Foaming At The Mouth
Another Precinct Heard From
Generally I try to update the journal about three times a month, when I have something to say and when there are interesting things going on. The problem is that when interesting things are going on, I don't have the time or energy to devote to it. After I shook off the doldrums of the holidays, I tried getting active again, putting in a lot of time at the gym, then everything fell into my lap at once.
The main thing was that I volunteered for a political campaign. I've been hanging out in the downtown area for almost fifteen years and I had been hearing people bitch about the alderman Burt Natarus from day one. When I moved into his ward, I saw what they were talking about. I've had a burning desire to see him removed from office (hopefully, frogmarched out in handcuffs) for a long, long time. Those who know me from the Chicago group probably saw my post about getting out the vote for his opponent, Brendan Reilly. Anyways, flash back about 10 days. I realized that as long as I had time on my hands, I should get active, volunteer for the cause. So I went to the campaign office and started stuffing envelopes. And I actually met a boatload of great people, so in no time at all, I found myself putting in two to four hours a day at the office. That really tightened up my schedule but it felt great to be so busy, meeting a lot of people, being part of the team.
Then yesterday was the big day. I'll be honest -- I didn't think Brendan would win. I'm a pessimist by nature and I felt sure everybody would prefer to just shrug their shoulders and complain rather than do something. But just the same I agreed to be a pollwatcher. So I had to get up at 3:45AM, a time when I'm more likely to be going to bed than getting up out of it. Off to the campaign office for my marching orders first, then to my polling place, which was a condo building two blocks away from mine. It looked like an uphill battle all the way; one of the election judges was openly resentful of my presence (which I found hilarious) and one of Natarus' corporate supporters was spreading a lot of favors around, such as food and coffee for the election judges (which I thought was kind of dicey. I called it back to HQ and they told me it was legit). Actually I thought it would be even worse than it was. I thought that the Reilly campaign signs I brought for outside the polling place would magically disappear when my back was turned, leaving only Daley and Daley-approved candidates' signs. I thought that our leaflet distributors would get hassled. But none of that happened.
In the meantime, it was deadly dull (we got a grand total of 120 votes cast for the entire day) and it's been a while since I pulled such a long day. I thought I was gonna have a fit right there in the polling place. I knew the party was set to kick off at the Hotel Allegro downtown at 7:30 but I figured it was going to be a depressing affair and I was exhausted to begin with. Then something amazing happened. I was with a lawyer from the campaign staff who had come to the polling place (long story) watching the election judges sort out the ballots at the end of the day, counting out the write in votes. As they were sorting them, I couldn't help but sneak a look at the ballots and see how they were going. And I'm noticing a pattern: one for Brendan, one for Brendan, one for Burt, one for Brendan, one for Brendan, one for Burt. Right at the same time, the election judge who had been so frosty said with some surprise, "I'm seeing a lot of votes for Reilly here," That's when my heart started racing. He might win after all.
Later, we had to wait for a final tally from the computers and get a printout. Some technical glitches nearly stopped us, but we finally got the totals. Reilly 72, Natarus 42. I was stunned. Basil (the lawyer) had already gotten some encouraging news on his Blackberry and when I called the totals in they told me things were looking good. After that, the rest of the evening was a triumph and I completely forgot how tired I was. By the time I got to the party 75% of precincts were reporting and Reilly was leading to the point that ABC7 was already listing Natarus as having lost the race. As soon as I got there I ran into a guy I knew from the campaign office (another stalwart Natarus hater) and we practically leapt into each other's arms for a celebratory bear hug. It should also be noted that Natarus, gutless scoundrel to the end, refused to take any of Brendan's calls last night. Fuck him anyway. I finished the night drinking champagne in Brendan's hotel suite with the other campaign hardies watching his lead grow.
So does this mean I'm pursuing a new career in politics? Doubt it. But it was interesting to be a vested part of the organization, it was exciting to see all of the election night madness first hand, and most of all it was friggin' spectacular to see Natarus get clobbered. That made it all worthwhile.
