Has Anyone Done Get-Out-the-Vote for the Democrats?

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking of signing up for a Get-Out-the-Vote shift for next Monday or Tuesday. My strong preference is to do an hour or two by phone, not door-to-door. Has anyone done this? Good experience?

[Anonymous]

I have done both phoning and door-to-door, in '04, '06, and '08. It certainly felt good in '06 and '08. In '04, it felt great on the afternoon of election day, when Kerry had obviously won. That evening, not so much. But in retrospect, I think I am happiest about that effort, which involved two weeks in Florida, because I think I would have felt much more rotten about the outcome if Bush had won that fairly close victory (which I stubbornly continue to feel deserves a "?") and I had not put in the effort -- at least I don't feel I could have done more.

As to the choice between the two methods, I feel like I hit more people by phone, but probably had a stronger effect on each one when I spoke face-to-face, so I don't think it's clear which is better. Unfortunately I can't put much time into it this year, and will probably just do a few phone calls. Go with your gut, and good luck either way!