I lived in northeastern Missouri for 23 years before moving up to Illinois last year (I'm now in Hastert's old district which elected democratic Bill Foster last March.) This past weekend I decided to visit my old stomping grounds and do some canvassing and I am FIRED UP AND READY TO GO!

The Obama campaign sent me to Bowling Green in Pike County. I wasn't sure what to expect, but assumed I'd get at least a good clump of McCain supporters (When I canvassed for McCaskill in 2006, I got several who were supporting her Republican opponent.) BUT -- of the 75 houses I went to, there were only two -- TWO -- who were supporting McCain,and only one of them said so out loud. The other one told me they had decided who to vote for but didn't wish to tell me, so I'm assuming McCain on that one.

I talked to lots of people who were still "undecided," many of whom had absolutely no knowledge of anything on either candidate but were planning on voting in November because "we need change." They knew that much. They were ALL receptive to me. I told them why I was supporting Obama and just gave them basic info that we all have at our fingertips, and many of them ended up saying that they thought they might be leaning toward Obama and thanked me for stopping by. It was just AWESOME. Now I know some here think Obama has done overkill on the "McCain is third term of Bush" meme, but it is definitely working. Many of these folks who don't follow politics like we do told me they didn't like McCain because he would just be another one like Bush -- and that was the extent of their knowledge of the election.

One thing that I think helped me with these undecided is that I'm a 55 year old white woman, and I think most people there had the impression that only college kids and African Americans are for Obama, so they were surprised to see me and consequently curious about why I was supporting him.

Some stories:

One house there was a little old lady in her 70's, very sweet looking, who started out saying, "Well now, I don't have anything against black folks..." (and I thought, "Here we go"), and then continued, "I like that Obama fellow. He seems like a nice young man with a nice wife and family. And we need someone different than that GODDAM Bush." I picked up my jaw as she then went on a rant about how "that Bush" had just ruined this country, and McCain was just like him and too old to be running for president. It was a thing of beauty.

Another house the couple was sitting outside and the wife was on the list but not the husband. She said she was voting for Obama, but the husband belligerently told me he was voting for McCain so there. Then he started quizzing me about stuff that "proved" Obama was a slippery character, which I was able to counter and then give him the scoop on McCain's "slipperiness," always remaining polite. After about a five minute back and forth he suddenly began smiling and said, "You know, I'm actually voting for Obama. I just wanted to see if you knew your stuff. Where do I go to volunteer?"

It was just a fantastic experience. I'm going back in two weeks to do some more.