The blogosphere is going nuts. Declarations of earthquakes. Declarations of a sea change. Mitt Romney referenced Barack Obama in the GOP New Hampshire debate last night, and followed it promptly with a claim that he, The King of Swinging Opinion, is the candidate of change. The repubs were falling all over themselves trying to prove which of them was the MOST like Barack Obama. My problem is that they called the race at 6:24 PST, which means I was still in the office when the word came down. Blake (not my dad) and I frantically scanned the FM and AM dials on the 30 minute drive to the party site, but were unable (?) to find a single channel with commentary. When we arrived, the room was wall to wall. Everyone wanted a hug or a high five. Most were close to crying if they hadn't already, and the rest teared up when Barack finally started talking. I sure did. I think it was when Barack gave a shout out to a bunch of 20-something kids who organized Iowa for him. It's something he does everywhere he goes in Iowa. Brings the Field Staff onstage, introduces them to the crowd, acknowledges their role, sets them loose on the undecideds who're silly enough to raise their hands. And everyone says it's all well and good and shows how much he understands the importance of ground game, and what a down to earth guy he is, and wow, that Barack sure does know how to organize. But you don't recognize your grunt laborers when you're claiming the most improbable electoral victory in modern history. So that's about when I started tearing up. Most of the girls were leaking when he gave the shout out to Michelle. I could go on and on about the assorted ramifications of the Iowa results. I could discuss the metrics and the implications, but you can read those on everyone else's blog. Or the NYT. But I got an email from my aunt the other day. She said,
"So, hey, a story on NPR about the Iowa Obama campaign said that one of its innovations was designating dozens coordinators to work specifically with groups of young people, which was a large reason for the high turnout of young voters. Very smart. Is that true in other states? Is that what you’re doing in Nevada?" And the answer is yes. I told a group of them yesterday, "Some people said we were wasting our time on young people." They didn't care much for that. It's been incredible to see the way they respond. One of my best student interns went home his first day with the policy pack I give them all. Some read it, but it usually takes a week. He texted me an hour later. When we were first talking, he told me about an election that they had to run for government class. Groups of four had to develop a platform and run against each other. His text said something like, "hey, just finished the policy. A lot of it is like the stuff we came up with for school. Especially with education."
I think it took him a week or so to realize that most of what Barack wants is actually common sense. He's a precinct captain now, probably the youngest around at 17, and his precinct has gone from 54% to vote goal to 93%. I've got kids who spend 12 hour days over their Christmas break making phone calls, knocking on doors... One of them asked me yesterday if she could come here to hang out and finish her homework.
We're getting over giddy, finally, and getting ready for a fight. It's still the wild west out here. Most of the time, the conversation goes something like, "If Obama wins NH, he'll go on to South Carolina with a great deal of momentum." Or they'll say, "After NH, the third important contest will be in South Carolina..." It's funny that no one realizes we're here. They'll be waking up on Wednesday morning and see that their ticket says "Nevada" and then this town'll turn into a zoo. But we're ready. Ready to play our role. I guess I'm mostly saying that you shouldn't expect to hear from me much till the 20th. Watch for the red shirts on the news, and you might even catch a glimpse of me waving a sign behind some CNN camera. So see ya after the 19th. Let's hope that I have a very happy birthday, turning 29 the day Barack leaves with a victory in the West, on his way (at last) to South Carolina.
