Eternal vigilance.
Special thanks to the delegates traveling down to Austin for the Texas state convention this weekend. I visited with a friend who's been volunteering with the Obama campaign, and she told me that Clinton supporters have been crashing the Obama organizational meetings here in Fort Worth. How does she know?
When she was checking people in for the meeting, on more than one occasion she couldn't find someone's name on the list. She checked for alternate spellings, etc., and then finally suggested that the person was in the wrong district. And more than one person looked sheepish and finally said, "Do you think it's because I'm a Clinton supporter?"
These folks were let into the meeting (to promote party unity, I suppose) and then proceeded to stand up and recommend themselves for various committee positions and, of course, national delegate slots. My pal said they didn't say they were Obama supporters, but they didn't let on that they were for Clinton, either.
Anyway, Texas state delegates--be vigilant, and know who you're voting for. Again, thanks for making this commitment for us.
I ran into an old friend who lives in Dallas last weekend, and was delighted to hear that he's an Obama supporter as well! Anyway, this guy goes to Highland Park Methodist Church (in Dallas), and is seriously considering changing his membership to another church because HP Methodist is President Bush's home church, and will be the one he'll most likely attend when he moves back to Dallas.
Just so you guys know that all of Texas isn't welcoming junior Bush back with open arms.
An earlier post got my husband and me thinking. It might be hard to get a whole sports team to endorse Obama (or any candidate), but what about a group of athletes from all different sports, but one state? A sort of "Athletes for Obama" ?? I think that would generate alot of excitement!
So here's my Texas Dream Team: Emmitt Smith, Lance Armstrong, Kat Osterman, Nolan Ryan, LaDanian Tomlinson, and Vince Young.
Dream on, right?!
I have an Obama bumper sticker on the back of my car. While waiting at a light today, a convertible full of people pulled up next to me, honked, and gave me the thumbs up. I waved, but must have looked confused--and my windows were up. A guy in the car made an "O" with his hands. Understanding, smiles, and waves all around!
I know, it's a little thing, but it made me really happy. It makes me think that all of us Barack fans are on a team together. But the cool thing about this team is that anyone can be a part--anyone who wants change in this country, and is brave enough to hope for it and work for it.
Cheers to the whole Obama team--YES WE CAN!!
Electronic encouragement to all you Pennsylvania Obama volunteers and supporters!
I don't know if things are the same for you at your polling places as they are in Texas, but if they're similar, here are some simple things that helped our "visibility station" at our polling place:
1. Get there early--we arrived 15 minutes before the polls opened, and got the best spot. The Clinton supporter didn't roll in until mid-morning. An inferior spot for her.
2. If you see something fishy, don't hesitate to notify the election judge. Remember how I said the Clinton lady didn't get a good spot? Well, she made up for it by moving to a spot inside the 100-foot "no electioneering" boundary. The minute we told the judge, she was made to move back. I just wish we would have done it sooner!
3. Bring a card table to help stake out your space and to hold campaign literature, stickers, etc. Chairs are also good. It was like a party alot of the time around our little card table. We also made things festive with balloons. The Clinton campers had nothing--just two women who were there on and off passing out brochures.
Good luck up there!
Michelle Obama was a class act on the Colbert Report this evening. Funny, engaging, and gracious. She'll be a great first lady!
And the kids' drawings of Barack were so sweet!
Okay, my Obama friends, there seems to be alot of hand-wringing on the community blog tonight. Whenever I feel discouraged or things aren't going as well for Barack as I'd like, I tap over to www.jedreport.com.
Go on. Check it out. I think it will make you feel better. Maybe even better enough to get a little sleep tonight:)
I am thrilled to report that my Texas Senate District (10), will be sending 208 Obama delegates on to the state convention in Austin. The remaining 104 delegates will be for Clinton. Even I can do this math--we went 2 to 1 in favor of Barack!
The convention itself was absolute chaos--conflicting directions, endless waiting, etc. My precinct, which had 12 delegates, had 7 Obama supporters and 5 for Clinton. We were entitled to send one delegate and one alternate on to the state convention in June. All 12 of us were at the convention yesterday, and we voted an Obama supporter as our delegate. Clinton got the alternate.
The other two Senate districts in Tarrant County, 9 and 12, also went to Obama. District 9 totals were 15 for Clinton and 44 for Obama (almost three to one!) and District 12 totals were Clinton 84 and Obama 108. Electronic love to all the delegates and alternates everywhere in Tarrant County for your patience and your time! YES WE CAN!
My local paper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, printed a notice a couple of weeks ago. They wanted some delegates and alternates to the Democratic and Republican district conventions to write blog posts for the online edition about their experiences and thoughts as we Texans move through this election process.
There are six Obama supporters with postings. No Clinton postings at all. No Republican postings at all.
