saturday oct 18

on the flight into denver i thought it would be interesting to meet mark udall (democratic congressman running for senate in colorado.)  

it happend much sooner than i thought.  we had a rally at the stapleton office in the neighborhood where we are staying and mark was there pumping up the crowd.  see the attached photo.  he was an animated speaker and had a very engaging style.  but there was certainly something about him that set him apart from the city council member and state representative that introduced him.  i told him that we need to get to work on global warming.  he said he would.  i said wind power is key.  a good start for sure.

after the rally we headed to canvass in montbello, a lower-income african american and hispanic neighborhood in the eastern parts of denver.  this is a very pro-obama area but, like a lot of lower-income neighborhoods, has a hard time getting out to vote.  in colorado things are complicated by the fact that over half the eligible voters have requested mail-in ballots, the first time in the state its been used widely.  and then early voting starts monday.  lots of confusion.  and we have to clear the story with people that want to vote.  

we drove around with couple from, of all places, austin.  i talked for awhile with a jehova's witness who doesn't believe in voting because got should rule as we looked over a very interesting landscaping job he had just finished.  he said the end was near.  the why all the indulgence in the mulch?  

the only undecided voter i talked to was an 18-year old black kid.  he said he was concerned about government spending.  i was a bit surprised.  when i got back to the office i wrote him a letter and included some information sheets about barack's economic and tax plans.