So this morning I rose at 4:30 am so that I could get showered and awake and out the door before 6 am.

I was off across town to pick up another volunteer who needed a ride, and we met up on the southwest side of the city with some other Hillary supporters to "do visibility" at a major intersection for the morning commute. Eight of us held up signs, hooted and hollered, and yelled at passing motorists for a couple of hours to GO VOTE, starting TODAY.

There were LOTS of honks and waves and thumbs up. The prize for the one that made us laugh and cheer the most goes to the driver in the armored security vehicle (not Brinks - some other company). It was equipped with a loudspeaker mounted on top. He stopped at the light and kept hitting the siren button for brief bursts, then we heard a "Go, Hillary!" over the loudspeaker. Yay! We did a little Conga dance there on the sidewalk.

You don't see a lot of Lexuses and Mercedes and expensive SUV's around here. These are working people, these are the wage-earners. One car that looked like it was held together with primer and duct tape contained a spry old gentleman with a HUGE grin, who pulled out his voter registration and waved it at us with great pride on his face.

After the traffic died and the group dispersed, my friend and I decided on our own to head over to the area that we had block-walked on the weekend. It's another blue collar neighborhood (for the most part), with a large grocery store on the corner, and it is the center of several bus routes. We had had the idea earlier while block-walking in the residential area, when we noticed that several people had pulled over to us and asked for signs for their "shop down the street". We figured it was a good place to both "be visible" and connect with voters, so we just hatched a scheme on our own to go back out and work it over on the business end.

So instead of hitting the homes this time around, we traipsed up and down Fredericksburg Rd in the Deco district, holding aloft our signs and wandering into every business we could find open. Lots of hairdressers and beauty salons, including one cosmetology school. A little "jewelry and fashion" shop. A couple of restaurants.

We were met with smiles, with support, not only by business owners but the workers and the customers. Ladies waiting for their perms and highlights told us they were voting today for Hillary. Some wanted to know where they could go to vote early, and we had a brought a sheet from headquarters with us to consult and find where they could go. In a restaurant, a woman left her chorizo burrito and her laughing husband to come over and get a sign for her home. Everywhere we told them - GO VOTE! Go to Crossroads Mall, or the VIA building, or somewhere on the list and get it done! One very shy and soft-spoken waitress said in halting English "I vote for her".

We passed several bus stops in our hoofing around. One lady waiting for the bus to go to work was so excited about Hillary, and said she planned to bus over to the VIA office and vote this week. Cars pulled over to ask for a sign, ask for some of the early voting literature we had with us, ask where the campaign office was.

One young man tatooed practically from head to toe told us he owned a shop "for young people" over on the Southside and sold teeshirts and jewelry and all the hip stuff said he "wanted to help out" and would be stopping by the office. We gave him a sign for his shop, and the San Pedro office address.

People on the continually passing busses gave us thumbs up. A few of the drivers too, and honked their horns.

These are Hillary's base of support. These are the hard-working people who have been so hurt under 7 years of Republican politics, and these are the people who are the focus and heart of Hillary's campaign. The small business owners with a little storefront that is the first seed of the dreams of their families. The teachers. The nurses. The bus drivers. The hair stylists. All of the vast majority of Texas and of America who only want a government again that gives them opportunity, and fairness, and competence. They need a president to whom they are not invisible. They want their sons and daughters and brothers and uncles and aunts home from war. They want a chance, a chance to be a part of a growing economy, to contribute to their communities and see results from the work they do, to continue their educations, to feed their families and fill up the gas tank.

They don't have the luxury of judging a president on anything other than the terms they are judged on daily: "Can you do the job? Can you get it done, day in, day out, no excuses, even the parts that aren't glamourous or fun?"

The people who really need a president are supporting Hillary, because they can't afford to get it wrong.