I worked for a subgroup of Progressive Future, called Work for Progress. We registered voters right up until the Pennsylvania deadline, mainly by walking around public areas with high foot traffic and asking everyone we saw whether they were registered to vote at their current address. My second day on the job, they told me that they had just gotten a grant (I forget from whom), so we were now the Community Voters Project and were only going to approach African Americans. So. Interesting.
I could write lots and lots about my experiences registering voters in various Pittsburgh-area neighborhoods, and tell lots of funny stories, but I'm too tired. Sadly for me, although good news for progressives, Obama made it up high enough in the polls for the organization to fold up its Pittsburgh shop and move our directors to states where the race was tighter.
I was pretty much offered a job as a career staff member if I was willing to relocate until November 4th, but didn't end up pursuing that option. Too much uncertainty, and I hate moving, even if it would only be for 6 weeks. Also, campaign workers mostly do it for the love, not the money, unless you're a professional political hack way up the food chain. I'm not sure I could actually have covered living expenses on the salary they offered, not to mention my ridiculous hope of saving up something to help pay for tuition next semester.
So now it's back to the job hunt. I am currently waiting for an email from Etcetera Edutainment about whether they do, in fact, need C++ programmers for the short term. Contract work is tricky - I admire people who can live like that, but I don't think it's the lifestyle for me.
