Signature Collection Notes

Some of the odd things you learn when collecting signatures.

1.  As previously mentioned, there is a great deal of anti-Kerry sentiment out there.  It may not manifest itself in the polls but the ire that is raised by mentioning “John Kerry” is simply amazing.

2.  There are a lot of folks who will sign regardless of a candidate because they support the idea that if someone wants to run, they should be on the ballot.  There are a lot of folks though who are somewhat stingy with their signature unless they know more about the candidate.

3.  There was one gentleman, a Democrat, who wanted to discuss the relative merits of Senator Kerry.  Alas, I had signatures to gather and didn’t have time to engage in a debate. Nobody I met felt as strongly about JFK as that fellow.

4. What the hell does “All Set” mean?  Every other possible signatory said he was “all set” and kept on walking.

5. Then there are the times that compensate for all the standing, bad weather, and uncooperative citizenry.  At the Southboro town meeting, I was manning my perch when I approached a woman and gave her my pitch.  She immediately decided to sign the document but wanted to know more about Jeff.  I started about how he was shot down over Grenada 25 years ago during Operation Urgent Fury.  The woman stopped writing and said that Jeff had saved her brother.  I asked her, “Huh?”  Her brother was one of the trapped American medical students in Grenada and that she never had a chance to thank anyone for saving her brother.  I immediately called up Jeff and the two of them discussed the events of a quarter of a century ago.  For the record, her brother continued his medical studies at Cornell and is a urologist based in New York.