7:59am Oct 30 2014

Past 6 weeks I've given money to Senate races that are neck & neck, according to the Daily Kos Election Outlook.

As a result of this information, in the Senate races I've been backing Ms. Nunn in Georgia, Tom Udall in Colorado, Braley in Iowa, Begich in Alaska, Hagan in North Carolina. I would like to back Greg Orman in Kansas but he does not accept PayPal.

Just now got a mass emailing from Bernie Sanders urging support of Tom Udall in Colorado. Anyone Bernie supports is someone worthy of extra consideration. So 50% of my future donations are going to Udall.

My wife has been bugging me to do more, so I am now going to join a phone bank, to make calls targeted at states where the candidates are neck and neck.

Personally if I had my druthers I would ruther avoid cold calling and rely on calling folks I know, aided by a good phone script to avoid getting trapped in an overly long conversation without sounding rushed or rude.

I think I should focus a lot on voice, aiming for an attractive deep and sonorous voice talking slow with well chosen words not like reading from a script. I can do various accents and I will have fun trying them out.

I expect I will be assigned some phone scripts. I think I will first concoct a script which I myself would be comfortable in delivering, before scripts are assigned to me. That way I'll have a fallback to try if the scripts assigned do not work well for me. I mean, I will be obedient and first try whatever is assigned, and if it works, will keep using it. If it does not work well, I will work with the following draft script.

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Here is my first cut at a script I think I would be comfortable with:

“Hello – (talk slow in a quiet and deep voice and a bit hesitant as though not reading from a script)... I'm Ee-jay Heinemann and I'm an unpaid volunteer -uhhh – trying to get out the vote –ummm -- for candidates who support a raise in the minimum wage. Can I ask you --- er---- What's [strong]your [/strong]most important issue ?

[GIVE THEM TIME TO ANSWER; MAKE NOISES LIKE -”Uh huh” to show you are listening to them; if they say something you agree with say Yeah” “I totally agree” etc.. or, if you don't agree, stay quiet.]

[IF THEY ARE CLEARLY NOT GOING TO VOTE DEMOCRATIC, hang up with a polite exit line like “Thanks very much for your time”]

[OTHERWISE SAY] “You told me [strong]your[/strong] most important issue is ___. I happen to agree strongly with this, and really hope that you have already voted or that you plan to vote on election day. (If says is not registered, record this fact for possible follow up, or go into a spiel encouraging person to register).

END STATEMENT: “Both you and I know that one single vote usually does not make a difference, but sometimes an election is decided by just a few hundred votes, in which case your vote might mean a lot. This particular election for Senate is very close. If you can persuade some of your friends to vote, and persuade them to persuade their friends, it might make a huge difference... so I hope you will find the time to make your voice heard, and the voices of people who feel the same way you do.”

ABOVE ALL: DO NOT GABBLE OR RUSH.. THAT IS SUCH A TURNOFF

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NUGGETS ?

[IF MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IS TAXES: Everyone likes to pay less tax, but most of the big tax breaks have gone to people who already have huge incomes. I bet that your income tax break has not been more than $500.... Problem with tax cuts is you have to fire people. Republicans cannot lower taxes any more ... without damaging the american economy.. ]

[VOTE FOR PARTY, NOT FOR CANDIDATE: I don't know whether you'll agree with this, but in my opinion, too many people vote for the candidate, and not for the party. Personally I vote for people who support things I believe in. If they are incumbent I look at their voting record in congress. ]

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--------END OF SECTION BEGUN AT 7:59 AM OCT 30

TO DO NEXT: Call and volunteer for a phone bank. Report to Kossacks what happens next.