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!