Adventures in phone banking - PLEASE READ!

[auntpurl]

So, I've been phone-banking all afternoon for Hillary in between work commitments. It is actually SO fun, and sort of addictive once you get going. I'm doing it from the UK, and it's so simple to do (I've got free calls to the US).

If you go on hillaryclinton.com and click "Act", there will be an option to choose "phone bank" or similar, I can't remember. It'll be obvious. When you click on that, you sign up with your name and email, and it presents you with a list of phone banking lists. The Philadelphia Rally list was finished after I made just one call (a woman who was voting for Hillary AND wanted to attend the rally tomorrow - score!), so I moved on to Massachusetts: Help Build Team Hillary to try to get people to do volunteer events etc. I've made 22 calls today and talked to about 10 people. ALL were voting for Hillary (I mean, it's Massachusetts, so...) and some were willing to commit to some volunteering too. Even the ones who weren't said "Put me down for 'later' and contact me again".

It's a really positive experience and REALLY helps to counteract the dread I am feeling about Trump. Every time I read another terrifying thing he's done (and he doesn't make me wait long!) I pick up the phone and make more calls.

Please join me! I plan to take half the time I normally spend on DU and devote it to phone banking. That seems like a fair commitment. Thanks!

[Jack Bone]

1. thank you...thank you very much! nt

[auntpurl]

3. You're welcome! It's genuinely my pleasure.

[calimary]

2. I did that, too, before the California primary.

It was MOST revealing! Most of the calls I made were from people who didn't just say they were voting for Hillary, but that their whole house was for Hillary!

Even so, for some strange reason, I have a rough time making cold calls. On ANYTHING, really. So I may not do more phone banking. What I decided to do instead, after the local Hillary HQ opened up, was go buy them doorstops and extension cords and other stuff they needed for the office. I figured that was another way I could help.

Thank you for that, auntpurl! As Joe Biden would put it, it's a Big Fucking Deal!

[auntpurl]

4. I totally get it!

I'm naturally quite chatty, so I don't mind cold calling. I wouldn't like it if I were selling something, but this is different. The fact you have another option is great! This is the only thing I can do from here, that makes me feel less useless (other than my vote in PA, obviously!).

Have you ever canvassed? I used to LOVE doing that in Philly. I met so many great people that way, some of which I'm still friends with years later! Somehow it's less nerve-wracking than cold-calling. Partially because you always go in pairs.

[calimary]

5. Yeah, we went around a neighborhood.

It was fun because we were in a group of three women. One kept notes, and the other two of us talked. I was lucky to be in a group with a very local woman who was running for reelection to a local council position, and it happened to be near her neighborhood. She pointed out to many of them that the reason they had a nice newly paved street was because she had agitated for it, personally, in that job a few years earlier. She actually won a few votes for her own race as well as thumbs-up for Hillary.

We talked with lots of people and even got a couple of women (one lived across town and was visiting the other one) who asked about volunteering for Hillary. We also met a number of young men, obviously Millennials, who were very sweet and friendly and told us "I'll be voting for her in November!" A signal, I suspect, that they were going with Bernie in the primary. But there was NO nastiness from ANY of them. Maybe because we appeared, and behaved, like we were completely harmless. Which we were! We were instructed not to get into arguments or confrontations, but always to be well-mannered and courteous and nice, and to avoid tying anybody up at their door in long conversations. We would leave flyers when somebody wasn't home, and offer them when people seemed amenable to them.

[MineralMan]

6. Thank you for your activism!

[auntpurl]

8. You're welcome! I'm really enjoying it. nt

[ismnotwasm]

7. K&R

[NurseJackie]

9. Interesting. Are these registered Democrats only, or just registered voters?

Or just random numbers within an area code? --- Does your personal phone number and/or name display on their caller ID? (If you pissed someone off, are they likely to harass you?)