Persuasion Calls

In the wake of the Supreme Court case against Obama-Care, our office is making persuasion calls to see what people think about the bill. Today alone I made over 70 calls but as always the number of people who answered was much lower. Overall most of the people were in support of the bill. I was able to sway a caller into supporting the bill, that made me feel accomplished.

After learning about voter identification and polling, I realized just how important these calls really are. All the people who I called and actually spoke to were categorized into a list: call back, refused, support or not supporting the bill. The class lectures and readings made me realize that campaigning is really all about making list and contacting as many people as possible. Before I thought that campaigning was about getting you're ideas out there and making sure that the candidate looked better than any other candidate. Now I see that it is about contacting people and making sure they know what the candidate stands for and how it will help them.

Someone I spoke to said "Thank you for calling, I really appreciate these calls." That type of response makes all the mad calls worth it. I love hearing people support the President and what issues are important to them. My favorite caller from this scrip would probably have to be a woman who spoke both english and spanish but preferred spanish. She was a registered republican but was fully supporting the candidate, she thought that the republican candidates were not doing anything for the people and that we need to see a change in this country. She thought that minority support was an important issue that has to be addressed, all of this was conveyed to me in rapid spanish.

Along with the script from which I was reading also included a question about issues which are important to them. That question and the end of the call made people think about what is really important to them in the election.

Cristina Plazo and I sat in the office on a table making phone calls all day. Though our actual contact rate was low, the people who we did talk to gave us some give information on how to update our list and who we have to give more attention to.

Apart from the Health Care script Cristina and I followed a prospective list. The list included people which we wanted to recruit for volunteers and two questions about the media. The questions asked was "If they read their local newspaper" and if they watch "The nightly news." Victoria explained to us that these calls allow us to see if we need to start taking ads out in the newspaper and on local news stations.

The Republican race is coming to a close and their convention is coming up. I honestly think that Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican candidate and this general election is going to be tough. I still believe that no matter who the Republican candidate is Obama will be in office for another term.

Joe Biden

Wednesday March 7, 2012 Vice President Joe Biden stopped by the Vinoy Hotel in St. Pete and I was lucky enough to meet him. When Victoria called me and asked me to work the Joe Biden event I was extract, I was going to met the Vice President of the United States.

The Vice President stopped by as a fundraising event where attendees donated money, I was lucky enough to work the event. I was asked to arrive at 2:15pm even though Mr. Biden would not be speaking until 6:00pm, to make sure everyone was in the proper location. Security was very tight, I had to summit my information before attending and  was inspected before entering the building. I felt as if I was going through airport security. There were also big security dogs inspecting every room and waiting outside in the lobby. I could not even hold a pen! The secret service asked me to out my pen down, it was considered a weapon. I understand the need for security this is the Vice President.

Joe Biden's speech was very inspiring. He spoke about what he sees the middle class as unlike his Republican counterparts who "See the middle class as a number."  Joe Biden also mentioned how long he's been working in Congress, He was elected into office before he was of age. He also spoke about bringing he economy back up, how they have created jobs. The economy was not stable when President Obama came into office and he is doing his best to bring the economy back up. Joe Biden ended his speech with, "Osama Bin Ladin is dead and General Motors is alive."

After his speech he walked up to the front of the crowd and stopped to talk, hug, kiss and take a picture with every person in line. When he reached the left side of the line; where all the volunteers were he literally walked over the barrier in order to be closer to us. He took picture as a group and with individuals.

Everyone who attended had such a positive attitude that was infectious. I love that Mr. Biden took the time to talk to voters and really connect with us.