I imagine that in every political party, in every campaign, in every County in America, campaign volunteers and staffers must in some way believe that their county is central to their candidate winning the election. It just happens, that in this case, our belief that this is so in Scioto County is probably correct. And if yesterday is any indication, that may be a promising sign.
Follow be below the fold as I explain why I think this, and what yet remains to be done. First, let me add a short disclaimer. I don't speak in any way at all for the Obama Campaign or for the local Democratic Party. I'm a local registered Democrat and I also volunteer for the Obama campaign. This diary of course, is my own personal view of the matter.
Yesterday, the Democratic Party and Obama's Campaign for Change officially opened the Democratic Party headquarters (the office has been unofficially opened now for about two weeks) in Portsmouth, on Chilicothe Street. Thursday night we had officially kicked off the campaign with a meeting of the local party and a watch Party for Barack Obama. At it's height, we had about 80 people at the local office.
The popular wisdom has been that Barack Obama cannot win in Scioto County. Scioto County is part of Appalachian Ohio and is supposed to represent the kind of county where Obama "can't". He not only can win Scioto County-he will. But it is going to take some help.
First of all I have been incredibly impressed both with the local field organizer the Obama campaign has sent and with the enthusiasm and level of volunteer support. We now have an enthusiastic and well organized phone bank/canvas/GOTV effort underway.
Second of all, after my experience in canvasing yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to meet so many base Democratic voters (and even one or two Republican voters) who are now enthusiastcally pro-Obama.
I'm also very impressed with the enthusiasm that Todd Book, our Congressional Representative for the 89th District to Congress has shown for Obama. Todd has impressed me since he was previously a Hillary supporter at the convention. Twice now I have heard Todd speak effectively for Obama and relay how his own skepticism and fears at the DNC Convention had been resolved. I've heard Tom Reiser, candidate for Scioto County Commissioner speak for Obama.
And yesterday, I had the great pleasure of meeting Victoria Wulsin who is running against mean Jean Schmidt.
And two weeks ago I had the chance in Columbus Ohio at a training for neightborhood team leaders to hear Ted Strickland give a barn burner of a speech about the necessity of electing Obama.
And now finally, let me get to the point and relay two anecdotes to you. First, is what Victoria Wulsin said to me as we discussed Obama's campaign. First, Wulsin is enthusiastically for Obama. She was enthusiastic about turning this area blue. But she noted, we needed to have Ted and Barack here, in Portsmouth, on the same stage.
Yesterday, while canvasing, I had the opportunity to talk to an elderly woman swing voter in my area. We talked about her fears and the negative image that had been portrayed to her about Michelle Obama and Reverend Wright. And then we got down to talking about Ted. She told me she had told Ted to run for governor in a grocery store. When I told her how enthusiastically Ted had spoken for Barack, she was quite suprised.
And that folks is how Scioto and Pike and Adams County will be won for Barack Obama. We can make the phone calls and knock on the doors. But we are going to need that extra something to put us over the top.
So, how about it Barack and Ted?
A final short note about Republican dirty tricks: apparently, someone was calling local Democrats in Chilicothe, Ohio (about 45 minutes north of Portsmouth)and telling them Barack was going to be in Chilicothe yesterday. This resulted in the local office in Chilicothe being flooded with angry and puzzled calls.