More than a year ago, in my state of Arizona

mrreowwr_kittty

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Tue May-06-08 11:31 PM
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More than a year ago, in my state of Arizona

Edited on Wed May-07-08 12:00 AM by thecatburgler

After most of the Presidential candidates had announced their intentions, there was one candidate who had volunteers and activists on the ground immediately. That candidate was Barack Obama.

I don't know if this movement arose organically from enthusiastic supporters taking the initiative to get things going, or if it was a concerted effort from the Obama campaign leadership down. Probably a bit of both. All I know is by the spring of 2007, there were meetings, house parties, and rallies going on all over the place. The website had a regular calendar of meetings for interested supporters and volunteers.

In contrast, none of the other candidates seemed to be doing much of anything in John McCain's backyard. Eventually Bill Richardson, the governor of our neighboring state, attracted a following and there was some activity on his behalf. But nothing like the groundswell that was happening for Obama.

By June, I made my decision to support him. For several reasons, not the least of which was that I was really impressed by the enthusiastic organization that was humming along in my community. I met people from all walks of life, many of whom had never been involved in politics or campaigns before.

The Obama offices opened in Phoenix and Tucson in October. Thousands of volunteers signed up to phone bank and canvass. The phones rang off the hook and there was a steady stream of excited and friendly faces showing up and asking how they could help.

Not to take anything away from Clinton, there was a substantial base of support for her here. Many party insiders and big donors were in her camp, as were prominent women's and Hispanic groups and labor leaders. Plus, the demographics for her were ideal. A large Hispanic and retired population promised to put her over the top in a closed primary.

But her Arizona campaign seemed to be disorganized and haphazard. In fairness, a lot of that is my biased observation, but it was validated by a good friend of mine, a Clinton supporter, who confided in me how frustrated she was by the lack of a cohesive organization. They opened their office in mid-December. For the first week that it was open the phone system was malfunctioning. They couldn't take incoming calls. It took several calls to the state party office, located across the street, from people wanting to volunteer to alert the local campaign to that fact. On edit: It's not my intention to slam the Clinton campaign at all. Conventional wisdom says that you don't expend resources in a state that is favorable to you and is the home state of a Republican nominee. My intention is to illustrate the unique-ness of the Obama strategy.

In the end, Sen. Clinton won Arizona. On the night of the election it was by double digits, but when the Sec'y of State announced the official results a week later, it was about 7.5% Two months prior to Super Tuesday, the polls were showing her about 25% ahead. That's neither here nor there. All I know is that one candidate and his supporters thought that John McCain's backyard was worth fighting for. And that means the world to me.

So when Clinton supporters ask us Obama supporters "What do you see in him?", I can't answer for everyone else but I can point to my experience here in Arizona and tell them that there's something really special about Barack Obama.