We went to two nursing homes hoping to take people to the polls. And we stood at the entrance to a trailer park.
I sat at the Janesville headquarters making phone calls to get out the vote. Overheard: one campaign worker explaining to someone on the phone that there have been more abortions since Bush became President because there are more poor people.Most of the people I called weren't home. Some hung up and a few said that they had already voted for Bush because they liked his policies. Some said they had already voted for Kerry.
Everyone was working very hard — heroically — and there were cheers when one campaign worker announced that the exit polls were trending for Kerry.
It was like a Capra movie. People bringing food. People working eighteen hour days. People going door to door.
And then I came home, Wednesday, sitting next to an evangelical Christian on the plane from O'Hare to Logan.
He said that "everyone" knows Kerry is a liberal. Too liberal for America.
He said that he was tired of feeling like a freak. That the Democrats want to stigmatize Christians. That Bush has the same values he does. Christian values. That Bush believes the same things he does. Christian things. And that's why he voted for him.
I guess different people see things differently.
My day in Wisconsin was like a Capra movie, except for one small detail — the ending.
Potterville.