During an election season, there are a lot of things that supporters can do for their candidates.\u00a0 Give money, of course.\u00a0 Distribute literature door-to-door.\u00a0 Stuff envelopes, fold letters, glue stamps, run to the Post Office.\u00a0 Answer phones.\u00a0 But perhaps the most unpopular job, and one that few people enjoy, is phone canvassing.<\/p>\n

There you sit with your cell phone in hand, in a cramped office with other callers, looking at a list printed in 8-point type.\u00a0 Most often, your call will be answered by a machine.\u00a0 When a real live person does pick up, you will get either (a) someone nice; (b) someone rude; or (c) someone who hangs up on you.<\/p>\n

After several phone canvassing sessions for a candidate for state representative, I\u2019ve discovered that there is another option.\u00a0 With a little bit of luck, you may actually call (d) someone funny.<\/p>\n

Not that everyone in this category intends to be funny; some are simply ludicrous.\u00a0 Following are some responses to calls asking for support for my Democratic state senator:<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, well, I\u2019ll vote for her.\u00a0 I like her hair better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voter:\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m so sorry, I\u2019m a Republican.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canvasser:\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m so sorry, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

From an answering machine:\u00a0 \u201cLeave a message and I\u2019ll call you back…unless you are a Republican.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh. I\u2019m voting for Claire McCaskill.\u201d\u00a0 (Right party; wrong race)<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you know that adults don\u2019t care about this stuff?\u201d<\/p>\n

And this, my personal favorite and candidate for the most appalling response.\u00a0 The phone was answered by a prominent and wealthy woman, whose name would be immediately recognized in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, my husband handles all our votes.\u00a0 You know, he owns XXXXX\u201d (well-known company with local headquarters).<\/p>\n

On a personal note:\u00a0 I\u2019m against all the current efforts to implement Voter ID laws.\u00a0 But I might re-think a Voter IQ effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During an election season, there are a lot of things that supporters can do for their candidates.\u00a0 Give money, of course.\u00a0 Distribute literature door-to-door.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":18263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1176,162,476],"tags":[229,956],"yoast_head":"\n