Read My Blog Please!!

Left in the West is down for a day or so, and I need your attention! Not for any particular reason, I just want to talk. After such an absence, the blog is mad at me. Just look at the dog, you can see it in his eyes. Hopefully LiTW will be back up in the morning, but after the election I intend to start posting here more.
Today, my wife, our daughters and I spent the day doing literature drops and rallying the party faithful in the Get Out The Vote (GOTV) effort. For the morning we went and dropped literature at targeted addresses around Helena. We were in a driving area since the houses were so far apart. That went pretty well, as we were just dropping stuff on the doorstep and putting a check mark on the list. Our best hopes? We would encourage at least one person to vote for Tester. At the least? We took our minds off of the stress and hoped felt like we were at least being useful.

The girls were being super good and having tons of fun playing games. Which is amazing for two young girls bucked up in a van driving around all day. We decided to do the afternoon shift too. This time we knock on doors and remind the party faithful that the election is on Tuesday, tell them where to vote and then ask if they need a ride or anything. My wife drove on this leg and I went to the doors. For the most part, it was great. Not all the people were party faithfuls, a few even said that they were not voting for Tester. Most people were enthusiastic in their support. Many thanked us for getting out and doing the leg work. At least one guy recognized me from LiTW. He was anxious about getting the site back up, as I am too. These were some pretty nice neighborhoods, the kind I would like to own a house in once the bank has more confidence in my credibility. :)

Everything was nice, until I got to that one house. The name of the gentleman did not match the name on my list, but I said 'Oh, well I just want to remind you that the election is on Tuesday." Then I held a piece of literature out for him and he said "I don't want that". "OK, well have a good afternoon" I said as I was putting it back on the clipboard. He reached and snatched it "On second thoughts. I wouldn't vote for Jon Tester". He tears it into a pieces and starts yelling "That guys a damn moron. He wants to raise my taxes and get rid of the patriot act. He wants our country to be attacked by the terrorists.". He throws it into the garbage and starts walking towards me. By this time I was back on the street watching him pretty closely, he was still raving but I wasn't listening. In my head, I had listed a thousand reasons why he was wrong, each one more clever and eloquent than the last. What actually came out of my mouth was something like "The patriot act doesn't make you any safer... your a big meanie!". In a second I felt like I had went from having a good day to a real life confrontation on Whats Right in Montana. The guy was attacking me as though I was trying to destroy the country.

My heart was racing and my hands were shaking. I was completely unprepared for the vitriolic hatred that came out of that man's face. I would have been OK with a simple "Your wasting your time son. I am not voting for Jon." or even a spirited debate on why he wasn't voting for Jon. I never thought this guy would 'attack me' but mainly because I would have kicked his sorry little ass all over his yard. However, I was not ready for the hate and rage and it took me off guard. It took me an hour to get over the adrenalin rush. The main point is, I could not imagine a single person that I talked to that day who supported Tester acting in any way other than polite, gracious and decent if folks from the republican party had shown up at their doorsteps.

The last house we stopped at was way back in the woods. I got the feeling that the man that answered the door was not a 'party faithful' either. He told me that he would vote on Tuesday. I asked if Jon could count on his vote. He said that he could count on the fact that he would vote, but not who for. I told him that that was all we could ask for and to have a good day. He looked at me and said, "Well, I appreciate you coming out here. You're a real patriot for doing what you are doing. Shows you care about your country." Now, how hard was that? Made me almost want to cry.