I had to go home and take a rest.  I’m tired and it’s hot.  I'm driving back to headquarters now and I really don't want to do no more canvassing but, I’ll do whatever they want me to do.

I'm hearing that Senator Obama's only up five percent--but that came from Tom Joyner and I'm not listening to him anymore.  He said this morning that if you were unaffiliated or independent, then you couldn’t’ vote today. That's DEAD WRONG.

In North Carolina, you can pick which primary you want to be in if you’re Independent.  Someone had to email him and correct him. 

I'm hearing that in heavily concentrated black areas that people are coming out.  It's hard to tell if white folk are coming out but I haven’t been out to the polls.  I've been hitting the neighborhoods. 

In the white neighborhoods. I hear that you can walk in and out pretty easy at the polling stations.  But in the black neighborhoods, the flow of people is supposed to be pretty steady. 

I've got tickets to go to the big celebration tonight at NC State but I'm gonna be in the corner 'sleep.

After NC State--when we win!--we’ll hit downtown.  I’m just gonna be an onlooker because I’m running out of steam.  I've got to get back to work tomorrow. 

I've been out canvassing all morning.

We went to Knightdale, one of the biggest precincts in Raleigh, whose demographics represent North Carolina pretty good.  About 500 voters showed up at 10:30am.  Of that number, there were about 150 Republicans.  I don't know who they voted for--Hillary or Barack.  The rest were Democrats and roughly 75% were African-Americans.

I took off from both my jobs to canvas yesterday and today.  Sunday, I worked the phone bank.

Right now, we're driving to another main street, Windjammer, that's in our precinct.  We're gonna be out here all day.

I’m a 39-year-old born and bred North Carolinian and I’m having the time of my life!

I canvassed and phone-banked for Barack Obama yesterday and it was beautiful to see so many African Americans out volunteering from all over the east coast - not just North Carolina - including several of my sorority sisters (ooo-ooop!).

This year Black North Carolinians really had to research the issues and not just vote because someone is the wife of a former President. It is no longer that easy to get the 'black-vote'.

Take my parents.  Initially, they were voting for Hillary because they wanted Bill back in office.  All I had to do was mention NAFTA [the North American Free Trade Agreement pushed through during the Clinton Administration] and my mother started researching the issues herself. My father finally got on board this past weekend. 

One reason I support Senator Obama is because I believe he will repair the problem that NAFTA started.  My mother was laid off after working 24 years at Black & Decker.  Her plant was basically moved to Mexico. She was given the option of moving to Jackson, Tennessee where my aunt, uncle and cousin had to relocate and leave their extended family. Investing in US manufacturing and job creation will help our economy tremendously.  Most importantly, Senator Obama has a sensible and believable plan to bring our troops home and help restore order to Iraq. 

I have phone-banked several times for the Obama campaign, canvassed neighborhoods five or six times for up to six hours at a time, helped usher, attended three rallies and most importantly BOTHERED the heck out of my friends with email blasts!

After learning the facts, voting for Senator Obama was a no-brainer for most people my age and younger.  My concern was getting them out to volunteer and helping to get others to vote.

My friend, Toni, registered a woman in her late 80's to vote for the first time and drove her to the polls to Early Vote. 

Another friend, John Coburn, encouraged me to volunteer every free moment that I had. He'd say, "You have to do this! Everyone counts!" We worked together to find voter registration and felony voting rights information to send out in email blasts, canvas and phone-bank.

Every time I registered former felons who didn't know they could vote, I felt like I was making a difference. I couldn't get all my friends to canvas, but they were involved … from pats on the back, volunteering between two jobs, forwarding my emails and driving their relatives to the polls in rural areas.

I am so proud of my friends and the new friends I have met.   We are 'FIRED UP and READY TO GO!”
 

Stephanie Cogdell is a graduate of NC State University, a Duke University employee, proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and a mentor for Durham Partners for Youth.  She's on her way to Barack the Vote!