"Hello, My name is Dave and I am a volunteer calling to remind you to vote for Republicans Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker for U.S. Senate. And just wanted to remind you that Tuesday, November 4th is election day and we hope you remember to go out and vote. Thanks!"









Hanging out at Michael's Night Club at the Best Western Motel. So sketch! But a great time. We had to wait for them to stop playing country music so that we could dance! We love our LNDP's!





Hands down this was the best costume of the night. We made several attemps at getting this picture before we got it right. But I am sure Borat loved every minute of it. Nice swimmer dude. Very nice.









Day one of door knocking and lit dropping, this is our grizzled verteran Dave showing us how it is done. On later trips, we were definitely chased by dogs and had some real winners open the door. Adam was especially fond of the lady in her panties. Tracy and i were afraid for our lives of the men who were stumbling home from the fishing hole with their nearly empty bottles of Wild Turkey. Yikes!


After working hard we decided that is was time to play. We had been trying for a while to go to a Maize Maze and alas....we found one!








Apparently I thought that it would be a good idea to order the large daiquiri (45 oz!!!) Kristen got one, too, and when we asked the waiter if there was any liquor in it, he came over with a couple glasses of rum that he poured right in...




While getting in cab...

Kristen: "What are you doing with that?"
Tracy: "Drinking it..."

Guess she hasn't heard of to-go cups.




Once Kristen hit the dance floor, there was no stopping her. Here she is trying to learn a line dance. She's in Mississippi, afterall.










This picture came about after we discussed Tracy's true blogging intentions, although specific dialogue/reasons for the pic have been forgotten.

Only one comment comes to mind...

Tracy: "Why are we flicking off Jarrett?"








Kristen has just won $65 and she's ready to buy everyone drinks. However, we may be having an A&E Intervention in the near future if she keeps gambling this way.

















Hmmm...Are we missing someone from this dance party?









The Mississippi crew enjoying the coast on a beautiful day. Jealous?






A few of us with the Senator. It was nice getting to meet the man we had worked so hard for the past few days. Now it's time to watch the results...hope he wins!!! Especially in the counties around Gulfport...

Once upon a time in methland...

Understanding the nature of the Republican position in 2008, we find ourselves in the last redoubt of Republicanism. During Day Two, we encountered a colorful cast of characters. From half-dressed housewives (yes, one lady did answer her door pantsless) to shit-happy dogs. (Story: as Trace and I were leaving one of the houses, this dog ran out in front of us and proceeded to look back, practically with a grin, and start pooping right in front of us. We imagined him saying, "F yo campaign!!!!")
Dave, Bry, Tracy, and I had split up from the others to do our door knocking (we hit 112 houses), but when we couldn't find anymore of the houses on our walk lists, we headed to the maize maze. They made it especially challenging this year, so only 77 people have conquered it...until we showed up. Say hello to numbers 78, 79, 80, and 81. We even completed the maze without taking any cheap shortcuts, thanks to Bryana and Dave's corn copping. We realized that we would only have been cheating ourselves.
In celebration of Kristen's 24th birthday, we all went to Los Tres Amigos for dinner, or in Bry and Kristen's case, a 45 oz daiquiri. We were impressed that they were still alive and ready for the casinos in Biloxi. All I can recall from that experience is that Kristen won $65, Hobart lost $25, and the rest of us had LNDP. Pictures to come back in DC.


Moving on to day three...

Attended an art festival to hand out lit and "Wicker Stickers" (people got a kick out of that one and even asked Tracy if she had come up with it all on her own...hmmm). The Senator (the real Senator) actually came out to the event, which was cool. I'm convinced we made a real difference here...
Then it was off to do some more door knocking. I don't know about you guys in Ohio, but it definitely seemed like the houses we would start off at would be decent, but then they would become more and more sketchy as we went along. Dave and I dropped Bry and Tracy off at one street where we probably should not have dropped them off...we all stuck together after that.

Taking it easy for the rest of the night. We are all exhausted. We head back tomorrow, but we're getting in a few more hours of dialing and sign waving. I've realized that 3 days of campaigning is plenty for me. It definitely sucks that you guys still have a couple more to go...hang in there. See you back in VA.

