This week, I’m in Pittsburgh with my wife and daughter, working for the Harris-Walz campaign. I wish I could provide definitive insight into Harris’s prospects in PA, but my view from close to ground level isn’t comprehensive enough.
I do see promising signs of Harris’s strength. People are pouring in from all over the country. Nancy and Lily and I are in Pittsburgh because the Voter Protection operation here is led by Ben Friedman, a brilliant young Yale Law student who happens to be a neighbor of ours in Lexington. His fiancee is here to volunteer and so is his father Jon. The man who handed me my canvassing packet this morning is from Florida. The woman who welcomed me to Pittsburgh regional headquarters on Saturday is from California. Last Thursday, our dining companion was Marc Draisen, the MAPC’s very smart and knowledgeable Executive Director. Lexington’s Bob Peters is volunteering out of the campaign office on the other side of town.
Four of our five Uber drivers are emphatically for Harris. They’re up on recent news developments, too. Something that made a visceral impression on me: Judging from what they were willing to share, they’re all worried about their financial situations. One has a wife who’s struggled for years with breast cancer; he says they couldn’t manage without Obamacare. Another is father to two sets of young twins and worries about Trump’s vow to abolish the Dept. of Education. For another, the cost of a quarter-pounder at McDonald’s is not a politician’s talking point; it’s a real burden to her.
The local campaign has been high-energy though somewhat improvisational. Yesterday we spent five hours on a supporter’s front porch in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, managing the distribution of information kits to volunteers who will act as poll observers throughout Allegheny County on Election Day. There was a certain amount of anxiety. People were looking for reassurance they won’t encounter situations in the voting line they can’t handle. I have no idea what they’ll encounter from either unfriendly election officials or from Trump supporters but I’ve decided to reassure them anyway (they’ve taken the training and have phone numbers to call in case of trouble).
Oh, also yesterday, Scarlett Johansson dropped by the campaign headquarters to give us a pep talk.
My gut: We’re going to win PA.
