The day started like any other day. I got up at 4 AM and left out around 5:45. The only difference was that I had somewhere to be at 6AM. The place I had to be was Kweisi's campaign office on Park Avenue. Last night I had signed up to be a full time campaign worker. I had my Mfume for Senate t-shirt and was ready to go.

When I arrived I had to sign a sign sheet and wait outside the building with several other campaign workers that lined the building. As we waited to be sent out to various polling places we watched other campaign workers outfit various trucks and vans with loud speakers and campaign posters. It was not until 8:30-9AM that we were finally loaded into vans. I had no idea where I was going to be sent to. The first van or SVU I got in had two other people in it, both were male. One kind of reminded me of the father on Family Matters. You know the show with Urkel on it. He had on a black and white Cosby like sweater along with a dress shirt and neck tie. He looked very safe and 80's TV father-like. The other guy was a salt of the earth type, very blue collar. He was very upbeat and positive. He said that he was proud to be a part of this campaign. He kept reminding us as we were sitting in the car that we were making history today. However, I immediately felt uncomfortable when he revealed that he was an ex-con. Despite his great attitude I could not help but wonder what he did to go to jail for.

Then after sitting in the car for a while they moved me over to another car with four other people in it. The Cosby sweater guy was moved over to this car as well to be our driver. I feel bad for writing this but I initially I felt relieved that he was going to be our driver and not the other guy. In retrospect it would have been much better to have had the cheery ex-con be our driver instead of doom and gloom wrong way evil Cosby sweater guy. The man was a nicely dressed piece of crap. I would not be surprised to find out that he later stole the SVU that the campaign gave him to drive us around in.

Before we left for our still as yet undisclosed destination they loaded our car with several bag lunches, three boxes of Dunkin Donuts and coffee. Next Michael, Kweisi's son, gave the driver a printout to the directions to our destination. He then loadly yelled at an asian female campaign worker to print out better directions. She ran upstairs then ran back down with what I assume were better directions from MapQuest. Then we were off on our merry way. My main gripe at this point is that the evil Cosby sweater guy never told us where he was driving us to. He just drove, and drove, and drove, and drove.

While he was driving he instructed the young man sitting next to him to let him know when he reached such and such a spot or road. The man would earnestly look at the directions. However, he would never say a word when the driver would reach were ever he had told the man to look out for. It made me wonder if the man was illiterate or on drugs. Also annoying the man would constantly fiddle with the radio dial and play the radio much too loud. At this point in the journey it became apparent that the evil Cosby sweater man was not a very good driver. He would constantly jerk the car as he went in and out of lanes. When the car moved left or right all the passengers would also lunge in that direction. It felt as though I was in the 60's version of the Star Trek Enterprise whenever the ship was under attack.

Our final destination was some school in Prince Georges County, Maryland. We did not reach there until about 11:45 or so. Also we got lost several times trying to find the school. Whenever, we got lost the driver would ask anyone other than the police for directions. If he saw a wino or someone who looked as though English was a second language he would immediatly ask them over the police. This made me wonder if possibly our Cosby sweater driver was a wanted man.

When we finally reached the school the man who was sitting next to the driver took out several campaign posters and stuck them around the school. I was surprised at how energetic and industrious he was. Also earlier when the evil Cosby sweater man stopped to get gas the young man would immediatly get out the car and start handing out campaign fliers. So I am not sure if his not paying much attention to the evil Cosby sweater guy was due to drugs, illiteracy, or maybe perhaps, he could not stand the guy. Maybe, Marcus knew that the evil Cosby sweater guy was an asshole before we did.

I should say right about here that as Marcus was setting up the posters a woman who claimed to be the neighborhood captain or something or other for Kweisi's campaign drove by and told us that we were not supposed to be at the school we were at that we were supposed to be at another school. She never told us which school or gave directions she just nonchalantly drove off. This news caused an uproar amongst the other campaign workers. Because earlier during our drive we saw a polling place with lots of people outside it with no Mfume for Senate posters but the driver ignored our pleas to stop. The next thing you know the other campaign workers somehow convinced the evil Cosby sweater man to get back to the other polling place to see if that was where we were supposed to be. So thus it was decided I stayed behind with Marcus to hand out fliers while the rest of the crew seeked out the other polling place. By doing this the campaign would be covering two polling areas as opposed to just one.

When they came back about two hours later it appears that they were lost the entire time. A couple of campaign workers told me that the evil Cosby sweater man also got smart with the people at campaign headquarters when they called him to ask how things were going. They gasped as they told me that the man just sat up there and lied!

After this everyone got out the car and started handing out fliers along different areas of the school. That is everyone except the evil Cosby sweater man. You see everyone else had on Mfume for Senate t-shirts except him. When asked why he would not help out he just smirked and said that he was being paid to drive and not hand out any damn fliers. He then retired to the car and slept while the music that you can all agree on in the office soflty played in the background. The Bastard!

As I was handing out fliers I got to know other people from other campaigns. I was standing next to this woman whose daughter was running for state delegate. She told me that things usually pick up around 5pm because that is when people start to get off work. And wouldn't you know the evil Cosby sweater man decides that 5 PM is when he going to leave! We were supposed to be stationed at the polling place until polls close at 8PM. I was furious! Luckily the car was not fast to start. He had the radio playing all afternoon so he had to get a hot shot to get it started. We made it in town around 7PM. I went home and voted. On the way over to my neighborhood polling place several neighbors told me that they were dissatisfied with Martin O'Malley. I suppose if you wear a campaign t-shirt people walk up to you and tell you there deepest political feelings.

In the end I spent the evening at the Hippodrome ballroom sitting at a table with Kweisi's sisters Darlene, LaWana, and Michelle. I sat there watching campaign results as cousin Billy perform magic tricks for the table. I must say cousin Billy is a very talented magician. Also while at the Hippodrome I ran into Marcus and the cheery upbeat ex-con guy. Right now I'm sleepy so it's off to bed I go.

WHAT I'M WEARING:
Today, I have on red, white and blue, Mfume for US Senate 06 t-shirt along with blue jeans, a red hoodie and Reebok walking shoes.

WALKING LOG

STEPS....12014
MILES....2.65
CALORIES BURNED....420