politics
Susan Manning of Evanston, her husband Doug and their college age son Ruben usually do something special during Christmas break. This year they decided to respond to the email pleas Doug kept getting and 
volunteer for Obama in Iowa. Elijah, Ruben's brother stayed home to practice and preserve the honor of his school's basketball team.
Susan continues to be brimming with excitement and enthusiasm about their experience. Her family helped comprise the 2000 volunteers from all over that went door to door all around the state to help generate caucus votes for their candidate. Mostly, she said, there were lots of college students and empty nesters who joined in this huge 9 day effort.
People survived the extremely cold weather on "potato chips and no sleep" she noted. When they stopped at a grocery store to pick up some lunch, owners would say things like, "He's my guy. I have to work but my wife and daughter will be there." Iowans were exceptionally friendly and pleasant which helped to make the wintry exploit so positive.
Communication between all was facilitated by laptops and cellphones and lots of text messaging. Volunteers would tell each other, "It's looking good in Des Moines," etc. News broadcasts corroborated the info the volunteers themselves were gleaning.
Campaign workers, mostly in their 20's instructed the volunteers re the do's and don'ts of campaigning. They were given advance warnings and told to bring plenty of warm clothing and flashlights to assist in looking for house numbers in the dark. Nevertheless Doug fought a wet sock battle throughout.
Above is a picture of Susan as participant wearing socks over her mittens.
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