peacocks and lilies

Digg the Declaration!

Wow, what an experience. It was way different than I expected, so let me tell you the story. I’ll try to keep it brief.

I live in a tiny little town called Jeffersonville, IN–population almost 30,000. But, it is right across the Ohio River from the very big town I was born in, and in which I lived for more than 20 years. I’ve lived many places in Louisville, KY, but I spent most of my adult time living in and near a little neighborhood called the Original Highlands. On the outskirts of that little neighborhood, on the corner of Barret Avenue and Breckinridge Street, stood the Louisville Democratic Headquarters for at least 15 years. I was intimately familiar with it, having shown up faithfully to volunteer for every election. It was staffed by a cadre of very kind ladies, mostly white and middle aged, but a couple of older ladies too, one white and one black. This is the neighborhood office I spoke of earlier. I thought it was neighborhood because I still expected it to be there, and I had gotten a Broadway address for the official Louisville Democratic Party Headquarters.

We found that little Barret Avenue office closed, recently renovated, and learned from a passerby that it had been closed for over a year. Disappointed, onward we charged, to the Broadway location. Nothing could have prepared me for what we found there. Just look for yourself. Here’s the huge and only sign identifying the place:

The place is an old camel-back shotgun house, one of the few houses still left on the business corridor that is Broadway these days, especially in that area. As you can see above, the place used to be a bar called Syl’s Lounge. When you peeked in the windows (the blinds were semi-open) you could see dusty tables and desks scattered, stacked with boxes of papers and strewn with old worn toys. It has not been touched in a month or more. Probably since the primary advertised in that sign, May 20. This is the Democratic Headquarters for the largest city in Kentucky, Louisville, population 1,000,000,000:

As you can see, we left the document anyway, just in case. I’ll definitely be thinking about this for a while, and maybe even trying to find out what happened to the Democratic Party in Louisville. I’ve been gone 8 long years, but I didn’t expect it to be that different.

But, ever one to turn a disappointment into an opportunity, my partner in crime declared he knew where John Yarmuth’s re-election campaign headquarters was. Hallelujah, we were back in business! Great idea to hit a Superdelegate. This was cool, because John Yarmuth, Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District Representative, was an early and emphatic supporter of Obama’s, declaring his endorsement on February 8th, nearly four months before Kentucky would even vote. This is also his first term, so he is particularly vulnerable. Here’s our work at his campaign office:

So, I dropped my partner off and he agreed to let me keep the camera so I could record one last good act on behalf of PUMA. Baron Hill. Baron Hill has been a particular disappointment for me, because I voted for him and I helped install him. Then he voted against S-CHIP. He has been, all around, a dependable Bush Dog Democrat. He has an office right in my town, and since we were hitting Superdelegates anyway, I figured why not. This one was trickier because his office is located basically right across the street from the Jeffersonville Police Department. Luckily there was a rather large bush strategically located to conceal what I was up to at the door. But I left it for him, and his staff will get the message loud and clear on Monday morning, as will Yarmuth’s obviously busy office. Some before pics from Baron Hill’s office:

And after:

So that’s it. It’s done. The Revolution has been locally downloaded. But I still have one of those spiffy posters left. I think I’ll snail mail it to Howard Dean tomorrow.

What about you? Got stories from your adventures? Did any of you actually even do it, or did I do this alone? It’s okay if I did, because it was really fun and the right thing to do. But I’d like to hear from others who may have gone out. Post your stories in comments.

Update: I’m getting some questions from people who also want to do this, and want a copy of the poster I made. Here’s what I told the good folks at Alegres place. Consider it a standing offer to the PUMA community:

This call to action can occur at ANYTIME, and I realized last night that supedelegate home offices are a brilliant tool for this.

As for a copy of the document I made, I will e-mail it to anyone who e-mails me at peacocksandlilies@gmail.com. Just request a copy in the body of the text, or simply write “Declaration Poster Copy” in the subject line, and I’ll shoot it right to you. This document is formatted for 11 x 17 size paper, which most printers can’t handle. I took a digital copy with me to the copy place (I took a cd copy and a copy on my flashdrive, just in case. CopyMax, UPS Store, & Kinkos I know all can do this for you in minutes. ). They popped my file open and had 3 copies printed in about 90 seconds. The copies cost me less than $6, and I got 6, total (three on legal size). This is citizen action on a budget!

If you can, don’t forget to take a picture of your effort for the video! You don’t have to be in the picture if you don’t want to be.