People who need people

I'm realizing many similarities between campaigning for SL County Council and my long and previous life as a newspaper journalist. I spend my evenings now telephoning potential supporters and asking for their votes. In a way, it's like calling total strangers for interviews. It takes a bit of gumption and steeling myself--don't want to bother people too much in what is probably their precious and minimal spare time. There is a magic two-hour window that I try to hit between dinner and "too late to call." Between 7 and 9.

Once I get someone on the phone though, all my tension dissolves. We talk. They tell me what is on their mind. What they want in a politician. I'm heartened by their civic engagement and interest in the campaign. I am doing exactly what I need to be doing.