• Making telephone calls - polite inquires about voter preferences
• Canvassing - door-to-door queries about the same
• Contributions - accepting any that come through the door and supplying merchandise when people want signs and buttons
• Data entry - keeping statistics on all activities

And then: the Republican convention threw a wrench in the works by nominating Palin as the candidate for Vice-President.  It took the Obama campaign about 3 nano-seconds to decide that Alaska was a lost cause (although it took them longer than that to tell us). So our organizer, Saumya, has been transferred elsewhere and we are currently in limbo.

Sustainability cruise - Another awareness/fundraising activity by Kat and Steve Haber, in this case a cruise across Kachemak Bay to Stillpoint Lodge.  We had rotten weather going over but the lodge was warm and cozy, the food from Sourdough Express outstanding and entertainment by the The Palpitations was hilarious.

Limbo - The beginning of the week was consumed with communicating with the Obama office in Anchorage to understand the campaign's plan with regard to Alaska in general and Homer/District 35 in particular.  By the end of week it became clear that the office has been turned over to the Alaska Democratic Party to push for the election of Democratic candidates for the US Senate and House and local offices, Saumya is in Nevada and we have the option to share offices with the other candidates.  Obama reduced the funding for offices in Alaska from 11 to 3, and we are not one of the 3.  The new organizer and some local volunteers decide to seek a new office and raise funds to support it.

Yantzse river talk - And on the personal side the local theater is showing documentaries all week and one of them happened to be about the Yantzse River that we visited in 2001.  So a phone call later we have signed up to give a 5-minute introductory slide show before the documentary.  It was fun and went over well.
 

Berkowitz fundraiser - And speaking of funds, this is the season as Alan & MindyParks jump in and provide a forum for Berkowitz to explain his positions and ask people to contribute.  We have never been to any political fundraisers in our lives before, and now they seem to come out of the woodwork.

Anchorage trip - And we take out a couple of days to have Bob get a follow-on exam in Anchorage (we scheduled a PET scan in October) and collect as many Obama artifacts as we can since we find there appears to be a high demand for yard signs, bumper stickers, and buttons of all kinds.