One of the official signs of the election season is receiving a phone call from a candidate checking to see if he or she can count on your support.
Labor Day is traditionally considered the unofficial start of the campaign season — and we just day away.
Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz
The first phone call came Saturday evening from a representative of Democratic Congressman Raul Ruiz. Dr. Ruiz was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012.
It wasn’t a robocall or some high-tech, automated recording. The phone call was placed by a hard-working volunteer.
“Hi,” he said cheerily. “My name is Bob and I’m a volunteer with Congressman Raul Ruiz and his campaign for Congress.”
The missed phone call came in about 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
“We’re calling and canvassing around to see how many supporters we can count on for the election coming up in November,” Bob said in the phone voicemail. “You may be familiar with him, I don’t know, but he is an emergency physician. He’s not necessarily a career politician. But he has spent time in Washington, D.C., over the past few years fighting to protect Medicare and Social Security. And, we’re going to need a lot of fight for that in the not-too-distant future.”
Bob added in the phone call that Ruiz has “made sure families have had access to quality, affordable health care and he’s done a lot work with veterans, especially disabled veterans dealing with the Veterans Administration. We’d like to see him return to his office. We think he will be good for the country. I actually won’t be able to determine if you’re going to support him in November today, but if you’d like to let us know we do have an office in Palm Desert, Calif. We have a number where you can indicate that 650-888-0010. Thank you and have a great day.”
Bob would probably like to hear from any and all Ruiz supporters. It might save him a phone call or two.
Ruiz, who represents the 36th Congressional District, is challenged in his re-election bid by a soap opera actress.
