I've been in Denver for about two weeks and it's been great! All the time I've been here, I've had a great time and I've made some great friends. I was place at the HD 4 NW Democratic Office on 38th and Lowell, known as the Highland Park Office; I can at least see the mountains on my walk to the office. My host family has been great and Gina Hardin, my host mom, was canvassing in North Denver when I got here. As soon as I arrived, it was hands on training and I was put to work in the phone bank, after a couple of days I was made phone bank captain. My job is to train the phone bank volunteers on the various phone scripts that are being used for Denver. It could be anything from a mail-in-ballot, persuasion calls, to early voting encouragement.


When the Obama rally was announced, it threw off our calls. Everyone in our office knows how to be flexible, and we focused on volunteer to volunteer calls, 250 volunteers were needed for the event. It rocked when I went to the rally training, because 1200 people showed to volunteer! That is the power of this campaign, a grassroots movement. The day of the rally, October 26, we had to be at Civic Center Park at 8am. My job was perimeter logistics, fancy words for telling people where to go, LOL. We could not believe the number of people that kept showing up and some had even been camped out since 6am. No one expected 100,000 people. It was moving and inspiring to hear Senator Obama speak in person. The advantage of being a full-time volunteer was the fact that we had a VIP pass, our volunteer badge, to be up close.


I've enjoyed my volunteering in Colorado but, unfortunately, my time is up. Both field directors, Ana and Brenda, are great and very dedicated to their job. The Highland Park community was great, and very supportive. Someone was always bringing us food or snacks to make sure we had enough energy. One group of kids had a sleepover and they made us Yes We Can cookies. I liked that everyone had a task to focus on, which made the office run a little more efficiently. All in all my experience was great, and I recommend if you are able to do it even for the last few days of the election, it's an experience that will be rewarding and one you'll never forget.

Follow the alamObama bus trip to Las Cruces, NM from October 16-20 at this blog:   http://sa2nm.blogspot.com/
Also view Bob's BubbleShare album of photos from this campaign trip: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/477955.9ea7d158100/overview

Here are photos from our GOTV training for out-of-state volunteers, the Denver NE office and the press conference with ex-mayor Wellington Webb and Mrs. Mark Udall on Tuesday. He adorned his lucky tennis shoes from the 1991 race for mayor of Denver (when he walked over 300 miles in these tennis shoes in and around Denver after he ran out of money for advertising, and won!) and away we went block walking accompanied by Mrs. Mark Udall, whose husband is running for Senator. Denver is doing a combined campaign for Senator Obama and Mr. Udall in all of their offices.

Yvonne outside the NE Denver office. (It's cold!)	The NE Denver Obama office.
Out of state Volunteers get GOTV training	Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb
Mayor Webb dons his lucky tennis shoes in preparation for block-walking with the Volunteers	Mrs. Udall, wife of the Democratic US Senate candidate Mark Udall, introduces Mayor Webb.

Hi everybody from Yvonne Armstrong and Harold Hines in Denver, Colorado! Harold and I are really enjoying Denver, so far we have knocked on over 100 doors and made 300 plus phone calls. The NE Denver office has been busy chasing the mail-in-ballots and getting ready for early voting. I am amazed that there are so many Obama supporters in this area, which is an indication that we really stand a chance of turning this state Blue!
(Photos will be posted soon.)

As many of you know, I just returned from a weekend of volunteering for Obama in New Mexico. I live in San Antonio, but we drove 13 hours each way to get out the vote for Obama. There were 4 in our group, including my wife and two other local volunteers we didn't know yet. We reported to Santa Fe for our marching orders on Friday. We caught the tail end of a speech by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. there in the office and I got to meet him and shake his hand! (I have some pictures up already in my album, more to follow)

Saturday we spent all day in the Santa Fe area, mostly knocking on doors in lower income Hispanic neighborhoods. I can tell you that the Latino vote is energized and overwhelmingly for Obama. One thing that keeps coming up clearly to me is that the only color that matters this election is GREEN.

