

The small county of Galveston, just south of Houston, is a hotly contested delegate rich community. Its central city, Galveston City, is a resort island used as an embarkation point for cruises around the gulf. However, I would not call it wealthy by any means. Many of the other towns, such as La Marque, have neighborhoods that chill the bone just to drive through. Churches are as prominent here as Starbucks are in most major cities, and the countryside is polluted with probably the largest set of oil refineries in North America.

Nevertheless, this is a pleasant place. Churches signify hope and community, oil signifies security, and the sea signifies liesure. The local Obama volunteers show great pride in their county, and the hospitality we consistently receive is impressive. They are happy to receive another community to help organize for the election.

And the volunteers that have come from elsewhere are indeed a community. The Obama staff, fresh from California, have led an effort leading to 20 individuals coming from around the country. We have largely come at the same time, and many of us have come from Los Angeles. More surprisingly, there are a large number of ex-lawyers in the group... people who have a disposition towards legal thinking but dissuaded by the lifestyle.

The first main event I attend is the "art walk," an open house sponsored by local galleries. We set up a table on the sidewalk, across the street from Hillary's. And we go to work talking to passers by. Quickly, I am amazed by how I don't need to accost anyone, as I am approached by as many interested folks as I can handle. We are constantly fielding questions about policies, politics, and speculation. Amidst such a hectic election, I am surprised by the levelheadedness of my colleagues and local citizens. Deep down, there is the forboding knowledge that this cannot last.

I talk to a man who believes that America is under attack from Arabs trying to undermine our society. I remind him that he differs in that opinion from other citizens, just as Arabs differ in their views of the US. I talk to another man who asks me about Obama's stance on gay marriage. He is dissappointed that the stance isn't stronger in favor of it. I validate this by the claim that marriage is religious, and that I wouldn't be surprised if the government establishes civil unions for heterosexual couples as well. These arguments earn me street cred from my fellow volunteers.

Day 2, we begin by going to churches with a message from the campaign on the importance of civic involvement as a community role of the church. I am divided in my support of this tactic. I am a firm believer in the seperation of church and state, but I recognize that church communities should be engaged like any other. Thankfully, I am denied a voice by the minister, who also believes in seperation of powers (though I am suspicious that this is simply a convenient argument). However, as a result, I have the pleasure of sitting through a white Baptist service, which is an undescribable event.

I also have the best barbecue of my life while waiting for a ride back to headquarters. In a little dive by the side of the road, the meat is slow cooked the traditional way, making it tender beyond description. I tell my friends about it, and they all insist on going back before returning to HQ.

In another barbecue place the next day, a waitress walks up to two of us at a table and drops a 20 on the table, saying "this here's from one of our customers. I don't know what it's for, but here it is." Astonished, we tell her to let the person know it will be donated to the Obama campaign. After the meal, the waitress returns with a fiver and a 10. "Y'all are mighty popular around here." This time we are absolutely speechless.

Most of the work involves talking to as many people as possible. We call people on the phone (supposedly, every democrat in Texas was called by at least one candidate), walk door to door (disturbingly, the same tactic used by some religious groups), and approach people in public places. I am a much bigger fan of the art walk strategy, and I make that known to anyone who will listen. But, unfortunately, there aren't many similar events in the area.

More importantly, I get the opportunity to converse with the people I work with, from the paid staff, who were somehow swept up early in the campaign, to the other out of staters, who are some of the most interesting people I've met, to the voluteers, whose ability to procure every essential is consitently amazing. Short descriptions wouldn't do any of these people justice, but I have had conversations on subjects ranging from Cherokee politics, to the workings of the McCarthy campaign, to running Obama's motorcade, to the transition from law to elementary school teaching, to microfinance in Tanzania, to the variety of competence in management consultants, to the role of a midwife, to which places to hang out in LA. What most people won't understand is that this process has little to do with Obama himself, but with building relations between people with a common interest. The senator is just a man, and focusing on him would lead to a cult-like personality worship. Rather, we focus on the knowledge that we agree on the general priorities of this campaign. One of the most important priorities is to be open to change, which means we expose ourselves to our environment and learn from those around us.

After all, democracy, in my opinion, is defined by a general mandate of the people. For a general mandate, we need a general dialogue, and that is fostered by this engagement. Senator Obama said at the beginning of his campaign, "regardless of whether I win, I want to leave the democratic process better off than when I started," and engagement is how we will do that.