Campaign for Change in Strongsville

I had the opportunity to spend time during this presidential campaign working on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama. Once I spent a couple of hours at the home of a volunteer coordinator phoning Strongsville residents to promote Mr. Obama's cause. Then, on Election Day, I spent about four hours doing door-to-door canvassing in the Hunting Meadows development.

Elation is the word that best describes how I felt that day. It was warm, sunny and it felt incredibly good to be out on the streets working for a noble cause. I told some of the other volunteers how I hadn't gotten involved in a political campaign since stuffing envelopes for George McGovern in 1972--a time when most of them hadn't yet been born!

As I walked the streets of Hunting Meadows, I asked everyone I encountered whether they had voted yet. Some undoubtedly voted for Sen. John McCain, yet on some levels I did not care, as long as they were out exercising their right--and duty--to vote. One man gruffly said he doesn't vote. Period. I felt bad for him, awash in cynicism or negativity, but decided not to engage him in confrontation. I moved on.

At one house, a mom, dad and son were coming out the front door as I was walking up the driveway. Asking my standard question as to whether they had voted yet, I learned they were just on their way to Allen Elementary School to vote. The voter roster I had been given by the Obama campaign showed four voters in the home and I quickly learned one son was away at college and had already voted by absentee ballot. I asked the other son, who had just turned 18, whether this was his first presidential election, to which he said with eager anticipation that it was his very first election. I related to him that my own son had voted that morning before heading back to college. All three of them were intending to vote for Barack. They knew their precinct and voting location, so I simply thanked them for voting and moved on.

Encounters like that were experienced all afternoon. I even walked up to the house of a McCain supporter, complete with yard signs, and talked to the mom. Her son wasn't home from work, yet I asked her to give him a flier for Barack, to which she responded that she would.

Electon Day was wonderful, from 5:30 a.m. when my wife and son arose to vote, through to Sen. McCain's gracious concession speech and Sen. Obama's victory speech late at night. We truly live in the greatest democracy the world has ever seen and I cherish the privilege of having been born an American.