Odyssey in Butler County, PA Or How Our Shopping Adventure Netted a Cute Volunteer

Wendy Davis, our National Field and Training Director, is in Western Pennsylvania working to get out the vote for all Democrats from Obama to State House races. This is the first in a series of posts about their experience there up until Election Day.

Imagine four recently transplanted staff from 21st Century Dems in Western PA…it's too late to knock on doors, and we don't have phones to call voters so what are we to do . . . Go shopping!

At the top of our list of things we needed were local cell phones, but in Western PA buying a cell phone does not mean running around the corner. After a quick search, we discovered the best place to look was in the neighboring town 15 miles away, so we set out on our voyage in our rented van, dubbed the "Hockey Mom Mobile." Twenty or twenty-five minutes of driving and five minutes of programming the GPS later, we arrived at the outlet of a large cell phone company (who will go nameless but HINT: their colors are red and black). When we went inside the bustling store, instead of being served immediately, our name was added to an electronic queue, and we were told to wait "our turn." The next twenty minutes were so slow we thought we might miss the election. However, there was some excitement when someone discovered that the display Blackberrys actual had internet connection. So we, of course, checked our emails and the latest news updates. When the sales people where actually ready for us, they didn't have the right answers. We explained that we wanted some really cheap phones, which we would be using intensely for two weeks and then never again. The attendant (who I am sure thought we were crazy and couldn’t understand why someone wouldn’t want a two year contract) followed his corporate training and tried to convince us that we needed to spend hundreds of dollars and make a firm commitment to their brand.

So we went to Best Buy, where upon walking into the phone section we not only quickly found an extensive selection of cheap phones but also a cute 'mobile phone specialist' who was eager to help us with our unusual request. In no time we had $20 phones in hand and a plan with unlimited minutes to accommodate phone banking. While taking the time to set up our phones and engaging in small talk, Justin mentioned that he was not only a volunteer firefighter but was not a fan of Sarah Palin who was coming to the area the next day. Identified as a Democrat and a local who knew our state legislator’s cousin, we gave Justin an Obama button from our pocket supply and invited him to help on the legislative campaign. He might have thought that it was just a trick to get his phone number, but he agreed to try to fit some volunteer time into his busy schedule. Before we faded for the night his information was entered into our database!

After grabbing a late supper, we went to a local big box store (sadly the only type that is open at 10:30pm ) to pick up supplies. We got some Diet Coke, some local postcards, some warmer clothes, gloves and even a pumpkin for the campaign office. Unfortunately, the store was out of electric blankets, so our transplant from the sunny southwest will be an ice cube tonight.