A school bus packed with people, pins, stickers and pamphlets rolled through the rain and fall foliage to the town of Derry, N.H., on an educational mission - informing undecided voters why they should cast their votes for Democratic candidates on Tuesday.
This weekend, the Brown Democrats sponsored one of the last in a series of canvassing trips to swing states, joining other local Democrats on two separate trips - one to Derry and one to Manchester, N.H.
Though it was an early 8:30 a.m. when volunteers left, they were awakened and cheered by a surprise visit from Providence's Democratic mayor, David Cicilline '83. Cheerily passing out coffee and donuts, Cicilline rode on the bus with other volunteers before helping in Derry.
"This election matters more to the country than people can imagine," Cicilline said to a group of campaign workers at Marion Gerrish Community Center in Derry. "Let's get to work!"
Most volunteers were sent out to deliver literature and pamphlets to residents of both Derry and neighboring Londonderry who were undecided or leaning toward voting for John Kerry. Derry has accurately predicted the winner of every presidential election since 1960 - whoever wins the hearts and votes of the people of Derry wins the presidency.
Canvassers looking at maps given to them by campaign leaders at first wondered if the difficult driving directions were written by the George W. Bush campaign to trick them. After several wrong turns and misadventures down muddy, unpaved roads, one group of volunteers found their neighborhood.
The volunteers were of various ages, backgrounds and levels of experience.
George Nees, secretary general of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, has been campaigning for various candidates since the 1968 Humphrey-Nixon election, and part of his job includes such political work.
The Nees family is one with a high level of political involvement. Nees' daughter worked on Rep. Dick Gephardt's Democratic primary campaign, and his son Patrick Nees '01 was canvassing for his first time.
Isaac Belfer '08 trudged faithfully through the drizzle, placing Kerry campaign literature on front doors. Belfer has enjoyed his two canvassing trips, especially the opportunity to interact with local residents. "I've met some great people," he added.
Since Sept. 2, the Brown Democrats have organized approximately 15 trips to states in which the election is closely contested, including three overnight trips to Philadelphia and New Hampshire, said Seth Magaziner '06, president of the Brown Democrats. This weekend, in addition to the day trip to Derry, some students made an overnight trip to Manchester to see Kerry speak at a rally on Sunday.
For each trip, anywhere from 50 to 100 people have shown up to help canvass undecided voters and show support for Kerry, Magaziner said. "There's just been a huge response of people coming," he said.
Each week, close to two buses have been filled with students and area residents eager to help the Kerry campaign, with new faces appearing each week. "It's not just the same group of people going up every week," Magaziner said.
On each trip, volunteers have done a variety of campaign activities, including working phone lines calling voters, holding signs on street corners in major cities, registering voters and driving door-to-door in neighborhoods to speak to residents about Democratic candidates.
One of the major goals of the Brown Democrats is to increase Kerry's visibility in swing states and to make sure that voters are aware of his positions on key issues, Magaziner said.
The Rhode Island branch of the Kerry campaign is run by two people, one of whom is Jennifer Thomas GS, and the Brown Democrats have been one of the most active school groups involved in the campaign process, Magaziner said. "Two weeks ago, we turned out more people than any other school in Massachusetts or New Hampshire," he said.
Magaziner said that to realize the effect the day trips are having, "you just have to do the math." With each trip, sending anywhere from 50 to 100 people, times the number of trips and the number of hours spent campaigning on each trip, "there has to (be) an effect over time," Magaziner said.
Both Evin Isaacson '05 and Allison Barkley '07, who have campaigned in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, said they felt that their efforts have had a positive effect. "You get the feeling that you're part of something huge," Isaacson said.
In Derry, Isaacson ran into a campaigner for America Votes, a non-partisan organization whose goal is to get people to vote, and felt a sense of camaraderie, she said.
Even though Saturday's efforts consisted mainly of dropping off literature and didn't involve much human interaction, "you still get a feeling that you're doing something," Barkley said.
On an earlier trip to Pennsylvania, Barkley stood on street corners waving signs, dancing and registering people to vote - there were cars honking and showing support, Barkley said.
Joining forces with University of Pennsylvania students, Brown Democrats canvassed the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. There was the "sense of a united front, forging a sense of common ground," by working together, Barkley said.
Students canvassed a cross-section of neighborhoods, from areas predominantly filled with mobile homes to neighborhoods of large, multi-storied upper-middle-class houses.
Campaigning in Philadelphia took place mainly in suburban areas, while New Hampshire was more rural, which made her experiences interesting, Barkley said.
Isaacson mentioned the difference in literature produced by the Kerry campaign for the states. In New Hampshire, the materials focused on social security and tax cuts, whereas in Pennsylvania, jobs and employment were of top interest, she said.
"It was interesting to see how the literature got tailored to each area. ... This was not necessarily the same with Bush," Isaacson said.
While scripts are given to campaigners, they generally do not follow them, as most canvassers find it more effective to give their own personal reasons for voting for Kerry, Magaziner said.
