(De) Mystifying Phone Calls

It doesn't get any better than this:  You can support the Romney/Ryan ticket and not spend a single penny. (But if you want to send money to the campaign, by all means, please do!)

You can do this by making calls. From the comfort of your own home. In your favorite chair. In an environmentally controlled environment. At your leisure (but truth be told, please hurry up, sign up to make calls, and make a slew of them).

I know this sounds dreadfully boring and/or a bit intimidating. But hear me out.

Not only is making calls free, but it is a crucial way people living in solid blue or solid red states can support the campaign. Folks living in these states cannot sit back and say it's up to those who live in swing states. (A comment I've read on more than one occasion on conservative blogs.) It's up to all of us! And making calls from home is a fantastic way you can support the campaign no matter where you live.

I can hear some grumbling....

"I'm not comfortable making calls."

"I've never done that before. It doesn't seem like something I'd want to do."

"I don't know how it works."

I've had similar feelings. But I got past them and making calls on behalf of various campaigns is a centerpiece to my political activism. And I hope and pray it will become part of yours.

So let me demystify how it works. In a nutshell, it's as simple as lather, rinse, repeat.

You sign up at the campaign web site to volunteer and go to the section for making calls. (Some campaigns have it set up so you can go directly to making calls and the sign up will be in that section.) All the campaigns I've worked for use the same program which works like this:

• After you log on you will be linked to a system that lets you to make calls from home at no charge to you. (The campaign picks up the tab.)
• A name and phone number will appear at the top of your computer screen, below which is a super easy-to-follow template.
• To make the call, you click on the name/phone number.
• Then you follow the script (we're talking a couple of sentences) and the prompts.
• If someone answers, you select their answer to your scripted question, such as (1) supporting Romney, (2) not sure, (3) not voting for Romney, etc.
• If no one answers, there is a set of choices such as (1) busy, (2) no answer, (3) wrong number, (4) person declined, etc.
• Once you finish selecting your answers, you push a button that sends the info to the data base. At that point you can opt to make another call.
• Then you go through the routine again.
• It goes very quickly.
• You can log out at any time and log back in as often as you like throughout the day keeping time changes in mind so you don't call people at outrageous hours.

There are always tutorials for volunteers to read that explains the routine from start to finish, so you can familiarize yourself with how the page looks and how it works.

For anyone who thinks it's too technical, let me just say, I am a Complete Technological Numbskull (CTN) and I have been able to breeze through the call from home programs for many candidates. Trust me. If I can do it, anyone can!

Other than sending money (which is a great thing to do, as well), making calls is a critical way red state and blue state conservatives can support the effort in swing states. Short of not having a phone, there is no reason why every single one of us should not be doing this every day between now and Election Day.

I hope everyone reading this article will get involved making calls from home if they are not doing so already. And enlist others to do so as well. Our opponents are brilliant at this kind of thing. Conservatives, not so much. Every single one of us must become active. And not just a little. And not tomorrow. But a lot. And NOW!

This election is the most important election of our lifetime and we have to dig in and work for the campaign (or campaigns) every day. We've got to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone. Because as Mark Steyn so chillingly wrote recently: This election represents the last exit ramp before the death spiral.