Journal Your Campaign Volunteer Experiences for HuffPost's OffTheBus

Journal Your Campaign Volunteer Experiences for HuffPost's OffTheBus
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At HuffPost's OffTheBus, our specialty is covering the presidential campaign in new and exciting ways by having people on the ground write about their experiences. Today, James Camner, an antiquarian bookseller and appraiser, journaled his experiences as an Obama phonebanker dialing undecided voters in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. From his entry on OffTheBus:

"But the most effective response to an undecided voter, the one that always gets an 'I think I'm leaning to Obama,' is to mention Governor Sarah Palin. She's the magic bullet. I have not talked to a single person who has a favorable opinion of her, not even among McCain supporters. In going door-to-door in Pennsylvania (my weekend activity), bringing up Palin is always met with a furrowed brow and a troubled look. The typical comment I hear is, 'How could he have picked her? She really worries me!'"

From James we learn how voters targeted by the Obama campaign in a few northeastern states respond to Palin, but - more importantly - we get a glimpse of his life as a campaign volunteer. Think about what the mainstream media reveals to you about the campaigns -- fundraising figures, big hires, attack ads, policy changes, internal squabbling, polling numbers. Is that all there is? Shouldn't we know more about the experiences of modern supporters and activists, especially during an election cycle with record-breaking grassroots involvement and technological advancement?

That's where you, like James, come in. Would you journal your experiences once a week as a volunteer--for either the Obama or McCain campaign--for our HuffPost readers?

Sign up here to be a grassroots correspondent.

We'll follow up with guidelines for your first journal and instructions on getting a publishing account here at the Huffington Post.

We are NOT asking you to reveal campaign secrets with us. What we want is your story -- who you are, what you do, and what you learn from your time on the trail.

Not sure you've got what it takes? Read the rest of James' first entry, "Canvassers Use Palin as 'Magic Bullet' In Swaying N.J. And Pa Undecideds," to get a sense of what we're looking for.

Check out the full directory of journal entries from OffTheBus' Grassroots Correspondents.

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