Working the phone banks for Harry Mitchell

Rep. J.D. Hayworth, ranked one of the 10 biggest fools on the Hill by Radar Online and a big 'ol bully by the Arizona Republic newpaper.

Today I worked the phone banks for Harry Mitchell, the Democratic candidate running against J.D. Hayworth, the United States Congressman representing my district in Arizona. This is the second time I have volunteered to do this in the past two weeks and I have to be honest, it is not something I find easy to do. I don’t have a very thick skin and making cold calls to people in what has become a very close and contentious race has been a very heart-pounding, clammy-palms experience for me. After all, the polls pretty much dictate that I will have at least a 50% chance of connecting with a very nasty person and/or a phone being unceremoniously slammed down in my ear. But regardless of the small discomfort of it all, it was still well worth it.

This district has always been fairly Republican so up until now J.D. has never had to work very hard to hold on to the seat and his re-election has always pretty much been a foregone conclusion. But thankfully, that is not the case this time. About half the people in this district are either deliriously happy about the potential ouster of ol J.D. and fairly receptive to my call, or they are spittin mad and none too happy about my telephone invasion reminding them that their representative may be facing impending doom. Either way, each time I dialed the phone today it was a crap shoot.

I can say with reasonable certainty that I probably never ever would have stepped into the campaign headquarters of any politician running for office and volunteered had it not been for the Republican Party’s 2004 decision to use my son as the rallying cry to drag out every bigot, racist, and homophobe from the woodwork and get them to the polls and ultimately keep George Bush in office and the Republican Party in control of every aspect of government. But when the Republican party chose to target one of my children and put my family under their microscope for dissection and judgment for political gain, they targeted the wrong g*d damn family and they messed with the wrong g*d damn momma. I can’t do anything (yet) about the man who sits in the White House, but I can damn well do my part to oust one J.D. Hayworth, a man who has worn out his welcome and needs to go. And if pounding hearts and sweaty palms are the price I have to pay to get rid of him, then so be it. It’s a pretty small price to pay for such a huge payoff.

And oh, by the way, Harry Mitchell is one great guy. I would not be volunteering for his campaign if I did not think he was the right person for the job. I certainly don’t want to jump from the frying pan into the fire! But I did my homework and I truly believe that Harry Mitchell is the man who can best represent the people in our district. And I look so forward to feeling like my family and I matter again (and not as targets for bigotry). It has been so long since I truly felt any politician sincerely cared about my family and the families of this district. It will be such a welcome feeling to finally feel represented again.

And to all of those unbelievably dedicated volunteers in the office today, thank you so much! Your enthusiasm, optimism, and hopefulness was contagious and I can’t wait to come back for more…