Some of the best barbeque to be had in Arkansas is a place called Demo’s in Jonesboro. How do we know? Because we’ve spent the last three months traveling all over the state of Arkansas running what we have affectionately dubbed the “donut canvass”.
In late March, grassroots solutions began working on a project with Arkansans for Change and the Communications Workers of America on the Democratic Party’s Senate nomination. grassroots solutions launched door-to-door canvasses in the areas circling Little Rock (hence the donut): Jonesboro, Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Texarkana. We hired and trained a staff of 40 to knock on doors and educate voters about both of the candidates running in the Democratic primary on May 18, 2010.
Traveling around the “donut” proved to be a challenge for the grassroots solutions team. It takes about five hours to drive from Jonesboro to Fayetteville—5 ½ if you get caught speeding. A word to the wise—Arkansas Highway Patrol are vigilant and numerous—as one intrepid GRS staffer learned the hard way. The tornadoes didn’t help either—we were forced to suspend our canvass a couple of times to protect our staff.
But, weather and speeding tickets aside, the canvass successfully knocked on over 40,000 doors in a few short weeks and made contact with over 15,000 voters.
In the end, Blanche Lincoln received 45% of the vote and Bill Halter received 43% (www.fivethirtyeight.com), forcing a run-off on June 8, 2010. Three more weeks to knock on doors and eat more great BBQ in Arkansas.