Alright. Alright. I know everyone's dying to know what we have to say about Jarrett...I will simply say that we ran into Clemson's Women's soccer team in the airport (see below)Thank you to Kristen Mc-effing-Donough for approaching these ladies and asking them if they happened to know a Jarrett Lewis? Clemson soccer?

The girls' response, "Jarrett who?"

So Jarrett, who are you? Really?

Feeling the pain of the phone centers...

We arrived in Gulfport after a rather uneventful flight over the beautiful Gulf Coast. Beaches as far as the eye could see. Imagining ourselves lying out soaking up the rays and apparently the girls imagining Dave running down the beach ala Baywatch.

Hertz was more than kind to provide us with brand new Mazda Tributes to cruise the strip. With the ladies hanging out the windows. "Holla!"



Once checked into the hotel (a Comfort Inn--that has a make your own waffle station, no less), we headed over to Wicker campaign HQ. They quickly ushered us into their call center--we were apparently their only volunteers this evening. Quick highlights as we decide where we want to grace Gulfport with our presence...

1. Adam decided to use fake names because his was not good enough.
2. Bry was such a good caller one voter decided she needed to flush her toilet to voice her displeasure.
3. The two times Bry actually made a successful call (to an actual Wicker voter), she was sure to make the entire room know--and anyone who was on a call with one of us as well (it was only us).
4. Kristen was able to successfully mask her Boston accent even though Roger Wicker may be the most difficult name in the English language for a Bostonian to pronounce properly (apologies to Nomar Garciaparra).
5. Kristen even found a McDonough in Gulfport--unfortunately the phone number was disconnected. Nevertheless, she proved the obstinacy of POSers and continued to dial on the number hoping her long lost relative would answer.
6. Me you ask? The most eventful thing I did was stand up and talk to people. I kept wanting to make phone center/PD jokes, but then I realized that no one there would have gotten them.
7. Since we are in Mississippi (God bless the South), halfway through dialing, the campaign staff was more than happy to provide us with quality beverages (no whiskey to be had, however).


8. Hobart is happy to be here and wishes that Jarrett would learn how time zones work.
9. Zaxby's is delicious and the first Southern restaurant to be crossed off my list (Waffle House, you are next. Hopefully before I go to bed.).

Houston, we have a a problem

We are sitting in george bush in houston so we made it through the first part of the trip, but not without a couple kinks in the machinery...dave forgot to keep his boarding pass out while going through security, so the entire line had to wait while the people brought every item back through the scanner. This is especially funny because Dave was the one taking charge and telling everyone where we needed to go...way to go grizzled veteran.
Once we arrive in Houston, we were q'd up with some not so amicable texans to take a shuttle to the next terminal. Very ass backwards if you ask me. The Senator and trace face were almost separated from the group at this point because there wasn't enough room. The Senator would not stand for this, so needless to say they got to go with the others afterall. Yay!!! Our flight is now boarding for Biloxi...we'll let y'all know if we win big at the casinos.

P.S.-more to come about the "infamous" Jarrett Lewis

I packed my bathing suit

Top priorities after getting the word about Wicker out on the streets -

1. Tricking AND treating - ourselves to drinks
2. Sonic Drive thru
3. Maize Maze part II (thanks Dave Dog)
4. Beach (maybe just for a look; 75 degrees isnt THAT warm)

We will send pics of us in costumes later on!

Let the posts begin

Those of us heading down to Gulfport have enjoyed the posts from Cincinnati so much that we figured our friends on the Chabot trail might want to check in on the Wicker crowd.

We are leaving the office at 11:00 for a 12:30 flight out of Reagan
Short layover in Houston (praying all goes smoothly here)
ETA in Gulfport is 5:14

We're planning to check in to the hotel then head over to HQ. We may or may not be handing out fliers at some high school football games...
All I know is that we will be locating the nearest Sonic/Chick-fil-a as soon as possible.

Later tonight, I will be getting into costume (Happy Halloween, btw) and trying to convince everyone else that you only live once, and venturing out in Gulfport, MS could be worthwhile.

Stay tuned, Ohio. And stay warm.