Team Hillary in Newton

I attended a Team Hillary party on Thursday night where we talked about the campaign in Pennsylvania. Several people involved in the Team Hillary group from Newton, MA., a group initially organized to volunteer in New Hampshire by Massachusetts State Representatives Ruth Balser and Kay Kahn, is going to Pennsylvania from April 17-22. Kay and Ruth's group of volunteers has been active in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island. The Clinton campaign asked Kay and Ruth to "adopt" towns in New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Of course, we worked in Newton for the Massachusetts primary. (Obama won Newton by only 19 votes, which was considered a tremendous victory for Team Hillary since Newton was considered Obama territory.) We worked out of the Salem, NH office for the NH primary and adopted Warwick, RI for the primary onMarch 4. Team Hillary-Newton has adopted Bucks County, PA for the Pennsylvania primary on April 22; we will be working from the campaign office in Bristol, PA.

I don't know if state and local politicians in other states have been asked by the campaign to organize a volunteer corps to adopt a particular location, but it is a model that should be used for the upcoming primaries. Kay's and Ruth's extensive networks have put together a formidable volunteer movement. Hillary's decisive victory in the Salem and surrounding areas in New Hampshire was possible in large part, I believe, because of a very effective collaboration between experienced state and local politicians and the young campaign staff. In my opinion, the staff in Columbus, Ohio needed guidance from experienced local and state politicians--see my entry "Buckeyes for Hillary"for a discussion of the organizing effort in Ohio. I didn't see evidence of any supervision in Ohio.

I hope that political scientists and historians studying Hillary's historic march to the White House will consider the significant role played by local and state politicians in organizing and leading a grassroots volunteer movement.

Meeting Bill Clinton

I attended a reception with Bill Clinton this evening. I was surprised by the small number of people at the event, about 200. It was great for me because I was able to meet the former President and hear his remarks to the faithful. At the same time, I was disappointed and somewhat surprised that he was taking time out of his schedule to meet with such a small group. I talked with Tom Dwyer, a close friend of the Clintons', after the event who told me that they raised about $200,000, which is pocket change these days. Tom believes that Hillary is going to have a difficult time raising money during the next few months because her base is more or less tapped out. Tom's assessment was confirmed by Bill Clinton's plea to us to ask our friends to contribute anything they can. And that is certainly true among the volunteers I've been working with. Most of the people I've met in the campaign make under $75,000 a year and have contributed about $1,000 or more over time. I went to the event with my friend Mansi; we were able to attend the $1,000 reception for a small contribution because we are getting to know people in the campaign. Mansi and I just can't afford to contribute that much these days. Still, Tom told me that Hillary will return to Boston before the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania. It is very clear to me that the campaign is relying on fundraising in the Northeast.

I have to say that even in these cynical times it was thrilling to hear Bill Clinton talk about the campaign. I saw Bill and Al Gore several times in Ohio when they were campaigning in 1992 but there is something about listening to the former President of the United States. His comments came from such a wealth of experience this time around. He launched into a tutorial about the mortgage crisis that took my breath away. I wish I could have taken notes. It was an amazing performance. He is so brillant yet manages to connect to the audience in a very sincere way. He said that he spent time attending "little ol meetings in West Virginia and looked in people's eyes and knows that people will support Hillary." You believe him! He said that people "like Hillary" in Florida, West Virginia, and elsewhere and then made a case for her candidacy that was very convincing. Still, I also got a sense of how easily he gets into trouble. He is very free with his criticism of the Obama campaign and makes everything very personal. He told us how he danced for joy when Hillary won so convincingly in Massachusetts despite endorsements for Obama that were supposed to be so influential. He didn't mention Kerry and Kennedy by name, but it was clear that he was thrilled by the result of the contest and that it was very personal--and competitive. Far more than Hillary, he is very emotionally invested. He said that even if we didn't contribute so much to see him that night, he still would've have come to Massachusetts to thank us for such an important victory. He then called out people by name to thank. It was fascinating to hear him talk about the campaign in such personal terms.

I noticed how he lapsed into mentioning "our" campaigan and talking about "us," which I have to admit makes me nervous. While he focused on discussing Hillary's ability to lead the country, you couldn't help but see that this is a joint effort. I'm not sure what to make of it. I was convinced after several intemperate remarks he made about Obama that he was a detriment to the campaign, but after seeing him make such a passionate and articulate plea for Hillary, I'm not so sure. He's great but needs boundaries!

I stood about ten feet from Bill and was entranced by his oft reported charisma. When he looked around the room and pointed to us and said "we're counting on you to go to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Indiana," the crowd yelled back that we were going to PA. He did a wonderful job keeping us inspired and invested.

I'll say more about this event and the Team Hillary meeting I'm attending tomorrow night in the next post.

Bill In Boston and on to PA!

I'm beginning to think that the road to the White House is going to go through Boston.
Hillary has been in the city several times and now Bill is on his way. It is my guess that Massachusetts and New York are leading states in fundraising for the Clinton campaign.

I plan to go to Bill's event on March 26 and will report on his comments. I'm sure Bill Richardson's recent endorsement of Obama will be a topic of conversation.


