My Wild Weekend

I went to Ottawa this weekend. I helped out a candidate I believe in where the race was tight. I went with some colleagues of mine, arriving around midnight on Friday. Then it was off for drinks before starting the day early on Saturday. If you have never done a campaign before, then I invite you to live vicariously through this post. Saturday morning, we awoke in Ottawa only to discover that it had snowed. The night before, footwear ranged from loafers to pumps and we walked home without a problem. the roads and sidewalks were bare and there was hardly a snowbank to speak of. Saturday morning, it was as though I'd been transported to the high arctic in my sleep, I kid you not. and the storm raged on! I took the car we'd rented to the campaign office to meet up with the team and collect our assignments. Visibility was nil and the roads were untouched by maintenance vehicles. I already mentioned it was a rental vehicle so you know there were no snow tires. it was a harrowing journey to say the least and i only lost control one time, thus ruining any chances of befriending a certain Ford Taurus. In case you are wondering, no we did not collide, but I am positive I raised his blood pressure a notch or two.
First things first, we went door to door dropping off an article we'd turned into a "drop piece" from the local paper which offered a ringing endorsement of our boy. The snow was blinding and the banks were knee deep by this time. we finished two or three polls in this way and then decided to call it quits for lunch. Drenched and frozen, we went back to the hotel to regroup. we had some lunch and then miraculously, the sun came out. The afternoon was more of the same in different parts of O-Town. I got lost, so that killed some time unfortunately. We didn't finish walking those two or three polls off until about 7pm. Walking around in the snow like that all day can sure get to a girl. Not to mention the electorate: Canadians are for the most part very polite voters, so I don't have any great stories on this subject for you really. One gentleman took my pamphlet and told me he'd throw it in the garbage. I told him I hope he recycles. that's about as good as it gets folks.
Sunday was "U-vote" day. We go door to door dropping information for voters on where their poll was to be located on Monday (hereafter referred to as "e-day"). Our team was exhausted still from the day before when we set out that morning in the -15C early hours. I am pretty sure we screwed up our poll numbers, thus informing consitutents to vote at the wrong location. luckily, it seems either one of two things happened. 1) We did in fact screw it up, but no one read the pamphlet so no harm was done. 2) We didn't screw it up afterall. I guess I'll never know. We dropped all those we could in about 4 polls in the morning before rewarding ourselves with a lunch from Swiss Chalet and then going out for another three polls (which I know we handed out properly...I finally woke up and checked). got a little turned around on the way back to the campaign office ended up on the road to Montreal, got back on track and took a break at Tim Horton's. A truly canadian moment, discussing politics in the local Timmy's.
That night, we ordered pizza from Ottawa's Pizza Shark, and watched Ghostbusters on Spike TV.
That brings us to E-day. Our team was split up among the Ottawa campaign team to different locations in the riding. I was in charge of two polls. I was given a list of ID'd voters (ie, people we had decided were on our side based on all the canvassing during the campaign) and the mission to make sure that they all made it to the polls that day. I am proud to say that I pulled every single one of my votes. I talked on the phone, I pounded the pavement and at the end of the day, I was there to count the votes. Wouldn't you know it? all our hard work paid off and our candidate got a seat.
Closed the evening with a party, then went home early to watch the news like the political geeks we are.
Made it back to Toronto in under 4.5 hours today. 4pm and I am ready for bed.
Cheers!