Maine couple goes to N.H. to canvass for John Edwards

A Damariscotta couple was among the Mainers who crossed the New Hampshire border to volunteer for the presidential candidates of their choice in the hours leading up to Tuesday’s primary.

Kate Josephs and Mike Herz spent the final two days leading up to the vote working telephone banks and canvassing neighborhoods on behalf of former Sen. John Edwards.

The couple already had knocked on about 50 doors Tuesday morning when they were reached by telephone while working the streets of Dover, N.H., a college town.

“It’s fun, but it’s very grueling,” Josephs said of the door-to-door campaigning. “People here, they come out on their steps in their bathrobes with their kids at their side to welcome you. They have been very welcoming and they really know the issues. It’s very, very energizing.”

Belfast City Councilor Roger Lee was also in the state, canvassing for Sen. Barack Obama, but could not be reached for comment.

Herz, who is chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based environmental advocacy group Friends of the Earth, said he was drawn to Edwards because his environmental policies were “distinctly different” from those of the other candidates. He said Edwards wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and was the only candidate who has taken a stand against nuclear power. Friends of the Earth is the only environmental group to have endorsed a candidate, he said.

“It’s been really very, very gratifying to be part of this,” Herz said of the canvassing effort. “This is really the political process at its best. We have run into many people who are still undecided, but when you do connect it’s great. I had two people this morning where I felt I helped them change their minds. That’s very rewarding.”

Josephs, who described herself as “pro-business but anti-big corporation,” said she supported Edwards because of his willingness to take on the big corporations. She said she attended a rally Monday night in Dover and was “very impressed” with the message he delivered.

“I came to Edwards from the anti-corporate side,” she said. “This is a really important election and I really like Edwards.”

Josephs said that while she had worked on Maine campaigns in the past, this was the first time she crossed state lines to knock on doors for a candidate. She said the state was filled with volunteers of all ages and that “everywhere you go you run into somebody else with a clipboard.”

She and her husband were unpaid volunteers and found their accommodations at a private residence in town through the campaign. She said that even after a day of pounding the pavement, they spent their downtime talking politics with other like-minded volunteers.

“We stayed up all night drinking beer and talking politics,” she said. “It was like college, in a way.”

Attempts to find Mainers canvassing for Republican candidates were unsuccessful, although it was highly likely many had crossed the border, according to Maine Republican Party Chairman Julie O’Brien. She added that no party officials traveled to New Hampshire to work for any of the candidates seeking the party’s nomination.

Attempts to reach Nate Walton, chairman of the Maine College Republicans, to learn of any younger Republicans who may have volunteered were unsuccessful. An attempt to reach Maine House Minority Leader Josh Tardy, R-Newport, vice chairman of Sen. John McCain’s Maine campaign, was also unsuccessful.

wgriffin@bangordailynews.net

338-9546