One Utah

With a month to go before the election, there’s a huge amount of work to be done. There are still doors to be knocked on, yard signs to be delivered, events to attend, debates and forums to attend. It makes me glad I’m just a volunteer - I can show up, do my thing, then leave and not worry about the big picture.

This week I got to do two things - wednesday and thursday evening, I was delivering yard signs - I had about a dozen to deliver. The drill is pretty straight foward - park, carry the sign to the door, knock on the door, talk to the resident, give them their sign, thank them on behalf of the campaign and then go. A couple people asked if I could pound it in, but since I didn’t have a hammer, or mallet, that was a challenge.

Yesterday, I was walking a precinct in the upper Ave’s with another volunter. We were Glen and Ben and that has a certain ring to it. The day was, to put it mildly, somewhat inclement. It rained, it snowed a little, it rained some, then it rained some more. And after that it rained some more. I was literally soaked from head to toe. I wore a hat and I had to wring it out. My coat was soaked - since it was made of wool I smelled a bit like a wet sheep. And that was fun.

There are fewer and fewer undecided voters. This development comes as no surprise to me - and the precincts in the Avenues were already filled with Becker supporters. There were a few suprises however - several voters who had been Jenny Wilson supporters remain undecided. I think some Wilson supporters feel their candidate was treated unfairly by Becker supporters in the online comment boards and fora leading up to the primary. The Becker campaign, however, focused on Ralph’s strengths, ran a positive campaign, and a very well organized one. Wilson has since come out in support of Becker, as has Christensen. Interestingly, even before Christensen endorsed Becker, I ran into Christensen supporters who had switched to Becker. The undecided voters (including the 2 former Wilson supporters) all said the same thing - I don’t know enough about either candidate to feel comfortable making a decision. I respect that stance - at least it says to me that this person wants to make an informed decision.

We started walking a few minutes after 10 a.m. By 11:45, we’d done the Avenues and were starting on the streets (our precinct covered from 200 East to 500 East on 9, 10 and 11 aves). We worked our way up E street, at which point, my list of houses was so wet I couldn’t take notes anymore (you do your best to keep them dry, but you know it’s not easy).

I knocked on a bunch of doors, probably talked to 30 people (it’s difficult to keep track without the paper in front of me). Most of the people I actually talked to were Becker supporters. A couple were Buhler supporters. One man in particular said he just personally disliked Ralph and couldn’t support him. In general, what I heard from the Becker supporters was: “He’s a really good man. He’ll be a good mayor. I’m voting for him.” I agree he is a good man, but I’m one of those people who says, “He’s an urban planner. He’s been involved in government in Utah for over a decade. He’s passionate about our city. He’s got great ideas. That’s why he’ll be a good mayor.”

Walking precincts you get to know the city. It’s a great experience, you see houses, and neighborhoods and the people who live in our city. It really makes me love this city to see and feel the character of Salt Lake. Yesterday, in the rain and the snow and wet and the cold, it was no different. And I realized that the Avenues do feel different than Sugarhouse which feels different than Rose Park or the East Bench or Central city or downtown and we need to protect the character of our neighborhoods.

At 11:45, I looked at Ben, Ben looked at me, his wife arrived with his kids (they were arranging parent duty) and we said, “Let’s call it.” Here’s the deal - I’ve never ended a walk early - even back in July when it 100+. But yesterday, I was cold, wet, tired and my dogs were barking. We were done.

This entry was posted Sunday, October 7th, 2007 at 7:09 am and is filed under Ralph Becker, SLC Politics, Salt Lake City, This Blog. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.