New Haven Independent

Rubin (at left in picture) was among an army of New Haven Democrats who spent the last weekend before Tuesday’s election campaigning where it counts — not at home, but in the nearest battleground state.

Her visit to Keene, New Hampshire, came as both presidential campaigns zeroed in on the territory. On the Democrats’ side, Former President Bill Clinton stumped for Barack Obama, his party’s nominee. A few miles away, Republican nominee John McCain made a last-minute effort to sway the state’s independent-minded, small-government voters. Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman joined him. Though polls show Obama up by over 10 percent, McCain’s campaign said it believes the state is within reach.

“This Might Be Enemy Territory”

Rubin, a digital artist from New Haven’s East Rock neighborhood, grabbed some plums and celery crackers and drove up to New Hampshire to try to help Obama clinch the state’s four electoral college votes. She was one of 250 Connecticut residents who volunteered for Obama in New Hampshire Sunday, according to the Obama campaign. At Keene campaign headquarters, she was paired with a stranger named Timothy Brown, a high school teacher from West Hampton, Mass.

Rubin and Brown hit the back roads in her white Honda Fit, rolling past hemlock trees and maple sugar farms in search of Democratic votes. Three Jeeps with extra-large tires passed them on a dirt road en route to a hunting trip. Luckily, Rubin noted, she and her partner had both worn bright red coats — just the right color for hunting season.

“This might be enemy territory,” Rubin warned as the two pulled into one particularly long dirt driveway. She reversed into a parking spot, poised for a quick getaway.

They got out, Rubin in a pink hat and Esprit sneakers; Brown in jeans, a plaid coat, and two earrings poking out below a blue knit cap.

Before they could approach, a man at the top of the hill called out to the visitors. “We’re all set,” he yelled from the front door. “I don’t even want to talk about it.”

Rubin gave a cheerful response and retreated to the car. A pile of campaign literature lay stacked on the back seat, atop postcards promoting her synagogue’s new stained-glass window. When she’s not traveling across the country for her art, the 58-year-old teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design.

As the pair drove on, Rubin strategized on the art of door-knocking, which she has done for 40 years in New Haven and beyond.

Brown, who’s turning 35 on Election Day, proved an upbeat navigator through unfamiliar streets. Between hunting for signs on unmarked roads, he pointed out the golden leaves and hardy crops of kale. On the way up to Keene from his cabin in West Hampton, he had stopped at a lake to videotape a flock of geese.

Like many on the Obama camp, Brown is getting involved with a political campaign for the first time in his life. He caught flack from higher-ups by wearing Obama pins while teaching students at school.

“Never Say Never”

The duo’s three-hour route around the western end of Arch Street targeted homes identified as undecided or leaning Obama. Responses ranged from grumbling to cheery, with several complaining they’d been pestered with non-stop calls.

Susie Margraf (at left in photo) answered the door at one of several enthusiastically pro-Obama homes, letting loose a chocolate lab. The one-year-old pup raced full-speed toward a group of children in the street.

“He’s an Obama dog,” she joked. “Can’t you tell from the energy?”

Margraf, an active Democrat who was hosting Obama volunteers at her home, guided Rubin through a list of names, pointing out her neighbors’ homes and their political leanings. Did she think Sen. McCain had a chance at grabbing her neighbors’ votes?

She reminded her visitors what happened in New Hampshire’s primary, when voters defied pundits’ predictions by supporting Hillary Clinton over Obama.

“I’m never going to say never,” Margraf replied, “because of what happened with Hillary.” She said Keene “always” goes Democrat — “but I don’t want to say ‘always’ anymore.”

The Undecided Vote

Over on Chesterfield Road, the door-knockers were in luck: They pulled into a driveway to find Karen Johannesen in the yard.

“Watch out, there’s dogs and kids everywhere,” she warned. A dog sat tethered to a tree. Her four-year-old son lay tucked out of sight in the folds of a hammock. Nearby sat a trailer for the family business, the Hammer and Chisel Carpentry company.

When asked how she’d be voting, Johannesen replied, “I don’t like to talk about it.”

She did want to air one complaint, however: “Everyone says they’re concerned about the environment,” but both candidates are wasting a lot of paper by filling her mailbox with campaign literature, she said. “I’m getting leafs and leafs and leafs of it.”

Rubin responded that the Obama team is doing a good job using the Internet, through Youtube and campaign emails. She suggested signing up to get campaign news through emails instead of paper leaflets.

“I can’t get anything else,” replied Johannesen. “I have dial-up.” In the rural outskirts of Keene, the connection is pretty slow, she said.

Brown (pictured), who teaches environmental science to high school freshmen, jumped in the mix.

“I’m an environmentalist myself,” he said.

“I thought you looked like one,” responded Johannesen, in a friendly way.

He said he shared her concerns, but thought the two contenders had “big differences” in environmental plans.

Johannesen stood with her arms crossed, her hands in blue, home-knitted mittens.

“What do you think the biggest change he is going to make is going to be?” she asked Brown. Brown cited health care and ending the Iraq war.

Johannesen didn’t seem fazed.

Rubin reached into a folder and pulled out a white piece of paper — an editorial from the New York Times endorsing Obama.

“I’m not sure if you’ve read it,” said Rubin.

“I’m sure I haven’t,” Johannesen replied with a laugh, hinting that she didn’t exactly subscribe to the paper.

She asked for clarification on a question of utmost concern — the same question framed by the now-famous Joe the Plumber who was worried he’d get hit by Obama’s tax hikes to the wealthy. (The answer: He wouldn’t, under the plan Obama has campaigned on.)

Johannesen and her husband run a carpentry business. She said the business takes in over $250,000. But when you subtract the expenses — including costly health care — their net income isn’t anywhere near there.

Brown reassured her that if the net household income is under $200,000, “you’re going to get a tax cut” — not a hike — under Obama’s plan.

Rubin stepped in with a personal story in attempt to relate.

“I’m an independent artist,” she said. “I know what you mean.” She said she is applying for a $300,000 grant to do a digital imagery display, but she clearly wouldn’t be taking all that money home. A lot will have to go to expenses, such as hiring a computer programmer to create a virtual reality world.

“Are you an artist?” Brown asked the woman.

“I’m a crafter. I do macaroni art,” replied Johannesen. “That’s what I call it. Children’s art.”

The conversation ended with on chatty terms. They shook hands and turned to pose for a reporter’s lens. In the end, the two had finagled a 10-minute conversation out of a voter who initially didn’t want to talk.

“I think we convinced her,” said a victorious Rubin as the two jumped back in the car.

They flew by a few more homes and headed back to campaign headquarters, where volunteers refueled on cookies after standing in the cold on traffic circles waving signs for Democrats.

“Bombarded”

Reached by phone later that evening, the undecided voter, Johannesen, said the NYT editorial wasn’t much help.

“There was not that much information in it,” she said. “It was just someone’s opinion.”

No other political visitors have made it to her tucked-away home, she said — just the oodles of leaflets.

Getting “bombarded” with all that mail just makes things more confusing, she said. As of Sunday evening, she was still undecided.

“I haven’t heard much on either side to sway me,” she said. She planned to do some more research, over her dial-up modem, before Election Day.

And when the day comes?

“I’m really hoping for a strong gut feeling when I walk behind that curtain.”