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Lisa Cannistrati with her birthday cake flanked by Erin Drinkwater and Jeremy Markman on the right.

New York: Hudson Street

It was an unusual time for a 50th birthday party: 7 a.m. on Saturday, October 27. The four people loafing outside the Henrietta Hudson, known as a local “Bar & Girl” in the West Village, were not finishing a celebratory night. They had just arrived—on time. Odder still was that of the foursome, only one knew the birthday girl, bar owner Lisa Cannistraci.

A fifth person joined, wearing an Obama T-shirt, layered with a warm down vest. Her dirty blonde hair was cropped boy-short, with a pair of black, square-rimmed glasses balanced on her nose. Erin Drinkwater walked briskly, exuding excitement and authority, corralling the loiterers as they moved on to other party locations. One block away the group entered The Goodwin, a West Village restaurant, which had opened early to feed the 22 bleary-eyed people gathered in booths and tables. They were given with hot coffee, and a spread of scrambled eggs, French fries, toast, berries, granola and yogurt, as well as chicken and salad.

By 8 a.m. the volunteers were awake, nourished and ready to participate in the Women’s Bus REDUX, a trip to the battleground election state of Pennsylvania. Drinkwater addressed the group. “There are only 17 women in the Senate,” she said, “representing 51 percent of the population.” This morning only six of the 22 gathered were men; many of those present were members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community.

The crowd ranged from the newly eligible to vote, Marymount Manhattan freshmen, to those who had been politically active for half a century. A few were loyal Obama volunteers, gushing about their past and future trips to Ohio.

Most had signed up at Drinkwater’s urging. Several were there to celebrate with Cannistraci. At 8:25 a.m., the volunteers left The Goodwin, stopped at the Obama for America headquarters uptown to cram empty seats with more volunteers, and then headed off.

The Women’s Bus REDUX: On the road

Drinkwater twisted—half kneeling, half standing—facing the rows of seats behind her, the name “Spoof,” a childhood cat, forever memorialized on her left forearm. She encouraged the volunteers to stand and share why they chose to spend their Saturday canvassing.

One by one they spoke, drawing nods of approval and a smattering of applause. Barbara grew up in Spain under Franco, and vowed she was “not going to take democracy for granted.” Mary’s fiancé is Canadian; their gay marriage would not be recognized nationally. How would she sponsor her new wife for citizenship?

Phyllis has been politically active since the 1940s. She began fighting for civil rights, and has since extended the struggle to women and the LGBT community. Cannistraci’s activism goes beyond owning the “hottest lesbian bar.” She is also Vice President of Marriage Equality USA. Natalie James worries who will appoint the next Supreme Court Justices. “Ginsburg isn’t getting any younger.”

Some, like Brooke Materia and Jocelyn Swenson, were first time voters and canvassers. Dana Massarsky, member of Democratic Leadership for the 21^st Century, had been canvassing almost every weekend for the past two months. She vibrated with excitement when discussing an upcoming trip to Fairfax County, Virginia. “Instead of taking the time to be scared,” Massarsky said, “I’m working.” Sitting back was not an option. She laughed, “I haven’t seen my boyfriend in two months.”

Each volunteer would receive a “walk kit” comprised of a map (dotted with houses to visit), a list of voters, and a script designed to encourage voter turnout. The weekend before Halloween, Drinkwater described canvassing as “kind of like trick or treating.” The volunteers would only be visiting the doorsteps of President Obama supporters. The goal was to make sure that these registered voters actually made it to the polls.

Some states like New Hampshire “swing” due to independent or undecided voters. Pennsylvania is a different breed. With around 1 million more Democrats registered to vote in the state, the outcome depends on who shows up at the polls.

Corey Robinson: Door-to-Door

Corey Robinson went out drinking the night before. He is running on three hours of sleep. Dressed in a turquoise checkered shirt, jeans, and a camel colored leather jacket, his gait is zombie-like but attitude is remarkably good-natured. Robinson, in his mid-30s, works with the elderly as a social worker, but he moved to New York to become “the black Regis Philbin.”

He grew up in South Carolina, but is dedicated to his adopted city, saying that New York “is the first place where I live matches my views.” He canvassed for Obama in 2008, and is a little nervous this time around. “Black voters will come out for Obama…but they’re disappointed by his gay marriage stance.” Robinson says preachers in his home state are asking parishioners to stay home on Election Day. He is slowly weeding out Facebook friends who share that view.