Another Precinct Heard From
Generally I try to update the journal about three times a month, when I have something to say and when there are interesting things going on. The problem is that when interesting things are going on, I don't have the time or energy to devote to it. After I shook off the doldrums of the holidays, I tried getting active again, putting in a lot of time at the gym, then everything fell into my lap at once.
The main thing was that I volunteered for a political campaign. I've been hanging out in the downtown area for almost fifteen years and I had been hearing people bitch about the alderman Burt Natarus from day one. When I moved into his ward, I saw what they were talking about. I've had a burning desire to see him removed from office (hopefully, frogmarched out in handcuffs) for a long, long time. Those who know me from the Chicago group probably saw my post about getting out the vote for his opponent, Brendan Reilly. Anyways, flash back about 10 days. I realized that as long as I had time on my hands, I should get active, volunteer for the cause. So I went to the campaign office and started stuffing envelopes. And I actually met a boatload of great people, so in no time at all, I found myself putting in two to four hours a day at the office. That really tightened up my schedule but it felt great to be so busy, meeting a lot of people, being part of the team.
Then yesterday was the big day. I'll be honest -- I didn't think Brendan would win. I'm a pessimist by nature and I felt sure everybody would prefer to just shrug their shoulders and complain rather than do something. But just the same I agreed to be a pollwatcher. So I had to get up at 3:45AM, a time when I'm more likely to be going to bed than getting up out of it. Off to the campaign office for my marching orders first, then to my polling place, which was a condo building two blocks away from mine. It looked like an uphill battle all the way; one of the election judges was openly resentful of my presence (which I found hilarious) and one of Natarus' corporate supporters was spreading a lot of favors around, such as food and coffee for the election judges (which I thought was kind of dicey. I called it back to HQ and they told me it was legit). Actually I thought it would be even worse than it was. I thought that the Reilly campaign signs I brought for outside the polling place would magically disappear when my back was turned, leaving only Daley and Daley-approved candidates' signs. I thought that our leaflet distributors would get hassled. But none of that happened.
In the meantime, it was deadly dull (we got a grand total of 120 votes cast for the entire day) and it's been a while since I pulled such a long day. I thought I was gonna have a fit right there in the polling place. I knew the party was set to kick off at the Hotel Allegro downtown at 7:30 but I figured it was going to be a depressing affair and I was exhausted to begin with. Then something amazing happened. I was with a lawyer from the campaign staff who had come to the polling place (long story) watching the election judges sort out the ballots at the end of the day, counting out the write in votes. As they were sorting them, I couldn't help but sneak a look at the ballots and see how they were going. And I'm noticing a pattern: one for Brendan, one for Brendan, one for Burt, one for Brendan, one for Brendan, one for Burt. Right at the same time, the election judge who had been so frosty said with some surprise, "I'm seeing a lot of votes for Reilly here," That's when my heart started racing. He might win after all.
Later, we had to wait for a final tally from the computers and get a printout. Some technical glitches nearly stopped us, but we finally got the totals. Reilly 72, Natarus 42. I was stunned. Basil (the lawyer) had already gotten some encouraging news on his Blackberry and when I called the totals in they told me things were looking good. After that, the rest of the evening was a triumph and I completely forgot how tired I was. By the time I got to the party 75% of precincts were reporting and Reilly was leading to the point that ABC7 was already listing Natarus as having lost the race. As soon as I got there I ran into a guy I knew from the campaign office (another stalwart Natarus hater) and we practically leapt into each other's arms for a celebratory bear hug. It should also be noted that Natarus, gutless scoundrel to the end, refused to take any of Brendan's calls last night. Fuck him anyway. I finished the night drinking champagne in Brendan's hotel suite with the other campaign hardies watching his lead grow.
So does this mean I'm pursuing a new career in politics? Doubt it. But it was interesting to be a vested part of the organization, it was exciting to see all of the election night madness first hand, and most of all it was friggin' spectacular to see Natarus get clobbered. That made it all worthwhile.
VIEW 9 of 9 COMMENTS
annisa:
congratulations!!!
imagoldfish:
look man, it just makes more sense. 0 freezing, 100 boiling. bam. simple. there's not this crazy range of temperatures that utterly baffles the explorer about to embark on a walk to school.