As they gathered excitedly before sunrise Saturday in the Pleasanton Walmart parking lot, a crowd of California Republicans marveled they'd never done anything like this before - given up their weekend to head to a neighboring state with strangers, and knock on the doors of people they don't even know.
But moved by the passions of the 2012 election, dozens of them - a recent college graduate, small-business owners, the mother of a deployed fighter pilot and a retired engineer among them - boarded a bus for a long trip to Nevada's Washoe County to do their part for Mitt Romney in a critical swing state.
"I'm so concerned for the future of my grandchildren," said Mary Doering, 62, a retired beauty consultant from Campbell with six grandchildren who wore her "O Mitt Obama" T-shirt. She has spent the past two weekends in the Silver State and plans to return next weekend.
"The economy is bad," she added. "And I'm concerned about the immoral lifestyle in this country."
Jack Watt, 52, a T-shirt manufacturer from Hayward, said the dead-heat election has finally moved him to action.
"This has gotten me out of my box," he said, shaking his head. "I've never done anything like this before ... but I feel as an American, it's a privilege to vote. You have to do your duty, and this is my duty to God and my country."
.......................As she boarded the bus in Pleasanton, Ildiko Scott of Danville - the mother of a 27-year-old fighter pilot now deployed in Afghanistan - ..........."I told my son I was going to Reno, because I can't take it anymore," she said. "He said, 'Thank you, Mom.' "
-- Coming Monday: Some of President Obama's liberal faithful are hitting the panic button.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
