The beginning of the end.

Today I arrived in Ann Arbor, Michigan where I will be spending these last 39 days of the presidential campaign as a field organizer for MoveOn PAC's Leave No Voter Behind (LNVB) Campaign.

It is coming off an amazing few days of training in the brew city of Milwaukee. Milwaukee doesn't just embrace beer, by the way. The also embrace cheese and more interestingly... art. There is just a ton of sculpture and poetry and literature all around the city. It was a pleasant surprise to see a commitment to the cultural integration of the arts in the city.

My last stop on this amazing campaign will be Ann Arbor, where the plan is to reach as many Kerry supporters as possible and get them to the polls. Without getting into details, let me just say that it is going to be amazing to watch MoveOn volunteers talking with their neighbors, and ensuring that this year's election is one where people are empowered to get to the polls.

On a side note... I recently read a really good note written by Michael Moore, where he talks about Democratic supporters turning into whiny babies, too worried about poll numbers to vote. I hate the polls. They are ridiculous, because they are all over the place and they are terribly inconsistent. There is no one poll that has been proven to be more accurate than any other, and thus I am committed in my belief that there is only one poll that matters: and it is taken on November 2nd. If you want to read all of Michael Moore's hilarious note, you can read it yourself.

We cannot roll over this election. No matter what anyone says, this race is too close to call, and it won't be any clearer by October 31st either. So, instead of getting all hung up in whether or not Kerry can win, put your head down and blow through the media, so that Kerry will win. We're doing exactly what the right wing wants us to do... get so irritated, that we don't go out to vote at all. Yeah, that's right. They don't want us to get out and vote (and quite frankly, I won't mind if a few rich Republicans miss the election while counting their tax break money either). So, we have to get out their, and remind our neighbors and friends and families and barbers and coffee shop workers and pets and anything else with a pulse about the need to vote this year!

With that said, I am extremely excited and energized to get on the ground in Michigan and make sure this "must win" state, is a check mark in the Kerry column. I have a great staff to work with and an amazing set of MoveOn volunteers so riled up to get going that we're going to start working with them even though we don't have any furniture in out office yet.

This will be an astounding experience.

Eli

Wow. What an incredible day! This morning I actually met Eli Pariser, one of 5 or so people who actually are employed by MoveOn PAC. If you are a MoveOn member, then you've most likely received (many) e-mails from him. Being that MoveOn is almost exclusively internet-based group, I considered it a pretty rare opportunity to meet one of it's key players, face-to-face.

Eli came to speak to us, because MovOn and Grassroots Campaigns are working together on the Leave No Voter Behind campaign. His story is amazing, and honest, and humble.

Basically, after September 11th, Eli wrote up a petition that supported the idea that the Bush administration should use the post-9-11 unity to support peaceful resolutions, and utilize the global community for peaceful ends. Overnight he e-mailed it to 30 friends, and the next morning he was told that the response had crippled the servers hosting his petition. Over 50,000 people had signed the petition overnight. Eli got a call from the BBC the same day.

He went from an interested citizen to someone who could be invited to the White House for his efforts next year. It is amazing how the Internet has brought politics back in the hands of people.

Boston

So, Boston turned out to be both a pleasure and a pain. The two weeks were stressful and exciting. Exciting in the brief moments when I could explore the city and when the topic of conversation turned to the strategy for our Leave No Voter Behind Campaign. It was otherwise frustrating when dealing with both the ever-changing plans of the campaign, phone companies who really didn't understand what we were doing, and trying to find office spaces that were both small enough and willing to sign short term leases.

I worked with a really great group of people who I joined in the "hot room." Some say it was named such for it's temperature most of the day. I say, though, that it had to do with the pure attractive nature of a committed group of people, clamoring together for a cause.

The benefit of the work was knowing that it was setting up the ground work for making this whole campaign real. When I have worked for non-profits, I learned that it is really hard to get people to donate funds just to keep the lights on or to pay for the copier or pencils, etc. Well, i have also learned that no one really enjoys the process of making sure that all of that stuff is there and working either.

Regardless, the work is no done or being finished up, and the knowledge that I was a part of that is a satisfying feeling.

Now, to hit the ground running...

A civil war

In listening to the news lately, it seems that both sides are really starting to attack each other without much concern for a public backlash.

Liberal democrats have finally started to hear Kerry making stronger statements against Bush, most notably saying that W. is for "wrong" on our approach to the war, domestic policies, etc. Cheney has suggested that a vote for Kerry would directly result in another terrorist attack.

As I sit here I know that I am working for a group that hopes to persuade swing voters to vote liberally this year. Yet I am wondering how many people are really undecided still out there, and more importantly, how many of those voters will actually vote.

It seems to me that there hasn't been a time when this nation has been more divided. And it seems like that division is only growing.

There are similarities between this election and the Civil War.

First it is interesting to note which states are currently red and which are blue, and then note which states were Northern and which were Southern during the civil war. The similarities are quite striking. Ohio and Pennsylvania and West Virginia are "battleground" states.

Next, let's look at the leaders of both sides... you can draw analogies between Robert E. Lee and George W. Bush. First both used their middle initial. Hmmm.

Robert E. Lee was fighting the civil war for state's rights. His strong belief was that his home state of Virginia should be independent of the federal government or not be restricted by the federal government. It is my understanding that his fight was over state's rights, and not necessarily for slavery. Either way, it sound very similar to the small-government views of the Republicans (Although Bush has done many things to contradict those values).

John Kerry is a rather tall man, and has a long history of debating well... as did Lincoln.

Think about who fought the war... the North (Dems in this analogy) were industrial workers, minorities, immigrants, and the poor. The South (Republicans in this analogy) were aristocrats and land owners.

Perhaps the most striking similarity is the long, hard line that has been drawn between the two sides of the country. The modern-day Mason Dixie line does not cross between one set of states dividing North and South. Instead the line is drawn in every neighborhood, between lawn signs and bumper stickers.

This whole race has certainly left us with a stronger sense of the things that make us different... a far cry from the unity that we felt after 9/11 and the sense that we were all somehow in the same boat.

Perhaps worst of all... worse than the election, worse than the advertising, and name-calling... is the fact that when November 3rd hits, we are one country again. and the Reconstruction for a President-elect will begin. How will they reunite us? How will they mend the fences between yards and bring back waves between passing cars? How will America see itself when the dust settles and the finger-pointing isn't necessary?

I'd say that job is the toughest job, and it belongs to the winner. That's a pretty tough victory prize.

(In thinking about this analogy, please realize that I didn't put much time into research or the development of this idea fully. The Civil War and this election are probably not close enough to really compare with any kind of scholarly merit, and I also don't imply that slavery is analogous to either side's position. It was all something that came to my mind and I thought was worth at least jotting down.)

A day's break.

This Labor day weekend, I enjoyed about 24 hours of a break. I travelled from Boston to Maine, visiting my Aunt and Uncle's condo there, joining my immediate family in a sort of Ash family reunion.

The trip was a much needed break from the constant work on the campaign. In a lot of ways, I felt like I was making a very common Massachusetts retreat, much like that of a Kennedy.

Now, let me say, that in no way do I feel like a Kennedy. I just mean to state that it was interesting for me, working on a campaign, to take a short break, traveling to a shoreline get-away.

We took a boat trip around the Boothbay harbor, which was a very relaxing three hour tour (no, we weren't stranded on any island). We saw a lot of sail boats and it reminded me of photos of many Presidents and Senators who had chosen the northern Atlantic coast for their vacation spots.

The trip was short-lived, with me returning to Boston on Sunday night. In true Boy Scout fashion, I took nothing but photographs, and left nothing but footprints.