A Dollar And A Dream

Feeling Nervous

The excitement builds on the day before the election.

I just heard on the television news that 30 million Americans have already voted. Unfortunately there are already reports of voting problems at the polls because of such an unprecedented turnout.

Download obama_supporter.pdf

One thing I keep noticing over and over again is how much people have changed during this election. Republicans have changed parties. People who have voted Republican all their lives are now voting for Obama. And people who've never been involved in politics are now canvassing on the streets, knocking on doors. Some are even taking the day off work tomorrow to do last minute 'Get Out The Vote' activities.

Among Obama supporters a common verbalised fear I've heard is, if Obama does not win the White House what will be the fate of these newly mobillised voters? Where will their energy and hope for change be channelled?

Malcolm's colleague Lewis, who works at the Electoral Reform Society in London, joined us on our first few days in Ohio. He wore a Bill Clinton mask on our 'Trick or Vote' adventure and joined us on our road trip to Kentucky on Saturday. Malcolm was interested in finding out how evident the election was in that neighbouring state since they don't have nearly as many electoral votes as Ohio (21 for Ohio, 8 for Kentucky).

Lewis was kind enough to spare a few minutes to talk to me about political parties before he continued his election journey to New York and then to D.C.

Obama in Cincinnati

Any day that begins at an American pancake house and ends with burritos cannot be too bad. I shot a lot of footage of Malcolm's pancake experience and hope this will make a nice small scene in the documentary. Our waitress Susie was a willing participant in the filming and even shared with us why she has already voted for John McCain.

Sandwiched in between those two enormous meals was a stint of campaigning with Randy and Jodi and their son Solomon who Malcolm and I met on Halloween night. It was another beautiful day yesterday and we were out knocking on doors in T-shirts.

Then in the evening I went to my fourth political rally in less than a week. Last Tuesday I attended a John McCain Rally in Hershey, PA, and on the following day there was a Bill Clinton Rally in Harrisburg, PA. I saw Hillary Clinton on Friday in Cincinnati and finally, last night I saw Obama at the football stadium of the University of Cincinnati. He was making a whirlwind tour through the Buckeye State, having started the morning in Columbus, then carrying onto Cleveland, and finally walking on stage in the stadium last night around 9:45 pm.

As Malcolm (the British political activist I am following in Ohio) and I stood in the line/queue for Obama last evening, I did a bit more talking to people to find out why they were there and what they were thinking about this election. I'm posting all of the audio and visual on a separate page which you'll find in the right hand column of this blog.

I've already posted an excerpt of the Hillary Rally in the post below but yesterday I realised I had taken still photographs too. It's been a bit of a struggle to balance the still camera, the video camera, and the digital recorder at events and a bit of a struggle to keep on top of all the images and sounds I collect throughout the day. My friend Rey in New York who follows the blog regularly (thank you, Rey!) met the documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles in New York a few weeks ago. When he told him of this election film, Albert asked if I had already found a cameraman. I had done - myself - but this was only because there is no funding for this project. Albert and I exchanged emails a few times last week but unfortunately I couldn't raise money in such a short time to bring him on board. So when I am loaded down with equipment and tripping over cables/leads, I've taken to asking myself 'Where in the world is Albert Maysles?'

You can see from these photographs that the Hillary Rally was small, and as Malcolm put it, it really was old style politics. I was able to take fairly good video of Hillary speaking because there were only a few hundred people in the Letter Carriers Hall in Cincinnati.

I interviewed this young girl Tanay who was standing outside the Letter Carriers Hall. She said she was supporting Obama because he was 'so nice and cute.'