Matt Entenza for Governor
Those who follow my blogs closely may recall me telling you that I was scheduled to volunteer on the phones at Matt Entenza's campaign office. I told his staffer Jason that I would do it because then Jason would quit talking a mile a minute. It was a good deal. I did it tonight from 4:30 til 7:00. What a great experience it was!
The minute I walked into that campaign office I felt a part of things. I was accepted. They were all glad to see me! I had met some of the people previously at various events. I felt so welcome! As some of my dear readers may have noticed, I've been way down in the dumps, off and on, for about a month. Being in Entenza's campaign office energized me and had me grinning from ear to ear again.
Entenza's campaign is motivational, enthusiastic and very, very informed about how a campaign should be run. I could see right away that this is a campaign that is going places. I now know that Matt Entenza has a very serious chance of winning the governorship.
Jason welcomed me right away. So did Doug, who is in my precinct in White Bear Lake. He's one of the best organizers in Minnesota, according to Jason. I believe him. There were also several other faces that I recognized. I have to hand it to these people for welcoming me so warmly. What a difference it made to me.
I did pretty darn good on the phone, too, in getting people to agree to come to Matt's event on Thursday afternoon. I've got a lot of years of sales experience in telemarketing, door-to-door, business-to-business and even hawking customers at the Minnesota State Fair for Encyclopaedia Britannica. I've been to a ton of motivational seminars and company sales trainings. The Entenza campaign in good to go on these sales techniques. After all, that's what a campaign is...selling the candidate to the voters.
Right before it was time for me to go home, Matt walked in from wherever he had been. He, too, welcomed me warmly and with great enthusiasm. He took some time to converse, too. I really appreciated that. How different that was from my previous experience of being involved in a campaign where they didn't even want my help and didn't acknowledge that I had anything good to offer. Now I feel human again. I feel valued. I feel included rather than excluded. I bet I'll go back and have this experience again. I'd love to go on the campaign trail with this campaign once or twice, too. The excitement of the Entenza Campaign is just what I needed! Thanks!
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Hi there! I'm glad you had fun and felt productive.
ReplyDeleteI TOLD YOU SO.
Ha. I had to say it.
He's really worked to be inclusive, and his staff listens, and responds.
Too bad he's no longer connected with MN2020.
I'm glad a helped them out tonight. It was a win-win encounter.
ReplyDeleteGreat job. I have a hard time giving kids from a different hockey association a dollar for a candy bar because I feel like I am being disloyal to my sons' hockey association. I'm curious, were you wearing your Mark Dayton button? Great post.
ReplyDeleteSteve, it was a difficult decision, but Dayton's campaign made it clear that they don't want me to volunteer. I previously told them that I was willing to help out with anything they needed. The Deputy Campaign Manager told me there was nothing for me to do. Shortly afterward I found out that there's all sorts of new volunteers. I feel very excluded. So no, I didn't wear my Dayton button. If the Dayton campaign doesn't want me, fine, because there are plenty of campaigns who do, such as Rybak, Entenza, Thissen and Kelliher.
ReplyDeleteP. S. I also offered to do a Meet and Greet in the community room at my apartment complex. The Dayton campaign doesn't seem interested in that, either. I have never before felt so hurt by a group of people. My association with the campaign started out excellent. Unfortunately, it's now a disaster. I still like Mark Dayton very much as a person, and have good feelings toward a few of the staffers that I got to know. I'll have to think more about this and what I'm going to do.
ReplyDeleteI cross posted this blog to MPP. Someone made a comment there. I'd like to include it here, along with my response:
ReplyDeleteSo, is it ofiicial that you are no longer supporting Dayton??? I know you have had a falling out of sorts with him, but does this act (volunteering for another campaign) confirm that he is no longer your choice?
by: lams712 @ Wed Mar 24, 2010 at 10:26:48 AM CDT
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My response:
Listen...
Mark Dayton has always been my #1 choice and he probably always will. I voted for him everytime he ran for anything. I've been a supporter of his for umpteen years. I even got dozens and dozens of other people to vote for him in each campaign that he ran. I will never say anything about Mark Dayton that is false or exaggerated or untrue. No need. He does enough things to himself that he doesn't need any help. He's his own worse enemy. I'm I've got some blogs in mind about that.
Now how do I feel about Mark Dayton? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I am so irritated with him. He and his campaign pretty much blew me off. They won't talk to me anymore. Apparently he is into cooking his own goose. He doesn't know what to do with anyone who butters his bread. He likes to look a gift horse in the mouth. I'm tempted to tell him to kiss my ass and make a wish (as they say in Southern Missouri).
I have been treated atrociously. I don't think he did it intentionally. Doesn't matter, because of my perception of it. He's such a dork, especially when it comes to Facebook.
Who am I going to vote for in the Primary? I'm on the verge of being undecided.
I might be his Waterloo. His Eleanor of Aquitaine. I'm so mad I could just spit!