By DAVID MARTIN
Obama volunteer Jonathan Sheffi stood near the bar of the Midland theater, a hard-earned drink in hand, as victory approached Tuesday night. Earlier in the day, Sheffi had served as a polling-place captain at Immanuel Lutheran Church in midtown, where a mix-up delayed the delivery of voter rolls until 8 a.m., two hours after polls officially opened.
The wrong books arrived at three polling locations in the Fifth Ward. The mistake thwarted those who had risen early to cast their ballots. Sheffi says the longest line formed outside Immanuel Lutheran. "We had about 400 voters waiting," he says.
Sheffi handed out water bottles and tried to keep voters apprised. "A lot of people were really angry," he says. "But one of the things that I think helped a lot is we informed them that our lawyers went before the Jackson County Election Board to petition for additional voting hours. We did not get them. But when people knew that the Obama campaign was stepping up for them, they were determined to stay there."
The line thinned out between 11 a.m. and noon. By day's end, 74 percent of precinct's registered voters cast ballots -- a solid number under the circumstances. Sheffi says Obama received 82 percent of the votes that were cast.
A drug rep who lives in Portland, Oregon, Sheffi came to Kansas City on something of a lark. "I was sitting at home on Friday night, and I realized that I wanted Missouri to go blue," he says. "I wanted to help out."
So he sent a text to a college friend, asking if he could crash on her couch.
"I used up a whole bunch of frequent-flier miles, and I was canvassing by Saturday afternoon, phone-banking on Sunday and training to be a poll-place captain on Monday."
Sheffi says he asked to be assigned to a large polling site. He wanted a challenge, and he got one.
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Constructing a Mosque at Ground Zero has to be the bizzare plot within the history of humanity, I earnestly think it's purposely designed, at very best, to insight controversy. I'm not much a conspiracy theorist only this really is possibly shameful or hateful, conceivably both of them. vickie
Unlike (the)fucktard, I read more than one blog a day, so it really does make a difference.
guz, if you can tell me what �my party� is, I would appreciate it. I haven�t recognized them for some time what with the swelling government, torture, etc. So, whatever fucked up big time, it isn�t mine, but methinks we all stand to benefit from it being gone.
And, d00d, if someone whines about having to click on links�well, that is pretty elitist, don�t you think? I just want to mess with them by making them have to type Village Voice, and then search Ted Nugent. What�s so wrong with that? Especially since doing so leads to a tremendously entertaining interview; assuming doing so isn�t too much of a peeve.
hey trevor, settle down. just cause your party fucked up big time doesnt mean rss people are elitists!
I see the elitists are out in force. So, here's a big Ted Nugent FUCK YOU* to DLChimpo.
* I reference The Pitch's sister paper The Village Voice and their interview with Ted Nugent to even go further off topic and piss in the caviar of the DLChimpo-elite of the world.
i thought the great pet peeve of the blogosphere was trevor!! i joke, man. I hope you make it through the 4 years of change, you nut!
Agreed, Chimpo. The Plog has (perhaps unwittingly) stumbled upon the great pet peeve of the blogosphere.
Completely off topic, what the hell is up with the truncated feed posts? Continue reading? Thanks to that, I'll probably end up reading way less of this site's content.
I awake today with what it must feel like to get chloroform-prison-raped. Sorta like a surreal mist with a massive headache, and antagonizing pain in my special places. I remember a REAL concession speech whereby the defeat was accepted, not blaming others, and offering honest congrats to the opponent. I also remember a buzz word salad of an acceptance speech�sounded like a Cordish or Sprint CEO with a scripted speech�something with stage notes like [pause for effect] and [stop until congregation repeats your last words].
Alas, I am happy that I don�t think I heard, �political capital�, �100 days�, or �mandate�. Do I dare hope that the new guy doesn�t follow Bush and Pelosi in a divide and conquer strategy?
Well, Missouri is red and at least that means I win a lunch of chicken wings. But, because of my special place pain and losses in just about everything else, I had better order a non-spicy variety.
My congratulations to the echo chamber. I look forward to seeing how the next years turn out.
I also look forward to being on the attack rather than defense of the guy in office for a while.
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