This weekend, I hit the road as a volunteer with the Jim Martin for Senate campaign again as we toured Georgia by bus. You can read my previous post from yesterday here. With the runoff on Tuesday the spotlight is shining brightly here. We've traveled all over, holding rallies at Campaign for Change offices (formerly Obama offices) and press conferences across Georgia to motivate our volunteers and get out the vote.
We began Sunday afternoon with a somewhat depleted bus - several of the Martins (Joan and Jim have five kids) were still at church in the Atlanta area with the Reverend Al Sharpton. The bus was freshly reprovisioned with a bag of jelly beans to go with the box of jelly beans. (An accident? the previous weekend ended up with all the jelly beans in the box jumbled together, so taking a random handful means possible landmines.)
We headed off to Columbus this time, for a rally with veterans at the packed local campaign office. We were joined by special guests General Claudia Kennedy and Congressman G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina. The audience asked several questions about veterans, the VA system, and getting access to the benefits they need. One of the reasons why it's so important to elect Jim Martin tomorrow, is that he is a veteran himself and he will focus on helping these people.
Life on the road settles into a routine pretty quickly. People gravitate to the same seats on the bus, we stop at the same restaurants, people are even consistent on the same flavor of jelly bean. If the measure of a person can best be taken in the quiet moments versus on stage, it's too bad this whole state doesn't get to ride on the bus. Because Jim Martin is unfailingly polite and thoughtful, even behind the scenes.
Guided by the dulcet voice of "Julie Andrews", our GPS, we then drove to Norcross (Atlanta area) for another rally at the Global Mall. We had to consult her a few times as we changed our route to dodge post-holiday traffic. The event itself was packed! We walked into a room of cheering supporters, who then mobbed Jim for pictures after. Several TV cameras circled Jim for interviews too. A successful end to a long day.
Volunteer on Election Day: phone-banking from home.