NeMon'ess's Journal: Calling for Jerry McNerney

Jerry McNerney is running for California's 11th Congressional District against Republican incumbent Richard Pombo. McNerney polled 48% to Pombo's 46% in a district where 43% of the voters are registered Republicans, and 37% are registered Democrats.

So today I took a shift in Oakland calling people over the East Bay hills in Danville and San Ramon to encourage them to vote. No leaving answering machine messages. People we couldn't reach will get callbacks tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday. If they're undecided, we give them a few statements or ask what issues they're concerned about. If they're voting for McNerney, we offer to remind them where their polling place is.

Turnout campaigns are said to be worth 1-2% of the final results. I'll be ecstatic if that's how close the margin of victory is for McNerney. Monday I'll do another shift of calling, and Tuesday go out walking a neighborhood and knocking on doors.

Sad

[pudge]

Pombo's loss is also a huge loss for our national parks. He has been a major force in upholding our parks laws and intelligently preserving the land for future generations.

Re:

[NeMon'ess]

<sarcasm>Yeah, a big loss for our national parks, since there's no other Democrats who care about them and would do a good job of preserving them. </sarcasm>

Re:

[pudge]

It's not about caring, it's about being smart and effective.

And frankly, most Democrats in this realm seem to not give a damn about the law. Like in Wild Sky in my neck of the woods, where the Dems (and a few Republicans, but mostly Dems) want a new wilderness designated, even though it would be illegal to do so, because of past human activity in the area. He has tried to work with them to bypass the land that would be illegal to designate, to no avail.

He cares about the law and the land, and realizes tha