My boyfriend took a job with the Obama campaign in Merrillville, Indiana and I joined him there to help out and document our experiences. On election day, Lizardbox from Daily Kos called the office supervisor to ask if we needed food and then ordered pizza for the flood of volunteers that we received that day. I just wanted to post some pictures and stories as a "thank you" to Lizardbox and everyone else here who helped out on what was the campaign's biggest day since the Iowa caucuses.
This photo was taken about one hour before Tim Russert called the nomination race for Obama, and you can see the mounting excitement in our faces:
So I was able to attend tonight's rally at West Side High in Gary, Indiana and heard Michelle Obama give a rousing speech. I must say that I was very impressed with her and came away with the feeling that she's the real orator in the family. Her speech hit all the right notes: the absurdity of the media's elitism charges, the substance behind the change that Senator Obama is proposing, and their very impressive story of overcoming the odds through hard work to achieve what they have.
I hope Michelle's stump gets more play in the future as it really put to rest all of these stupid narratives floating around.
So I just wanted to put a diary/thread about reports from Indiana. Two things I wanted to fill everyone in on:
*** Robocalls last night went out linking Senator Obama to partial-birth abortion. The Robocall did not state the source of the call, in violation of Indiana state law.
*** A well-known figure in the community went to vote and was told she didn't look like her picture I.D. The pollworker (white) refused to allow the voter (black) to vote until the voter asked to speak to the pollworker's boss. The supervisor came over and, recognizing the voter, asked her what the problem was. The voter relied on the supervisor's personal knowledge of her identity in order to get her ballot. There are various reports that others have been denied for this same reason from this particular pollworker.
This closing is so brilliant. It ties together the story of his life with his message of hope and rebuts the doubts about his patriotism that have plagued this campaign. Obama effectively frames his story in the larger context of the American dream to achieve a better future. Finally, he challenges the Democratic party, and the super-delegates implicitly, to believe in his message and in his ability to win this election. It was a brilliant speech and addressed the problems the media has focused on but did so through a narrative more persuasive than any argument.
So we have word from The Field, Al Giordano's excellent blog, that there will be an endorsement tomorrow. The question on everyone's mind is, who is it?
Here's what we know:
The endorser will be on his/her own for the morning and afternoon. The initial presser will be Indianapolis. The endorser will then fly to Evansville and later to Louisville before meeting up with Barack Obama for a joint rally in the evening.
So I spent another day canvassing in Northwest Indiana and wanted to share observations from the field and an exhortation to the Obamafans here on Daily Kos. First let me say that the Obama campaign is unlike anything I've ever witnessed. It's not only a well-oiled machine, it is a family. Everyone recruits for the effort--classmates, co-workers, friends, family, lovers, and children all volunteer their time so that the staff is not overwhelmed by menial tasks and may focus on honing strategy and delegating. The most ardent volunteers work 14 hours a day 7 days a week, with no pay whatsoever. The dedication is inspiring.
So I'm sure some of you have been to Mr. Super--an anonymous super-delegate's blog. I've been reading his posts and replies to comments to "read in the tea leaves" and I can't come down one way or the other. Some things I've gleaned, though, are that supers are by and large decided on whom to back. He says that most have decided, just not declared, and the rest of the primaries may have minimal impact--unless someone wins most or all of the remaining ones. He also had this tid-bit:
Also spoke to personnel from the national campaigns. Both are moving forward and preparing to be the presumptive nominee. One of the camps is preparing to push this effort to Denver if necessary.
An effort to take this to the floor of the convention will not receive any meaningful support from Supers.
This signals to me that the supers are mostly supporting Obama...
I spent the day in Gary and Merrillville, Indiana with the Obama campaign drive voters the polls. Afterwards, the campaign held a BBQ for volunteers and early voters. I noticed a few things from my time on the ground there:
No one is absolutely confident Barack Obama will win Indiana. Indiana is extremely conservative, they warn, and they fear that Republican crossover voting will occur, and at the very least, secure Clinton a few extra points.
Northwest Indiana is as important to Obama in Indiana as St. Louis was in Missouri. To win the state, he needs to drive the numbers up here. I was in St. Louis right before Super Tuesday, and the city was crawling with Obama volunteers. But Chicagoans are NOT out in full force here like they were in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri. So if you're in Chicago, please volunteer next weekend for what could very well be the final push.
This didn't get much play in the press, and Keith Olbermann dismissed it, but I found the statement to be very clever--too clever by half. Listen to the video as well as the quote, because half of the code is in her facial expressions and voice inflection.
