"Hello, Ms. Smith, my name is John, and I am a volunteer with the Arizona Democratic Party from the West Valley Office. Do you have a minute to answer a few questions regarding the upcoming elections?"
This is what you will hear day in and day out ringing off the walls of the West Valley Democratic Headquarters. The Arizona Democratic Party is in full campaign mode, and no doubt you will feel it when you walk into a room of enthused volunteers at the party's West Valley branch. Over the past couple months, numbers of volunteers have been donating their time to the West Valley Democratic Headquarters to introduce themselves to registered Democratic voters and rile up support for our candidates.
We all know that the Democrats have an exciting election year ahead nationally, but many voters are not clued into what is happening in local politics. It is our job as passionate Democrats to convey the knowledge that Arizona is not so red as many believe it to be. In fact, for the first time in 44 years, the Democrats have a real shot at taking the Arizona State Legislature. We only have four seats left to turn the Senate blue, and no doubt we can fill them. In order for this to happen, however, we need to be the voice of our candidates. Voter-to-voter contact methods such as phone banking and neighborhood canvassing are some of the best ways we can reach our voters before election time.
Thus far, the West Valley Democrats have made approximately 25% of the phone calls in the entire state of Arizona; we are very proud of this number and are diligently working to keep up that momentum. Our ideal goal would be to contact every registered low-efficacy Democrat in the western region before the elections, ensuring that each voter has candidate name recognition and easy access to voting via permanent early voting ballots. This voting method gives Democrats the luxury of voting from their homes and avoiding the poll lines. Statistically this has been determined to be the most effective way for Democrats to vote.
We have a big job to do to get our Democrats elected, but smart work goes a long way. You can begin by giving your local headquarters a call at (623) 249-7407 to find out specifically how you can get involved. And mark your calendars for August 28, 2008! The West Valley Democratic Headquarters will have a Convention Watching Party all day to support our Presidential nominee. Thank you for your Democratic vote, and the West Valley Democrats look forward to having you on board the coordinated campaign

Since being involved with the Obama campaign and now the Democratic Party, I have made well over 1000 phone calls. To be honest, it's probably closer to 2000. When I first started making calls, I called from the Obama campaign headquarters. At first, I was really nervous. I would stumble and stutter and come away from the call wishing I had said something different. Phone banking is hard. You make many calls, sometimes you don't get many people who are willing to talk, and sometimes you get an angry person. For the most part, I can say out of all the calls I've made I've only had about 5 people who were "difficult".
What makes phone banking worthwhile, what is really uplifting is when you can talk to someone and discuss the issues that concern them. People want to know and understand what's happening. They have questions. I try to talk to them like I was talking to a friend or family member. I try to make the call more personal. I feel by talking to people and answering questions they may have, I'm making a difference. If I can help one person understand, hopefully they'll talk to their friends and help them understand. By making contact with people, I feel I'm making a difference, one person at a time.