So I made it into Austin at about 9:30 yesterday morning, sans bag (which showed up later). After getting a Curra’s fix and catching up with Jeff and Alexis, I checked in at an Obama campaign office in East Austin.

I received a clipboard; a printed-out map of a neighborhood; a list of about 75 addresses and the name, age, and gender of people living there; and assorted Obama campaign literature, chiefly fliers to hang on doorknobs. I was given minimal training and sent out to walk the neighborhood, knocking on doors.

I’m not sure what information went into building the lists, other than voter rolls. It did seem that people I talked to who were on the list were more likely to be supporting Obama than other people who came to the door, so some effort to identify likely supporters probably went into it.

Upon making contact, the idea is to determine whether the individual supports Obama, then encourage them to vote in the primary and the caucus, and make sure they have the information to do so. Talking to people about which candidate they support was not as uncomfortable as I’d thought it might be, and Obama supporters are much more interested in continuing the conversation than non-supporters, which is exactly what you want from a get-out-the-vote perspective. I would note down information for each person about whether I was able to contact them, who they’re supporting, etc.

So, not exactly rocket science, but I do think they’ve struck a good balance between having enough organization to maintain good information, and not wasting any time before sending volunteers out into the field. I did have several conversations with people who support Obama and seemed interested in caucusing but didn’t really know what the deal was. Explaining that to as many people as possible is very important.

I didn’t have the energy at the end of the day to hang around with the other campaign folks, but it seems like a good group of people (and a diverse mix by age/race/gender). I caught up on sleep a bit at the expense of a late start today, but now I’m headed back out there.

Go Obama!

I’m waiting in SFO for my flight to board. I found a really good Anchor Steam and a decent barbecue chicken pizza for dinner, and found out that my flight is delayed by 20 minutes. I have a fairly tight connection in Las Vegas and hope it works out.

What I have tomorrow is an orientation meeting at noon, to take place at the address texted me by a volunteer coordinator last night. I’m excited to see Austin again, excited to work on the campaign, but more than anything nervous and eager for Barack Obama to lock up the nomination.

Earlier today, the Clinton campaign released this ad which, while not really over the top, can fairly be considered an appeal to fear. By the end of the day, the Obama campaign had already responded with this. No doubt about it: Obama is running a tight ship.

I’m headed out this weekend to get out the vote for Obama in Texas.

This has finally galvanized me, after many months, to whip my blog at least partially into shape–I fixed the brokenness that turned out to be caused by WordPress’ outdated notion of its own URL, and installed a better theme. (All with Jason on vacation and beyond the reach of my pestering.) Of course I have grand visions for how the site should look that it has yet to live up to, but that can come later. ink08 is nothing if not, well, ink08.

I’m excited to get out and work for Obama. Although I worked on school board campaigns when I was younger, and flirted with support of Edwards in 2004 before his primary bid was cut short, it’s been quite a long time since I’ve worked towards a political goal.

And this is a goal I think will be reached: Obama will win Texas, and become the nominee.