The “walk kit” in Robinson’s hands took him to a slowly gentrifying Philadelphia neighborhood known either as Graduate Hospital or Southwest Center City. He strolled south on Fitzwater Street past rows of neatly stacked houses—each three stories of assorted brick shades. To everyone he encountered, he smiled and called out, “Don’t forget to vote!”

This was friendly territory. Obama for America posters, bumper stickers, and supporters were plentiful in this cross-section of suburban Philadelphia. Insulated, it was easy to forget Pennsylvania is a highly contested state. Democratic incumbent Senator Bob Casey is now fighting to retain his seat.

Demographically the neighborhood is largely black with a sprinkling of young white couples and students. Churches are interspersed between the houses. On 15^th Street in front of United Muslim Masjid, a small carnival to celebrate Eid was drawing a crowd dressed in traditional religious garb. Where 15^th met Christian Street the religious Pathfinders Scouts meeting ended, scattering uniformed pre-teens into the streets.

Before 3 p.m., Robinson would march up to 74 doorsteps, knock on 74 doors, and speak to six people. He was persistent. Ringing twice. Standing for minutes. Calling up to open windows. On the street Robinson talked to everyone. Spreading the message to vote beyond headquarters’ specifically mapped houses.

Pennsylvania: The Voters Who Matter

In the suburban streets, Lisa and Jeremy Nearhoof were taking advantage of the mild fall day, pruning two window boxes of winter plants. Both are in their early-30s. Lisa moved here from New York City four years ago; Jeremy is a Pennsylvania native and a registered Republican. But he’ll be voting for Obama for a second time, and his reasons are economic. “It’s silly to think that one person can create 10 million jobs…there’s no magic cure,” he said referring to Romney, “What wouldn’t work is what we did in the 2000s.”

Lisa, who carries Pennsylvania identification from the last election, says her main focus is women’s issues. “It just makes me feel like our country is behind in so many ways,” she sighs clipping off branches of a flowerless shrub.

Back at Base: South Street

Squeezed between South Deli & Grocery on the left and a pharmacy to the right, 1737 South Street is the lively Obama for America headquarters. At 3:45 p.m. on a Saturday there are roughly 25 people working. Posters of the President and campaign slogans coat the walls. People chatter at phone banking stations; a supervisor hands out assignments.

Kathy, mid-60s, searches for a lighter. A large cake with candles spelling out “five zero” is waiting to surprise Lisa Cannistraci. After a round of “Happy Birthday,” the tired but fulfilled volunteers pile back on the bus.

Heading back to New York City, the volunteers share notes and swap canvassing stories. Marymount Manhattan students, Materia and Swenson produced a crumpled Mitt Romney leaflet they were handed at one house. They knocked on 150 doors and spoke to 27 people whom they described as “99% enthusiastic.” Materia canvassed today even though her right leg is bound in a full-length brace. “I don’t want to sit back and think it’ll be OK,” she says. Fear of a Romney presidency sparked Swenson into action.

Natalie James is seated next to her girlfriend Diana Scholl. They canvassed in a more upscale area filled with family homes. The two had an admittedly wonderful day. Both have professions that work directly with impoverished and working class families. They are Obama supporters for this reason among others. “Romney would totally decimate the social safety net,” James warns.

Midway though the ride home one-half of the passengers dozed off. The others chatted about the election or circulated rumors of a storm headed for New York. Was Governor Cuomo really closing the subways at 7:00 p.m. the next day? Never mind there was a political storm only 10 days away. A sense of optimistic calm fell over the exhausted volunteers.

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The natural gas industry has created jobs in central Pennsylvania, but residents say there are economic consequences as well. Photo by Eric Zerkel

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Just over the Susquehanna River, along freshly paved streets, the taupe stucco facades of hotels jut out in rows, blotting out the old church steeples and glass storefronts of small-town Pennsylvania.

This is the new Williamsport, a city transformed from a quaint logging town into a bustling corporate hub by the natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation below ground.

“It has truly been an amazing renaissance,” said Vince Matteo, president of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.

