I had a minor "incident" while doing doorhangers today in suburban northern Virginia.

A mid-40s male was doing yardwork out front as I approached the driveway in the early evening darkness.  The mid-40s female listed as also living at the address--previously identified as at least a "gettable" voter--was the person to whom the doorhanger was addressed.  She was nowhere in sight.

Upon his recognizing the Obama/Biden sticker on my chest we had the following exchange:

Him, very non-jocularly, tight-lipped, no trace of a smile: So are you going to reimburse me for the $20,000 tax increase I'm going to have?

Me: (not thinking clearly): Not gonna happen.

Him (seeing the doorhanger I was walking up his driveway to deliver, again very non-jocularly): Don't deliver trash on my property.

Me (opting to forego trying to deliver the doorhanger): Do you speak for your wife, sir?

Suffice it to say we were not enamored of one another as we parted ways. 

I hadn't known either the guy or his (presumably) SO.  They live half a mile away from us.  We didn't get far enough for me to inform him that I am a neighbor. 

He was dressed casually as one would expect someone doing yardwork would be.  With my unthinking reply to his tax comment I was being presumptuous, for indeed he might have earned enough money to have a $20K tax hike looking at him if Obama does win and succeeds in getting through Congress the tax policy he's been saying he'll push.

I would have done far better had I responded to his question simply: "No."  (someone feeling as strongly as he appeared to is not someone it was going to be productive for me to try to engage in a discussion.)

When I got back to our precinct captain's home to drop off the sheets recording the houses I'd done, I let the coordinator know that it was an uneventful shift, except for this one incident.  I explained what had happened, verbally reinforcing the notation I'd made on my sheet for the next person this time around not to engage the male of the house.  I also vented that I hate it when men speak for their SO female partners.

There were three middle-aged and over women taking this in.  One of them, her face lit up, said "We need more men who think like you!"  One of the other women, also smiling, said, "Yeah, well, it's getting tense."  (Obama leads narrowly as Dems seek to win Virginia in the presidential race for the first time since 1964.) Indeed I did feel royally cheesed off at the guy for denying me permission to deliver the doorhanger intended for his SO.  But my hasty, careless reply on the tax comment may have (inadvertently--I was just stupid and careless, not intentionally mean-spirited) insulted or irritated him.

I am wondering for those denizens still reading this who went door-to-door for Kerry and/or Gore as well: how does your experience this time compare with the earlier ones in terms of the level of civility of exchanges with members of the public with whom you've interacted FTF or on the phone?