10.11.2004
T-23, Portrait of a swing state campaign
Sat AM I drove to Tallahassee FL to help out the election in a real, bona fide swing state. Heres a list of the folks I met there:
Yoko Ono: My host mom. Middle aged Japanese american married to a much younger white guy nicknamed Papi. Wore a see-through white shirt, a serpent belt, black capris and no bra. Talked about republicans in terms of Chakras. Nice house. 2 bookcases of cheesy sci fi in the guest room that kept me up all night. Made me green tea and croissants with apricot jam and grapefruit juice in the morning.
Papi: lucky sonofabitch, married well, nice smile.
Shelby: Volunteer coordinator. Obnoxious 19? year old who was working the election to rebel against her republican parents. Did not introduce herself to me until I had asked her name about 3 times. Closed the office at 5PM on Friday. after the various volunteers had finished watching the football game.
JC: Events Coordinator. Nice kid, my age, didn't talk much with him, but he saw me as useful. Has a fiance but froze whenever I looked at him. Adorable. Selling a condo in Buckhead; we made the ATL connection.
Trevor: 21 year old, patrician cheekbones, healthy glow. I didn't bother to ask him if he wanted a latte from starbucks; his skin tone announced that he did not let diuretic stimulants pollute his metabolism. Already a career politician. I made a joke that coffee was like cocaine; he quickly made sure to establish that he would have no basis for comparison.
Jamie Oliver: volunteer coordinator - charming english accent, young as fuck.
LC: MIA. out of state volunteer coordinator. She took vacation last week, was at a wedding on Sat, but thats all I got because then her phone died. Overheard two conversations where she called up the folks who were actually there on Sun, working, and freaked out about her personal life. I wanted to grab the phone and tell her, "look, that restraining order isn't going to come into effect for 23 days, move your toothbrush your girlfriends house, get your ass in here and work. What are you, a republican plant?'
Shawn: The other Kerry traveler, but DNC staff. Lives out of his nice car, has a phone cord permanently plugged into his ear. Paranoid, lots of suggestive silences. Implied that I was a republican plant after the folks started trusting me too much, and gave me access to all there shared drives and voter data so that I could clean shit up.
Anyways, I had a great trip, but I was pretty appalled by the level of disorganization there.
Yoko Ono: My host mom. Middle aged Japanese american married to a much younger white guy nicknamed Papi. Wore a see-through white shirt, a serpent belt, black capris and no bra. Talked about republicans in terms of Chakras. Nice house. 2 bookcases of cheesy sci fi in the guest room that kept me up all night. Made me green tea and croissants with apricot jam and grapefruit juice in the morning.
Papi: lucky sonofabitch, married well, nice smile.
Shelby: Volunteer coordinator. Obnoxious 19? year old who was working the election to rebel against her republican parents. Did not introduce herself to me until I had asked her name about 3 times. Closed the office at 5PM on Friday. after the various volunteers had finished watching the football game.
JC: Events Coordinator. Nice kid, my age, didn't talk much with him, but he saw me as useful. Has a fiance but froze whenever I looked at him. Adorable. Selling a condo in Buckhead; we made the ATL connection.
Trevor: 21 year old, patrician cheekbones, healthy glow. I didn't bother to ask him if he wanted a latte from starbucks; his skin tone announced that he did not let diuretic stimulants pollute his metabolism. Already a career politician. I made a joke that coffee was like cocaine; he quickly made sure to establish that he would have no basis for comparison.
Jamie Oliver: volunteer coordinator - charming english accent, young as fuck.
LC: MIA. out of state volunteer coordinator. She took vacation last week, was at a wedding on Sat, but thats all I got because then her phone died. Overheard two conversations where she called up the folks who were actually there on Sun, working, and freaked out about her personal life. I wanted to grab the phone and tell her, "look, that restraining order isn't going to come into effect for 23 days, move your toothbrush your girlfriends house, get your ass in here and work. What are you, a republican plant?'
Shawn: The other Kerry traveler, but DNC staff. Lives out of his nice car, has a phone cord permanently plugged into his ear. Paranoid, lots of suggestive silences. Implied that I was a republican plant after the folks started trusting me too much, and gave me access to all there shared drives and voter data so that I could clean shit up.
Anyways, I had a great trip, but I was pretty appalled by the level of disorganization there.