Over the past four years, Matteo said he has seen more than 100 new businesses sprout up in the county, leading Williamsport to be named the seventh fastest growing metropolitan area in the country.

“I’ve been involved in economic development chamber work for 31 years and have seen good times and bad times, and from an economic development standpoint I’ve never seen something this good before,” said Matteo.

But outside of Williamsport, on the stretches of farmland and rolling hills, locals see little of the “boom” of the natural gas industry. Leading some to question whether the industry will have a real and lasting impact on local rural communities.

“The natural gas industry is extractive by nature,” said John Trallo, 60, of Sonestown, Pa. “There is a short-term boost for the area when they have to set up the wells, but once the wells are in the ground, the jobs move on.”

Trallo lives 45 minutes outside of Williamsport, in neighboring Sullivan County, where he said he sees little evidence of the positive economic impacts that Matteo and Williamsport experience.

Instead, Trallo said he has witnessed the slow decay of many staple businesses of the area as the demand for business follows “frackers” to Williamsport.

“The mom and pop stores, the campgrounds, the farming supply stores, we’re just watching them disappear,” said Trallo, who runs his own small business – a music lessons and instrument repair shop – out of his home. “The jobs that we’re losing, once they’re gone, are not coming back.”

While drill sites are located hours outside of Williamsport, workers use the city as an industrial hub, booking up hotels, and shipping out in company provided econo-vans to areas in Bradford, Sullivan and Susquehanna Counties.

With so many new temporary residents, Matteo said that jobs are not only created within gas companies, but also are taking hold within Williamsport.

“There is a trickle down effect,” Matteo said. “You have all these companies that are doing work on the Marcellus Shale, but they are spending money in our hotels, in our restaurants, and in our stores.”

Twenty miles east, in Moreland Township, Drake Saxton sees little of the trickle-down. Saxton said that the high presence of out-of-state workers was a clear sign that the gas industry wasn’t concerned about the local economy.

“Take a look at the license plates on the cars around here – Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma – if they (the gas industry) are so good at picking up the local economy then why are they all still here?” said Saxton, 64.

Saxton runs a bed and breakfast and said the negatives of workers coming in and out of town drowned out any small economic impact felt locally.

“Let’s talk about the rest of what the frackers are bringing us – an increase in crime, ruts in the road a foot deep, blocked off roads, increased rent – it’s like they are saying get a job with the oil/gas industry or die off,” said Saxton.

Saxton’s business was recently put on hold, when massive ruts created by the trucks carrying water to and from drill sites kept him from being able to drive on and off his property for weeks.

“I couldn’t get out, the ruts were this deep,” Saxton said, as he stretched his hands apart the length of his torso.

Though the business has slowed the past few months, as gas prices have risen, trucks still drive through the streets of Williamsport on their way to drill sites. Something Matteo said he has no problem dealing with.

“There are impacts (from this industry) that aren’t positive, but overall if you asked me if I want them to be here with the additional problems and issues, or not be here, I’d say I’d want them to be here, and have people have these additional jobs,” Matteo said.

But for Trallo, jobs are the last thing on his mind.

“This is just another boom, and once they (the gas companies) are gone, what do we have left?” Trallo said. “This area is going to lose its charm.”

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Ken Johnson, 80, a conservative Republican from Lycoming County, Pa., plans to vote for Mitt Romney for president. Photo by Louie Lazar.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa – In the wide, sparsely populated valley below Bald Eagle Mountain, about a block from the Lycoming County Courthouse at 212 Pine Street, David French sat in an office behind a desk piled with booklets of the U.S. Constitution and leaflets reading, “Stop Obamacare in Pennsylvania.” French, a board member of the Williamsport Tea Party who “lives up in the hills” in nearby Cogan House Township and considers himself a “conservative Republican, with an emphasis on conservative,” is far from enthusiastic about Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and presumptive GOP nominee.

“Nobody likes him. Nobody wants him,” French said Monday morning inside Tea Party headquarters, sharing what he considers the accepted view among fellow conservative activists towards Romney. “He’s a New England establishment Republican. He comes from a part of the party that should’ve been dumped 30 years ago.”

But French, a serious-looking man of 69 with his thinning hair buzzed into a crew cut, said that he will nonetheless back Romney in November, if reluctantly.

