Election Inspires Woman to Be Roadside Romney Demonstrator

Many passing drivers honked in support, others gestured crudely. Pam Bollenbacher seemed unfazed.

Just days before the Nov. 6 General Election, Bollenbacher held a campaign sign in support of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as drivers stuck in Tuesday's U.S. 19 rush hour traffic slowly passed.

Alongside a dozen or so fellow demonstrators, the Safety Harbor resident waved for two hours, with a smile on her face.

Although a registered Republican, she stood with activists claiming to be from a non-partisan Meetup group called the North Pinellas 9/12 Project (some demonstrators held signs in support of Democrat Carl Zimmerman). The group is a local chapter of a national, volunteer, Glenn Beck-inspired movement whose mission is uniting and educating people and communities on principals in the U.S. Constitution.

"It's important," Bollenbacher said.

Bollenbacher, a full-time medical claims analyst, said it's her first time volunteering for a presidential campaign. She was moved to take action because she felt the dream of a better life for her adult children and young grandchildren was slipping downhill under President Barack Obama's administration.

Bollenbacher said she has knocked on 961 doors since Sept. 17 and has helped convince several registered Democrats to vote Mitt Romney in the General Election.

"I really believe in Mitt Romney. He is a truly good person," she said. "I believe he can turn the country around. ... So what if he's rich? He's worked hard."

Solitary Obama Support

A lone President Obama supporter stood across the street from Bollenbacher's demonstration at the corner of Curlew Road and U.S. 19 with a homemade sign.

Michael James, 32, said he saw the group of Romney-Ryan supports when he walked out of the Circle K and approached them.

He was so incensed after his interaction with the Romney-Ryan supporters that he went home, made his own Obama sign using a permanent marker and the lid of a blue storage container, and returned.

"How dare they tell me to get a job," said James, a five-year Palm Harbor resident. "I work two jobs."

He is a cook at The Original Hooters and also distributes fliers at rate of 10 cents a copy, he said.

The 9/12 demonstrators said that James, who has visible tattoos on his neck and arms, was harassing them, so they told him to go to the corner across the street.

James avoided answering when asked what he initially said to the North Pinellas demonstrators. 

"Good for him," one North Pinellas 9/12 Project demonstrator said when they saw him with his sign from across the street.

Want to Go?

The North Pinellas 9/12 Project plans to demonstrate twice more before the General Election on Nov. 6. They expect a 100 or more demonstrators.

• When: Friday, Nov. 2 and Monday, Nov. 5 from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
• Where: North side of the Courtney Campbell Causeway