8/7/2019 Political Columns: Pressing the Flesh

1/4

8/7/2019 Political Columns: Pressing the Flesh

2/4

P R E S S I N G T H E F L E S H 37

P R E S S I N G T H E F L E S H

V I T A L PA R T O F C A M P A I G N I N G

Ive had the privilege of knocking on manythousands of doors with winning and losing

candidates. Best practices include: getting people

to actually open the door; getting candidates to

disengage in a long conversation; and covering

lots of real estate quickly.

In a tall building, I watch the candidate at the last

door on a floor. As the conversation is windingdown, I run down the stairs to the next floor and

take the chance of knocking on the first two doors

across the hall from each other. I assume one person

is out and Ill get one live body for my trouble. I

proceed in the same way down the hall as the

candidate arrives on this new floor.

Street campaigning presents different challenges.The principle is still to charge through lots of real

estate and get live bodies at the door. I try to hop

ahead of the candidate and like at least two teams

of two going down each side of the street. But

canvassers have to avoid walking on peoples lawns

or interrupting lawn or car care.

One joke among political canvassers is that the

average person in an apartment takes his or her

36

8/7/2019 Political Columns: Pressing the Flesh

3/4

8/7/2019 Political Columns: Pressing the Flesh

4/4