The next day, March 27, I'm going to a Team Hillary party in Newton, MA. I'm sure we will talk about going to Pennsylvania to volunteer. I will report on the mood of the volunteers and our plans to work for Hillary next month. I plan to go to Pennsylvania for several days before the April 22 primary.

Red State Strategy

Hi all--

Here is a post from a fellow volunteer in Massachusetts, Mansi Saboori.

The Red States: The central strategic argument of theObama campaign is flawed. Senator Obama argues thathis success in Democratic primary contests held inlong-time Red States means he will carry those statesin a general election. In reality, there are no “RedStates” in a Democratic primary – there are onlyDemocratic voters who live in Republican states andrepresent a small percentage of the general electionpopulation. Of the eleven core Republican states that have gone tothe polls, Sen. Obama has won ten: Utah, Idaho,Nebraska, North Dakota, Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, SouthCarolina, Georgia, and Louisiana. John Kerry lost eachof these states by fifteen points or more. The last time a Democratic nominee won Utah, Idaho,Nebraska, North Dakota, Kansas, and Alaska in thegeneral election was 1964. Even if Obama is “transcendent,” as his campaign hasargued, the historic electoral trends and the currentpolitical environment suggest that translating thoseprimary wins into November success will be close toimpossible. In short: Hillary is better positioned to carry thebattle ground states that Democrats need to win inNovember and Obama’s victories in deep red states donot....hillaryclinton.com

Buckeyes for Hillary

I volunteered in Hillary's central headquarters in Columbus, Ohio for five days.
I showed up at the headquarters and started answering the phone at the reception desk and did not stop doing that until I had to leave on Monday. It was a fascinating experience as people for all over the world called the only phone number for the Ohio campaign on Clinton's website. The calls varied from crank (and abusive, sexist)calls to calls from people offering to come to Columbus to volunteer. Close to 600 people came to Ohio to volunteer on the campaign. What astonished me was the number of people calling to give Clinton advice. Callers asked me to either call her to the phone or to take down their suggestions. It was clear to me that many of these people thought I had a direct line to her. I'm sure I talked to at least thirty people from Canada calling to tell Hillary to draw attention to Obama's approach to NAFTA.

From the reception desk, I was able to talk to Ohio voters. The Clinton campaign called voters with a recorded message from Hillary, leaving the campaign headquarters number. People called back returning Hillary's call! I believe that many people thought that she would come to the phone. I would launch into a discussion about why I supported Hillary and tried to convince people who called in to vote for her. Many people told me how much they were struggling economically. I heard several very compelling stories from unemployed and uninsured Ohio voters. People are really hurting.

My impression after talking with people for several days is that Clinton won because of the economy. I don't think that Ohio voters were convinced that Obama had viable economic plans. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's support and organization didn't hurt either. Strickland had strong support in southern Ohio when he ran for governor; Clinton did very well in southern Ohio.

I also believe that Hillary's army of surrogates made a difference, too. Madeline Albright joined a contingent of female politicians at a women's history event at the University of Toledo with Chelsea Clinton. Former Maryland Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend appeared with Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Stubbs-Jones.

Bill and Hillary both kept up a frantic pace between Texas and Ohio during the week before the primaries. (We had their travel schedules at the desk for the media.) It wasn't unusual for Hillary to appear at four events in Ohio, then leave for Texas the same day. I was glad that she decided to come back to Ohio just before March 4; the staff wasn't sure she was going to get back to Columbus. The campaign scheduled events in Westerville (a suburb outside Columbus), Austintown, Akron, and Cleveland on Sunday, March 2. Hillary asked that a few of the volunteers from Columbus join her on her campaign stops for that day. Mel (short for Melanie, I believe) the volunteer office manager I worked with at the reception desk, was thrilled to be chosen to go. Mel worked at the reception desk from the day the campaign opened an office. There were so many dedicated volunteers in Columbus, primarily women.

The tension between the campaign staff and the volunteers I witnessed in Maine and New Hampshire was clearly present in Ohio. The young staff (from ages 22-28) were dismissive and disrespectul at times. More importantly, volunteers would call the headquarters to complain that the staff in southern Ohio did not deliver canvass lists in the timely way and were unresponsive to volunteers. Staff members would not return phone calls and at times failed to show up at meetings. At times I felt as though I was engaging in conflict mediation between the staff and the volunteers. Mel and I tried to commuicate their concerns to the staff many times. I started answering the phone because I encountered the staff hunched over their computers while one person was trying to answer several phone lines! I answered the phone for eleven hours on Saturday, only taking short breaks. I arrived at 8:30am and did not leave until 9:00pm. I didn't want to leave because I was able to talk to so many Ohio voters. At night I would access the voicemail box and take down messages. The technology is great, but the campaign also needs to follow through when people call. We experienced this problem in Maine, too. People were given a phone number to call for information only to hear that the voice mail box was full. Several people told me that they were going to vote for Hillary because they were able to take with someone (me!) and tired of hearing recorded messages. Technology is not going to win elections. Of course, I'm old. I don't think the young staff would agree with me.

I'll be in Pennsylvania in April. I think I'll skip Mississippi, but I'm tempted to go!