For our last day of canvassing of the year, Mary and I headed up to Roxboro, mom's hometown. It's maybe the third or fourth time I've canvassed there. We also poll-greeted there one time and have gone to Democratic Party meetings (something I've never done in Chapel Hill).
Democrats are unlikely to carry Roxboro anytime soon, but it's still useful to drive turnout. But for me canvassing is not about that at all. It's a rare opportunity to go walk around neighborhoods I'd never go to otherwise and to see and talk to people I'd never otherwise talk to.
We had some interesting conversations today. There was a young black guy, recently moved up from Durham, who delivered down in Garner during the day using his own minivan. He said that he was making $7-$8k a month driving around, driving lots of miles to be sure, but making good money. A couple of streets down we talked to the dad of a guy who was down at ECU but would be driving back on Tuesday to vote. There were beer cans all over their porch and down in the bushes next to the porch, but the dad had voted and he was damned if his son was going to register and vote down in Greenville.
On earlier occasions I had canvassed mostly in lower income neighborhoods in Roxboro but this time we were in generally pretty middle-class neighborhoods, including the one in which my mom grew up. Next door to her old house in a very nicely tended house with a late-model Prius lived a black guy about our age who came to the door around 2:30 in long silk pajamas and slippers with his gentle older mamaluke. Super nice guy, had already voted.
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