Etiquette for Canvassing

Although the old adage about not discussing politics at the dinner table or in polite company makes me a very rude person, I do think there is a need for greater etiquette concerning canvassing.

For those in heavily canvassed areas (any early primary or swing state), I can understand how frustrating and intrusive the repeated door knocks, phone calls and lit drops would be. While it's part of the price for getting to be more important than everyone else for months, there are things the geographically well-endowed can do to at least minimize the intrusion.
1) First off, you never have to answer a door for a canvasser. If you see them walking up and down your street and you just woke up, got out of the shower, have the flu or don't feel like talking, just don't get the door.
2) There's a more polite alternative to this strategy which will also grant you greater peace and quiet. You can hang a polite sign on your door which says "No canvassers, please." Alternate versions-- "no soliciting for my business, my vote, or my faith" or "don't knock-- sleeping baby" also work well.
a) This is MUCH more effective than telling individual canvassers to take you off their list. Campaigns are often a day or two (or more) behind in entering in data like that from canvassing. Additionally, people from several different campaigns or organizations (the frustration of not being able to coordinate with PACs in 2004 and covering the same turf: endless) may all be covering your neighborhood and they cannot coordinate with one another.
b) An even nicer twist on the sign is one which gives the canvassers the information they want. "No canvassers please. I plan to vote for candidate X" or "Please do not disturb. I'm firmly committed to voting on Election Day." Such specificity reduces the risk that the canvassers will 'code' you on their sheets as not home or undecided, and, with competent data entry, should take you off their phone banking lists.
c) If canvassers ignore such signs and still knock/ring the bell, carte blanche to be annoyed.
3) If you don't have a sign up and answer the door, please don't yell at canvassers. You can tell them you'd rather not speak to them, but there is no reason not to be civil. (In my experience, most people are very nice and supportive whether or not they agree with you, but the one person who shouts "GET OFF MY PORCH NOW" can ruin a day.)

For canvassers:
1) Don't walk on people's lawns. Use pathways.
2) Never, ever throw lit on people's lawns. Do you really want people picking up litter with your candidate's face all over it?
3) Similarly, place lit under a door mat, inside an outer door or secure it in some ways so that it is unlikely to blow away and become litter. However, don't EVER put lit in a mailbox. This is illegal.
4) Park in a place where you aren't in people's way. And if you have out of state plates, think about parking outside of your turf.
5) Ditch the script, speak from the heart, don't waste people' time, and get them talking. The most successful canvassing is a two way dialogue in which they speak at least as much as you do. This may not seem like an etiquette point, but it's rude to talk 'at' an equal.
6) Affirm turnout. Affirm participation, even by the opposition.

A pet peeve of mine is people in the crowd at rallies who get to the front by holding the "right" signs and then holding up signs for an opposition candidate as soon as the media showed. This technique was a favorite of Santorum's failed 2006 effort to hold on to his senate seat, and I was shocked to see Democrats doing it to other Democrats in New Hampshire. I think this is extremely tasteless and ineffective. It's important to remember that when you are out publicly supporting a candidate, everything you do reflects on that candidate. Undecided voters vote with their gut as much as their head, and being polite and charming leaves them with a favorable impression of your candidate. Being rude-- trampling lawns, littering, being overly aggressive-- does just the opposite. "Attack tactics" like destroying the lit of other candidates, etc, are even worse.