Is this any way to run a presidential campaign? *UPDATED*

See important update below.

I have been trying without success for a couple of weeks now to volunteer my writing and editing services to the local “John McCain for President” chapter.  No one is getting back to me — and I’ve been told by someone with ties to the local “McCain for President” chapter that this is par for the course.  I find this distressing.  Here you have someone who wants to volunteer, and whose services are, quite frankly, much needed (since campaign literature is usually horribly written), and I’m getting the cold shoulder.

I’ve also been given to understand that, even though my skills involve writing and editing, they will only want me for a “get out the vote” effort in my own small town.  Living as I do in my own small town, I can tell you two things:  first, the Republican party has never achieved an even marginally visible get-out-the-vote presence (and that includes the people who sit behind ironing boards at grocery stores trying to register voters); and, second, even if it did, there are only about 200 conservatives here, and they’re going to vote anyway for Obama.

The big need is for large, county-wide promotional campaigns and, to toot my own horn, that’s where my editing skills are beyond useful.  Even if my writing is somewhat pedestrian at times, I can edit the hell out of other people’s work, making their materials tighter and more interesting.  Using me to harass my blue, blue neighbors is just a waste of everyone’s time.

I can’t decide if what I’m seeing is the natural inefficiency of a volunteer organization or the demoralized behavior of a group that’s functioned for so long (and done so badly) in hostile territory that it can no longer respond even to offers of help.  Either way, it’s a damn shame.  After all, this isn’t a local election for a Congress person.  Instead, this is one little piece of a vast state-wide election in what will be a very, very close race at the end of the day.  In other words, state-wide, every vote counts.  To turn ones back on someone who would like to add to the McCain votes strikes me as very foolish.

UPDATE:  DQ pointed out to me that, as this is a local outpost, not the national campaign, it’s unlikely that any writing is going on.  Now, from my point of view, that’s just plain wrong.  I can think of a million things they should be writing — or at least four:  (1) emails to local Republicans; (2) fliers to local Republicans; (3) a blog for local Republicans; and (4) op-eds for the local paper.  Considering how demoralized the base is, just getting the vote out is a big deal, and should be taken seriously at the local level.

Further, even if my writing and editing skills are useless, it still makes no sense to me, with a volunteer hurling her body across their path, that they’ve made no effort to contact me about doing other work.

UPDATE: I owe the group a big apology.  I attended their first formal meeting tonight and was very impressed by the quality of the people and by how far the long-time stalwarts have already come in terms of organization.  It’s a great group and one with which I’ll be very proud to be affiliated.  I was too impatient and I let my ego get in the way.