“We’ll support whoever the [Republican] party comes up with,” he said.

French is one of several conservatives in this Pennsylvania county who, in interviews conducted here on Monday and Tuesday, expressed deep skepticism of Romney and his right-wing credentials. Yet for a majority of these likely voters, the prospect of a second term for Obama is so frightening that they remain committed to punching the Republican ticket in November.

A fast growing city in the heart of central Pennsylvania, Williamsport is the self-hailed “Epicenter of the Natural Gas Industry,” and home to the Little League World Series. With about 27,000 residents, it has the largest population of any city in the greater Susquehanna Valley and in surrounding Lycoming County, the largest county in all of Pennsylvania. This rural, poor county, with an average income of about $27,000, is also one of the state’s most conservative: John McCain defeated President Obama by 24 points here in 2008. Four years earlier, George W Bush trounced Senator John Kerry by nearly 37. Once known as the “City of Churches,” spires dot the horizon, and every quarter hour church bells echo throughout the valley.

Under a steady late morning rain in downtown Williamsport on Monday, conservative Republican Marcia Johnson, a senior citizen who is both a pilot and a standout bridge player, said that she will happily support Romney in the general election. But she did have early doubts.

“At first I wasn’t for him because I think Massachusetts is kind of liberal,” said Johnson, who initially supported Herman Cain because she thought he could attract black voters. So why has she decided to back Romney in November?

“Well, I’m sure as hell not voting for Obama,” she said, her spirit peppy and her hair in a gray bonnet. “I think Obama is ruining the country. He’s a socialist. He’s a Marxist.”

Her husband, Williamsport native Ken Johnson, a talkative, cheery 80-year-old wearing a jacket with an airplane logo, had little to say about Romney, but agreed that removing Obama from office was a priority.

“Anybody but Obama,” he said, wearing a hat with the letters UFO, referring to United Flying Octogenarians, a club of active airline pilots over age 80. “His government is out to destroy the country.”

“He’s never really shown his birth certificate,” Ken continued. He also said he doesn’t think Obama is in the country legally. His wife nodded.

“I can’t understand why he hasn’t been impeached already,” said Marcia. She added that she believes Obama is a Muslim.

But not all conservatives here are as open to voting for Romney. Or as cordial.

About a mile away, a huge, middle-aged man with a white, grizzly beard emerged from his house on Washington Boulevard, next to Williamsport Cemetery. A visitor had inquired about the man’s garage, and about the sign on its door that read, “East End Gun Specialty Sporting Goods and Live Bait.” Asked whether he plans on voting in November, the man, who declined to disclose his name, uttered a racial epithet in reference to President Obama, then turned angry.

“If it’s between that jackass we have in office, and that moron from New England, I’d rather not bother,” he barked, with numerous expletives peppered throughout the sentence. He said he has supported Republicans in the past, but that he prefers not to discuss politics. Asked if he had voted in the 2008 Election, the man turned silent.

“There’s the door,” he ordered, pointing in the direction of the cemetery.

At 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, at the same time polls throughout Pennsylvania opened under still-overcast skies, Lycoming County Commissioner Tony Mussare, a Republican who “leans Tea Party,” said over oatmeal and coffee that it is “kind of a joke that [Romney] is the guy the Republicans are going to nominate.”

“My God, Mitt Romney – are you kidding me?” cried Mussare, a short, passionate man with a round face who makes solid eye contact. “Go look at his flip flop videos. Almost every notable policy he’s changed his mind. Is that a conservative? I don’t think so.”

He cited Romney’s past positions on gun control, abortion, and health care as just a few reasons why he thinks many in the Tea Party will not vote for the former Massachusetts governor.

“Now will I vote for him? I certainly will if he’s our candidate,” he said.

Mussare, a small business owner, believes that Romney will “excel in understanding the needs of businesspeople,” and that the economy is the country’s top concern. Plus, there’s another, more significant issue.

“Not everything that Barack Obama does is evil,” he said, “But he’s further to the left than a socialist. Socialism wouldn’t be enough for this guy, and I don’t mean this jokingly.”