The district conventions in Texas are on Saturday. Obama fans are ready! That is--
FIRED UP! READY TO GO!! (you knew it was coming. . . ;)
Okay, everyone together! Right index finger held up high, and shake, shake, shake!
"Shame on you, Hillary Clinton! Shame on you!"
Sorry to be ungracious this evening, and my next post will not be so mean. I am angry at the patron saint of bitter women everywhere for dragging down the Democratic party, and by extension, this country. Her ambition and ego know no bounds, including those of decency, fair play, and truth.
So one more time, all together:
"Liar, Liar, Pantsuit on Fire!!"
Visited yesterday with someone who's been very involved with things at our Democratic Party County Headquarters. As the party prepares for the district conventions on March 29, both Clinton and Obama volunteers have been helping out at the party office. This person has observed bad behavior on both sides of the fence, I'm sorry to say, but said the Clinton supporters are desperate and determined to gain delegates for their side at the 3/29 conventions by any means possible. Many of them are also grossly misinformed. Desperate, determined, and misinformed--a dangerous combination!
Delegates AND alternates should plan to attend the convention. Be there, be on time (early would be better), and be vigilant. Beware of those who would deny you admission on the grounds of "credentials."
Please spread the word. I'll remind again closer to the event.
I went to a fun little party yesterday--a gathering of women writing postcards to other women voters in Pennsylvania encouraging them to vote for Senator Obama. Someone in Ohio with Women for Obama organized this.
Anyway, it was so uplifting to be with a group of like-minded people, doing something concrete to help Barack win votes.
Interestingly enough, I was told just that morning that I fit the profile of a Hillary supporter. Everyone at the postcard party was white and north of 40 to varying degrees. All of us passionate about Obama and the desperately needed change he wants to accomplish.
To me, this means that Barack's message appeals to people in all categories--even mid-life white women, like me!
Special welcome if you're one of the women in PA who's checking out my page because of the invitation on the postcard I sent you!
So Hillary has decided to insist that signatures from the Texas precinct caucuses are verified, in hopes to delay the district caucuses. Hoping that somehow delaying this justly won Texas election will deny Senator Obama's win, I suppose.
The caucus system Texas has now was set up to reward those voters who are well-read enough to know about the evening precinct caucus and passionate enough about a candidate to plan ahead to give up an evening to support him/her. It worked--Obama's fervent, well-informed supporters turned out in droves, and were rewarded with the majority of delegates awarded by the precinct caucuses.
I was at my polling place (where 4 precincts voted) all day March 4, and this is what happened there. Two of us Obama supporters arrived at 6:45 a.m. with a card table, chairs, balloons, literature and stickers. We got a great location to set up camp. There were at least two Obama volunteers manning our station throughout the day, and frequently more. Men, women, older, younger, various races--the whole spectrum of humanity. We even had a dog for a while!
One Clinton supporter, a 50-plus year old lady, rolled in about 9:30 a.m. She had some flyers to pass out, but as you might expect, she wasn't able to get as near to the voters as we were. So she crossed the clearly marked 100-foot no electioneering boundary and began accosting voters in the parking lot as they left. She continued until she was asked by the election judge to stop. She left after a bit, and came back later in the afternoon. She was joined by another 50-plus year old lady. That was all for the Clinton visibility effort at my polling place.
So how did things turn out? My precinct had 60 voters return that evening to sign for Obama. 46 voters returned to caucus for Clinton. Of our 12 delegates, 7 were awarded to Obama, 5 to Clinton. In my eyes, we won fair and square. Greater effort brought greater numbers. Of course, having the better candidate helped, too.
A true story that applies to our world situation now:
Years ago, friends of my parents, an older couple, had my husband and me to dinner. In the course of conversation, they mentioned that they'd had alot of problems with squirrels getting into their garden. So how had they been handling the situation? They had been catching the animals in a live trap and then drowning them. They laughed as they told us.
If you know anything about squirrels, you surely know that you can't hope to eradicate them. There are just too many, breeding like crazy on your property and everyone else's. So the solution to these people's problem is not to kill the squirrels. It's to make their garden hard for a squirrel to ruin, and there are many different ways to do that. Instead they chose to inhumanely murder rodent after rodent and lose a chunk of their own humanity on the way.
So how does this apply today? In my mind, the solution to our constant terrorist threat is not to torture and kill everyone who might be our enemy. The old system of an ever-increasing military presence is not working!
Barack Obama is our best hope of jettisoning the outdated, ineffective ways we've been handling all kinds of issues. I don't want a candidate who can work well within the old system. That system is broken.
Thanks to Brian McLaren and his book, Everything Must Change.
I worked together with a Clinton supporter to run our precinct caucus. She said she would be okay with whoever got the nomination. I was silent.
Quite a few Clinton supporters have told me they'd have no problem if Barack got the nomination. I AM NOT OKAY WITH HILLARY GETTING THE NOMINATION!