This was even more evident on Sunday, when we drove an hour south into a rural, conservative town called Edgewood. We expected to get some negative responses there, and we did. There was a family who threatened to pull their guns on us, but we showed them respect and did not let them intimidate us. We earned their respect and they gave us a loaf of bread with the address to the local Baptist Church. These racists were the exception (only about 3 or 4 people out of 50 or so). The demographic there was overwhelmingly white. A white man wearing a Harley-Davidson, American Flag shirt listened as we explained that Obama does not want to take away his guns. He complained about the current direction of the country and how McCain does not seem any different than Bush to him. He expressed some reservations about Obama, but told us that he thought Obama was the one who cared about his situation more than McCain. I am convinced that we swayed him. It helped that our group could talk about guns, the military, and Christianity with him.

Amir and Joe Ibarra with our bread (not guns) from McCain supporter who initially threatened to pull guns on us..	Kara canvassing in Santa Fe View Amir's Complete album on Facebook

This man was just one of many who do not fit the media's depiction of Obama's demographic. It's the economy again, stupid. We saw grown men tear up in front of us, literally. The rural and lower income people of this country are hurting and just as in the military, the only color that matters is GREEN. Remember too, that many of the low income and rural demographic have experience in the military, the most respected institution in the country, and perhaps the best integrated, especially amongst the enlisted. This topic of the military came up a lot, and people were angry that we're wasting "too much damn money" in Iraq, when we need it here. They were mad that their family members were on 5th and 6th deployments to Iraq. People are pissed out there. And though I think we have many racial issues to overcome in this great country, I am very proud of my country, and I think any dumb ass who puts his or her racial prejudices ahead of what is clearly the better ticket in this election will be the minority.

I am so glad I took this trip. It was an eye-opening experience that showed me that race is still an issue in this election, but just not as big an issue as the economy and the overall sense that government is broken and not working for the people. There is a palpable sense of Populism, at least from my perspective, bubbling up from the bottom rungs of our society. Barack Obama, as flawed as he is to represent the "bubba" vote, is paradoxically a natural fit for the Potpourri Populist coalition of people who are tired of getting jerked around by the current regime. Barack is the embodiment of "E Pluribus Unum," and while that may not be ideal for any single demographic group, it may be the good enough for the nation overall. As long as he can deliver; which is what the promise of America really is: an opportunity.

I've taken over 100 photos and have been documenting our every waking moment. I'm spending my last night here in Sante Fe, NM and will be headed home first thing in the morning. As soon as I get in tomorrow night I will upload some photos and blog a little. Also, if you need any help persuading people to take some time to volunteer Amir and I would be honored to help. We both work two jobs and have responsibilities at home that we really can't afford to leave behind, BUT WE DID! And it has been an experience of a lifetime. Looking forward to blogging on our new page. Cheers!

Wow, what an exciting beginning! Harold Hines has his AlamObamaMobile (see photos below) all decked out with Texans for Obama written on both sides of the car windows and a big sign across the rear view window proclaiming our support from AlamObama to Senator Obama. Imagine the stares we got going through the McCain supporting towns of the Texas Hill Country. Most just stared like what the … and a few (maybe two) smiled with thumbs up. Harold and I were feeling pretty good, knowing that we were making their day.

Day two: After a stop over in Dumas, TX for a night's rest we began our trip once again through the sudden rain and coldness, determined to reach Denver by mid-day. When we arrived at the Denver for Obama office, it was bustling with organized confusion and young people who were trying to win a chance to meet Senator Obama by making at least 100 calls and having their names put in a box in the hopes that it would get pulled. I was surprised that most of them were high school students. Our host Robert, who is the field director, greeted us and took us on a tour of the office. Obama every where, and the energy so thick that Harold and I promised to come back tomorrow all pumped up and ready to do what we could to assist Denver. The focus was on mail-in ballots and the upcoming press event on Tuesday. It’s really exciting to see so many Obama yard signs as we drive through the city. I think we actually stand a chance of turning this important State Blue.

Harold Hines and the Official AlamObamaMobile!

Greetings from New Mexico! What an experience it has been so far. Everyone is pumped up and ready to go here. We stopped by a small office in a rural part of southern New Mexico on the way to Santa Fe, in the middle of red country, and their enthusiasm was contagious. We rolled into Santa Fe just in time to catch a RFK Jr. rally. We were also welcomed into town with a little party from our hostess. I'm set up with an absolutely amazing family for the weekend....just wow...I could go on forever. Looking forward to trying to make a difference.