Back Out On The Street

I hadn't been out pounding the pavement since the Thursday before Labour Day. Between preparing and printing my second round of campaign material, writing my Op/Ed pieces for the Spec and Bay Observer, sick days and wasp stings, there just wasn't any time!

Today, after sending out the above mentioned articles for publication, I loaded up a tote with my new rack cards and hit the road. It's hard to believe it's been nearly two months since the start of my first Big Walk.

Remember these?

It turns out that I really missed canvassing! The first round was great exercise too. I'm not a very big person to begin with but I've had to start wearing my belt one notch tighter this month. Wow!

It was such a glorious September day that the walk really was fun. The first people I ran into just happened to be the very first people I met when I did my first round of canvassing. They were out building a garden shed so we had some fun making by-law jokes. Municipal humour, who knew?

From a purely technical point of view, the rack cards generally suit people's enormous mailboxes better than my original postcards, which would get sort of swallowed up by some of the deep vertical models.

General election awareness is also much better two months on - partly because of the circus going on in Toronto and partly because coverage is getting more intense with only six weeks to go. People have a much less quizzical look on their faces as I walk up the driveway.

General confusion about why I'd be out campaigning in the sun and the heat has been replaced with a genuine desire to learn more and ask some tough questions. I wouldn't trade my first round of canvassing for anything though. I learned a lot about myself and about Dundas in that time. It was invaluable.

They say that elections aren't won from behind a desk and it was great to finally get back out there today!