Howdy y'all!
Busy times in San Antonio! I promised I'd try to get a diary up to let you all get an idea of what's happening on the ground here. And a lot has been happening quickly! Since the Potomac landslide made it evident that the Texas primary was going to be crucial, volunteers for Obama have been coming out in droves to help out. The field staff (22 strong!!) that flew into town early this week have been stunned at the outpouring of support and enthusiasm here in Texas! The tiny office that the local grassroots group AlamObama opened in November was filled to overflowing Wednesday evening when the annual monthly meeting was overrun by enthusiastic volunteers eager to help win Texas for Obama. Over 300 people packed the place, and the sidewalks outside - to hear how they could play a part in this important primary (and caucus!). People of every description, age and race listened attentively to the newly arrived field staff and "old hands" that just a year ago were huddled around a table at Borders, talking about setting up a grassroots campaign for Obama here in the Alamo City - from 8 hopeful and determined people, a huge San Antonio campaign has blossomed! Follow the armadillo over the fold for a quick rundown of what's happening here "deep in the heart of Texas"....
Wednesday evening we packed the alamObama office and heard the call for precinct captains to GOTV/GOTC in Bexar (you can score extra mojo if you can pronounce THAT correctly, BTW) County. For most folks in the room, this was a FIRST TIME EVER to volunteer for a campaign...and surprisingly, many - most of us even - were boomers! I had expected a roomful of college kids and WOW! Every age group was represented - even some very senior Senior citizens had turned out!
The shocker for most folks was the explanation of the "Texas Two Step" Primary/Caucus system. I was already pretty well informed on that because we'd had Kossaks on top of that already (See Anna's wonderful diary Guide to Texas Delgate Selection and Primary System ). The campaign down here has been calling it the Texas Two Step...quick and easy to remember!
Lots of people were signing up to be precinct captains and trainings were being planned for the coming weekend.
Friday night there was a sign painting party to get the new Obama for America office ready for the Grand Opening on Saturday. What fun! I'd never been to one of these before but most of the other participants hadn't either. We had a great time - the "office" had been an empty shell of a city warehouse that morning, but was being turned into a campaign office as we painted - signs, pictures, posters and signup sheets adorned the walls before I left at 11 pm and the staff worked on past that!
By Saturday morning, precinct captain training was being held in the space and the Grand Opening was scheduled for 1:30 pm. By the time I arrived at 1:15 the place was hard to miss - a large crowd of people filled the sidewalks in front of the office - again a diverse mix of people of every description - the excitement of the crowd made the air feel electrified. One enthusiastic supporter had created a dress just for the occasion and happily posed for a picture...and her hat was great too!
If my formatting stinks, my spologies. I am new at this diary stuff...pootie pics in the comments are about as complex as I can manage...
Back to San Antonio - Saturday's Grand opening seemed to be a rousing success - approximately 500 enthusiastic people crowded into the new office space and again, filled the sidewalks outside. Four Hispanic members of Congress spoke enthusiastically about bringing the "wind of change" to America, with our help in South Texas. After the speeches and cheering, after the bulk of the crowds filed out, I found the floor--to-ceiling volunteer signup sheets filled COMPLETELY with names and contact information. The staff was delighted and planning on numerous precinct captain trainings for the following day. They'd already held one in the packed office Saturday morning prior to the official opening!
Sunday, I attended my training on the North Side of San Antonio - an overwhelmingly Republican area (Local high school is Ronald Reagan...and Hagee's mega church is up here too) But still we had 50 or so new volunteers show up for training! The co-captain in my precinct attended a training earlier Sunday on the North West side of town and reported close to 100 volunteers turned out!! That district is a little less upscale and MUCH more ethnically diverse. They were a fired up bunch too!
The ground game is off to a great start here in San Antonio if the level of enthusiasm I've seen is any indication at all. I do know that Hillary supporters are busy as well and are confident about pulling in the latino votes...but from what I have heard, younger latino voters may be very receptive to Obama's outlook for America, so that is an opportunity that we will hope to be able to use to our advantage.
A few quick final anecdotes before I go:
At the opening Saturday, I spoke with a young man who is the president of the Young Democrats at his HIGH SCHOOL (YAY young activists!!) who said that his counterpart on the Yound Republican side is so discouraged about the GOP options this year that they are discussing disbanding both groups for the 2008 campaign and becoming the Youth for Obama group. THAT is the kind of cooperation and promise that many here see in Obama.
I hear from my spouse at a large San Antonio corporate entity (that is very military oriented)...that many of the folks there do not like McCain (!) and would vote for Obama instead....but they will never cast a vote for Hillary. That I found surprising (the anti-McCain sentiment there)
One of the biggest hurdles I see with many voters here is that those abominable anti-Obama emails have been making the rounds and these folks, who are really very kind people, really are AFRAID of the "stealth muslim" or the "Black man who owes his allegience to Africa" ("Where does it say anything about AMERICA on his church's website?????"). So those issues need to be dealt with.
I spoke with a middle aged latino who thinks that the older latinos of his acquaintence may be reluctant as a knee-jerk reaction to vote for a black person. He just thinks there is a lot of long-standing ingrained distrust that the older generation may hold...but he also thinks that younger latinos are very receptive to Obama and his message of hope, inclusiveness and progress for all.
Many of the supporters I've seen are boomer white women - many I would have though would be in Hillary's camp. Surprised me!
Obama himself is coming to San Antonio tomorrow and everyone is so excited! Hoping for good news from the latest round of primaries! If I get my act together, I will report on that event - but armadillos are not known for their technical prowess....
Get back to work, y'all...see you on the campaign trail!