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A collection of guns, including the military-grade 7.62mm SKS assault rifle, lie tagged in the Crime Scene Investigation offices in North Philadelphia on Dec. 11, 2010, waiting to be used as evidence against two men accused of killing Police Sergeant Steven Liczbinski during the 2008 attempted robbery of a Bank of America in Port Richmond, Philadelphia. Comprehensive statewide gun policies could potentially make it harder for felons and those without permits to buy and sell such weapons by cracking down on an illegal process known as straw purchasing. (Meredith Bennett-Smith / Pavement Pieces)

PHILADELPHIA – Like a sheriff without a badge, outgoing Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell called his career-long quest to stem the gun violence in his state “an abject failure” and “a lost cause” in a conference call earlier this month with Philadelphia reporters. In the Wild West of Pennsylvania state politics, Rendell acted as if the masked robbers had ultimately overrun the general store.

One thing is for sure, however, whether you’re a cowboy or a bandit, you will not have trouble obtaining a firearm in the state any time soon.

Despite municipal homicide rates that are double or even triple the national average, Pennsylvania continues to be one of the easiest places in the country to illegally buy a gun, thanks to a General Assembly too cowed by the state gun lobby to pass reform legislation, said State Representative David Levdansky.

“We have a legislature that is risk averse to do anything that would offend the NRA,” he said.

In 2008 Levdandsky ran up against the politics of gun reform first hand, when he was asked by Governor Rendell to sponsor the Lost and Stolen Amendment. Lost and Stolen is a law that would require gun owners to report their lost or stolen firearms, thereby both absolving themselves of responsibility and cutting down on the black market business of selling “lost” guns for a profit on the street.

Levdanksy, who is white and an avid deer hunter from Westmoreland County in the 39th District, was tapped to prove to the outlying counties that the amendment was in fact a reasonable, “common sense” law that did not infringe on anyone’s 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. But Levdansky’s calls fell on mainly deaf ears, and the law was voted down despite support from the Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association and Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association.

“You have what I call the gun rights extremists,” Levdansky said, “Who take the position that they will accept nothing at all. … [They] want to use any piece of legislation that is introduced as a political motivating tool.”

A spokesperson for the NRA-ILA, the branch of the National Rifle Association committed to legislative lobbying, denied the effectiveness of Pennsylvania’s proposed gun bills, stating that they have no impact on cutting down crime, and instead exit merely to make life more difficult for licensed gun owners.

CeaseFirePA, founded in 2007, is now attempting to create some political clout of its own in an effort to finally challenge the NRA for control over Pennsylvania’s guns. Joe Grace, the organization’s Executive Director, said that while he’s disappointed Lost and Stolen did not succeed, the act of even brining it to a vote represents dramatic progress.

“It was the first vote on a gun bill in ten years,” Grace said. “Then we really got to work.”

In the intervening two years, CeaseFirePA has pushed cities across the state to pass their own versions of the state bill, and today 47 different municipalities have some kind of similar ordinance on the books.

“There’s never really been a sustained viable alternative to the gun lobby,” Grace said. “That’s what we’re seeking to build.”

Grace said the issue highlights the regional divide between Pennsylvania’s urban and rural districts.

“Folks couldn’t get the issue out of Philly,” he said. In fact, Harrisburg, the state capital, has the highest per capita murder rate in Pennsylvania, and statewide more than 1,200 people die annually from gun-related incidents.

Grace denied that race played a significant part in the political wrangling.

“It is true that a disproportionate number gun homicides involve people of color,” Grace said, “In fact, young men of color. But I think the issue doesn’t really play itself out [in the state capital] as a quote on quote racial issue.”

Racial issue or not, Representative Levdansky does not share Grace’s relative optimism on the subject. Voted out of the Senate in November, Levdansky sees a long uphill battle for gun control advocates following the election of conservative gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett into the statehouse.

“I think the prospects are dire at this point,” he said, echoing Rendell’s own gloomy predictions.

Corbett has already publicly stated he would sign into law the so-called “castle doctrine” bill if it passed across his desk. Such a bill would expand citizens’ right to shoot in self-defense, a right they already have in Pennsylvania. Governor Rendell vetoed just such a bill in November, believing it would encourage a potentially tragic, “shoot first, ask questions later” sort of mentality, he said.

As the legislature remains paralyzed, guns continue to flood into the state, with more than 4,000 people barred from obtaining a Pennsylvania weapons permit carrying instead a legal permit from a less restrictive state like Florida.

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