Ben's Best Referral

Making phone calls is an important part of any campaign. In fact, reaching out and establishing a conversation is fundamental to any human relationship; whether it be between two ordinary people or between a campaign and the electorate.

One enduring truism of politics, in all its forms and phases, is that nothing happens until someone makes a phone call.

And I’ve made my share. For over a month I’ve been punching a dial pad and repeating a message that begins, “Hello, I’m George Pence, and I’m a volunteer with the ‘Ben McAdams campaign’...”

I’ve repeated that thousands of times, so it’s easy to become inured to the routine. It’s also easy for the person I’m calling to feel like they’re less important than my objective.

In the middle of phone canvassing yesterday a pleasant woman in a tie dye shirt came in and sat down next to me. She booted up her list, picked up the telephone and began making calls.

She was marvelous.

She was enthusiastically pleasant, and her presentation was informed by what was being said on the other end. Not simply intent on achieving a result, she was as eager to listen as she was to talk. And when she talked she communicated the joy and heart at the core of our campaign.

It occurred to me that these calls we’re making are not just about getting someone to do something. They are a chance to briefly put someone in the company of our campaign. For a moment they can appreciate the quality of what we’re about, and experience the quality of the people who are doing it.

Whether whom this woman called was able to volunteer didn’t seem to matter so much as the impression she left at the end of the call. They knew they had been in the company of a good, gracious and intelligent woman happily convinced of what she was doing.

And finally, what better referral could Ben hope for?