"It's important for you to know the facts. You can vote for or against any candidate, based on anything. And we do that in America. You know, you don't like somebody's--oh, say hair style. It's whatever you chose! But this is too important an election, and we have to know exactly where people stand. Not what somebody says, but what they've done. . . . .That's why I want you to approach this like a hiring decision."
The mayor of Hammond, Indiana, has complained to the Northwest Indiana Times about the local practice of bussing students to polling places. Field trips have been organized to encourage civic participation, but the Mayor believes the practice benefits Obama.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton denounced it Wednesday as a shameless political power play.
"To me it seems like an orchestrated effort on behalf of the Obama campaign to take kids who should be in school learning to read and write, instead giving them a day off and telling them to vote for Obama.
"When you corral kids together and ship them to polling places, it's completely unethical." McDermott said.
The mayor does not appear to have been bothered by this practice in the past.
Washington said Lew Wallace students have been bused to Crown Point to vote for three years now.
The sign in front of a small church in a small town is causing a big controversy in Jonesville, S.C.
Pastor Roger Byrd said that he just wanted to get people thinking. So last Thursday, he put a new message on the sign at the Jonesville Church of God.
It reads: "Obama, Osama, hmm, are they brothers?"
The pastor took the sign to his congregation who unanimously approved it, Fox news has reported.
UPDATE II: Push-back works, folks. Thanks. Ken Bell of the Central Church:
We, too, deeply regret such a disgraceful display. . . As soon as we found out about it, the pastor was instructed to take it down immediately. Unfortunately, the hurt had already been done.
It's really becoming the campaign of desperation....in the last hour, Clinton's campaign has pulled out all the stops. First there was a memo outlining the red-baiting campaign Republicans might run against Obama (while failing to highlight Hillary's unusual vulnerabilities in this area).
Now her campaign has released an ad that claims Obama prefers to attack Clinton than answering the "more and more questions" raised about himself. This is, of course, straight-up Karl Rove bullshit. She attacks him personally with guilt-by-association smears that don't pass any reasonable smell test and then accuses him of attacking her when he responds with an issue-oriented ad.
So I thought it would be fun to list a few potential questions that Stephanopoulos and Gibson could pose to the illustrious Senator from Arizona.
Questions for John McCain at ABC Debate:
Senator McCain, do you think the American people will have trouble trusting someone who left his wife for a much younger woman after she was disabled in a horrific car wreck?
Senator McCain, do you think the American people are ready to have a First Lady who pilfered addictive prescription drugs from a charitable organization?
Senator McCain, do you think the American people are willing to have a president who uses racial slurs like "gooks"?
Senator McCain, isn't it true you called your wife a "trollop" and a "cunt"?
I have been in meetings with the Clintons and their advisors where very cynical things were said in a very-detached tone about unwillingness of working class voters to trust government -- and Bill Clinton -- and about their unfortunate (from a Clinton perspective) proclivity to vote on life-style rather than economic issues. To see Hillary going absolutely over the top to smash Obama for making clearly more humanly sympathetic observations in this vein, is just amazing. Even more so to see her pretending to be a gun-toting non-elite. Give us a break!
So I wasn't going to post a story on this, but considering the latest attempt to drive deep wedges between so-called "beer track" and "wine track" Democrats, I thought I'd chime in with this story.
I live with my boyfriend in a small apartment near a well-known, elite university, where we both are both students. Sure, we have multiple Macintosh products strewn about our living room amongst scores of empty wine bottles, but we've built this liberal elite paradise with student loans and summer jobs.
Now, our faucet has been leaking for weeks. It started out as a slow drip (sometime after Wisconsin, heh) and has slowly gotten worse. Each week more dripping--more water slipping down the drain every day. The incessant drip-drip-drip finally drove me nuts last week so I decided to call a plumber.
We had been making jokes about plumbing all week, naturally, and were actually surprised when a young, athletic, tall, Polish man showed up....
"I thought the controversy over Rev. Wright was remarkable," Cheney said. “I thought some of the things he said were absolutely appalling. And, you know, I haven't gotten into the business of trying to judge how Sen. Obama dealt with it, or didn't deal with it, but I really, I think -- like most Americans -- I was stunned at what the Reverend was preaching in his church and then putting up on his website.’"
Kind of....Queerty.com posted this video of the new Gov. Paterson proclaiming what seems to be serious dedication to passing gay marriage:
We will push on an bring full marriage equality in New York State. And when we have done that, we’re going to do more.
We’re going to protect young people from bullies. We’re going to protect against the discrimination of people in the transgender community, and we’re going to fight for decent and affordable healthcare for all citizens in this state.
If you will join with me, and if we work hard enough, we can change the face of New York, which will be the catalyst to changing national policy.
But you have to watch the video to get the humor....this guy is great.
