A Short Backgrounder, Part Two

Amongst the political entertainment during my time in California (New York Governor Eliot Spitzer the unwitting tangential prize of an organised prostitution-ring bust, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick charged with eight felonies, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens charged with improperly compensating a building contractor, etc), a very serious one was continuing its eighteen month-old machinations. What had begun in the snows of Iowa had really started in February 2007 when Barack Obama declared his candidacy for President of the United States and even much before that. My memory of Barack Obama entering my consciousness is a little hazy although I recall that by the time he delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004, I had been following his progress for some time. When the Big O declared he would run for the Presidency two years after becoming the junior US Senator from Illinois this came as little surprise to any political egghead.

Around early June I slowly started to realise that a golden opportunity lay before me to engage in a political process which I had enthusiastically been following from the comfort of my armchair and the earphones of my iPod for well over a year. Being the type who respects those who walk the walk rather than talk the talk, it became clear that not only would my job-search take time, but if I were so convinced that the Big O would be a better alternative to any Republican then I ought to do some’at about it. By this stage Hillary was for practical purposes already out of the race. So in amongst travels to Europe for aforementioned family reasons and a fantastic 4th July holiday around the southern United States (I highly recommend Savannah and New Orleans) I looked for ways to become involved. One aspect of the Big O’s now famous campaign was his harnessing of the “new” technologies first employed on a large scale by Howard Dean during his not-so-successful run for the Democratic nomination in 2004. Obama’s website, being designed as it was by the guy who developed Facebook, was set up such that people could publicise events, rallies, organizational meetings and so on and allow others to get involved. I started attending various events, mostly talking up Obama to people passing in the street and at summer fairs. Obama had also decided that his policy framework (for which read high-level principles) would be decided democratically by a wide swath of his supporters rather than just those who attend the Convention. Thus I attended various policy discussions to elaborate a submission to Obama’s staff which taught me a whole lot about education and healthcare in the States. And allowed me the opportunity to educate a few people on what goes on in “Europe” (expressed by some as though it were somewhere close to the Moon).

Another event posted on the website, MyBO as it became known, was a voter registration drive in Las Vegas. One of the most impressive organizational decisions by the Obama campaign was to pair rock-solid states with geographically proximate swing states. Thus California was paired with Nevada and a large number of events were set up for Californians to travel to Nevada to help the local effort. So I drove up to Las Vegas with three other people I’d never met before, a girl who does public health work in developing countries and who was in LA between jobs, a guy who had run for local elected office in Southern California unsuccessfully and whose day-job is computer programming and an octogenarian battle-axe who provided constant hilarity. She was part Muhammad Ali, part Erin Brockovich. We spent the weekend standing outside WalMart (not generally considered Democratic-friendly terrain) and signed up large numbers of voters. It was hot. It was very, very hot. But it was also a lot of fun. The best ploy to get people to stop is to make them laugh combined with an overly strong appeal to their better sense. And never ask a question to which the answer is “yes” or “no”. “I would love to register you to vote today.” “I don’t have time.” “It will only take a few minutes to register and it will give you a voice.” “It doesn’t make any difference.” “Yes, that’s how Floridian Democrats feel too.” And so it went.

That weekend was so much fun that I went back with Sara (the public health girl) and a friend of hers the following weekend. And that one turned out to be so much fun again that I started talking to the regional managers about coming up full-time to volunteer. At the time I was semi-serious about it. But by the time I’d got back to LA I realized that it really was something I should do. When was I going to get the opportunity again to work on a presidential campaign? When was I going to get the chance again to work on a campaign which I had heard from at least a dozen people had not roused their passions to such an extent since 1960? So a week later I packed up my car and headed back to Vegas, this time to stay until the election. I had little idea of what was to come; 60 uninterrupted 16 hour days at the grindstone. No weekends. No days off. The hardest I’ve ever worked.