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10/29/2004 |
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Panhandling for Votes
 Son Alex and friend Jordan worked the polls at Bur-Mill park again today. Here is their report: "Jeff Thigpen is a really cool guy. Kris Cooke was really friendly to us too. The old guy working for Winstead (Sarge) seems really grumpy. He even was putting up Republican signs like just one inch in front of other signs."Me, "So did you have fun?"
Alex and Jordan, "Yeah. Yeah. It was cool."
Jordan, "Yeah Mr. Capo, there were even two people coming out who gave us a thumbs up and said they voted for you."
Me, "Were they together or in two separate groups?"
Jordan, "Two separate groups. Oh yeah and there was this other guy, who as he walked in past all of us he held his hands up to his ears and said, 'eahh, eahh, eahh, I'm not hearing you...' When he got to Alex, Alex said, 'have a nice day.' and he yelled even louder, 'EAHH, EAHH, EAHH.'
Alex, "It was soo funny!"
Jordan, "..and when he came out his wife said to us, 'he just got out of the hospital.'
Me, "You mean like the mental hospital?"
Jordan, "She didn't say. She just said hospital. Then she said she voted for you. She was one of the ones that said she voted for you."
Me, "So maybe the crazy guy voted for me too?"
Jordan, "Yeah, I think so, maybe."
(I tried to get a picture of Jeff Thigpen and Kris Cooke working right in front of Alex and Jordan, but Jeff graciously differed on account of his hair being out of place, while Kris took a pass on account of not having her lipstick on.)
 While Alex and Jordan were pumping flesh at Bur-Mill, Rusty Sheridan and I were on the median at Battleground and Cornwallis again panhandling for votes. We again received an encouraging number of waves, thumbs ups and friendly beeps of horns. Just before getting ready to pack up we were visited by two of Greensboro's finest, who in a very friendly fashion informed us that "because it is dangerous," we are not allowed to stand in the median.
 Not to challenge them, but with honest curiosity, I aksed how the volunteer fireman working for Jerry's Kids manage their once a year all day campaign in the median. One of the officers, explained that they got a permit in advance. I thanked her for the information and after Rusty and I retired from the median we discussed the possibility of calling the city on Monday to get a permit for Monday's rush hour. We both of course were thinking, "OK it's not allowed because it's dangerous, but it's OK if you seek government approval FIRST. So, it's really not about being dangerous, its about taking individual initiative without permission from the government." Just threw that in there to show you how libertarians see the world usually.
Earlier in the day around noon, I stopped up at the Craft Recreation Center. People were parking along the street in the only entrance/exit to the parking lot. The traffic pattern for coming and going was was cut to one lane making things a total mess. By the time people made it to the poll workers they were not in a particularly friendly mood.
There were also three entrances to the building making circumvention of the poll workers rather easy. Of the people not turned away by the parking mess, many turned around right after learning that wait was 90 minutes. The whole scene was stressful and after only 20 minutes or so I myself gave up and headed downtown to the Old County Courthouse.
The wait at the Courthouse was also about 90 minutes. But the flow of new people coming in had slowed to a trickle. I had plenty of time to talk to the only other two poll workers out front, Pricey Harrison and Carlton Coleman. Pricey was much more "real" in person that during her rushed performance at the A&T "meet and greet the candidtates" night.
Carlton was handing out the approved ballot for the Simians slate. Carlton didn't know I was, but that was OK since until he told me I didn't make the connection that he was Carolyn Coleman's son.
Off and on for 30 minutes or so the three of us had a pleasant chat of no particular import. There were only 4-5 people that came in during that time period, so I headed out earlier than I planned to do a little day time job work in Reidsville. One the way out of town I left a campaign flyer on the office stoop of our local blog don....gosh I hope the typos I put in the "Guliford" County letterhead memo help people recognize it as a spoof.
Consensus on the hearsay of the day was that 22-25% of the votes are going to be captured in early voting.
11:46:01 PM
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Demopublicans up 3 games to zero. A long time ago I stop being amazed by the remarkable feats of logic people are willing to attempt in order to justify voting for a candidate who they simply can't stand, but KNOW that candidate is the only one with a possible chance of winning. For the pooh poohers, I need to point out that I am not running for the President of the United States. I am running for the Guilford County Board of Commissioners in a district within about a 5 mile radius of my house. I am not going to be making decisions on military action, global trade policy, or Federal abortion laws. I am going to be making decisions on how to help a local government venture become more user friendly to the citizens it is supposed to serve on a daily basis. In my district 7 race four years ago there were just over 23,000 votes cast. This year a reasonable estimate would be 27,000. In a tight 3 way race that means I only have to have reach just over 9000 voters to win. The odds are not in my favor as a third party candidate, but how can anyone insist my ultimate victory is not possible having just watched the Boston Red Sox come back from 3 games to zilch against the New York Yankees on their way to winning the World Series. We just need a few more sports fanatics to get to the polls. On my way now to see you there... Believe! 8:56:26 AM
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