From YouTube videos to our Vote for Change posters, Obama supporters have exercized their creative talents in countless ways since this campaign started. A project by students at the University of Florida might top it all, however. I couldn't explain it if I tried. You should just check out this photo sent by UF Obama volunteer Chris Davis to Politico's Ben Smith.
Why didn't I think of that? Florida students are getting creative in the homestretch because we need all hands on deck to get out the vote in Florida and win that crucial state. From Gainesville to Tallahassee, from Miami to Ft. Myers, the Sunshine State is voting early and Obama volunteers are working overtime.
Help them get out the vote in Florida today. When it comes to door-knocking and making phonecalls, humans are still better than robots.
As the campaign comes to a close, you can expect to see a lot of Barack and Michelle Obama on television.
Michelle will make her first appearance on The Tonight Show tonight, at 11:30 ET. Make sure to tune in!
In another exciting note, the Barack Obama 30-minute special will be airing Wednesday night. Check below for airtimes.
NBC/CBS/Univision/BET:
Eastern: 8:00:00 thru 8:30:00 PM
Central: 7:00:00 thru 7:30:00 PM
Mountain: 7:00:00 thru 7:30:00 PM
Pacific: 8:00:00 thru 8:30:00 PM
FOX:
Eastern: 8:00:00 PM thru 8:30:00 PM
Central: 7:00:00 PM thru 7:30:00 PM
Mountain: 7:00:00 PM thru 7:30:00 PM or Immediately following World Series Game 6 (if necessary)
Pacific: 8:00:00 PM thru 8:30:00 PM or Immediately following World Series Game 6 (if necessary)
MSNBC/TV One:
Mountain: 6:00:00 PM thru 6:30:00 PM
Get some friends together and watch.
There's a reason Barack Obama's message resonates with college students. Barack and Michelle Obama understand how important college affordability is in this country, because their story revolves around the opportunities they were given. Through scholarships, hard work, and financial aid, Barack was able to attend Columbia, Michelle was able to attend Princeton, and both could attend Harvard Law School. Neither came from privilege or wealth, but both were given the opportunity to attend some of the best universities in the world. They want to see that opportunity given to the next generation of Americans.
Michelle made this point today at Capital University, in Bexley, Ohio, just outside of Columbus. With millions of middle-class families struggling, it's more important than ever to elect a president who understand what they're going through:
“My husband, Barack Obama, gets it,’’ she said. “He gets it cause he’s lived it. Something happens to your perspective in life when you’re raised by a single mother….He saw her continued struggle to figure out how to support her family and get her education. He saw her sacrifice everything for him.’’ And she tried to relate to the many college students in the crowd, noting that, although she and her husband went to Harvard University, they relied on loans to do it. She promoted her husband’s proposal to help make college more affordable by linking government scholarship aid to social service.”In this society, people can’t afford to be teachers, social workers, musicians, youth coordinators, or pastors because what happens is the salaries they earn in these jobs won’t cover the cost of the degree it took to get the jobs,’’ she said. “Don’t we deserve a president who gets it?’’
“My husband, Barack Obama, gets it,’’ she said. “He gets it cause he’s lived it. Something happens to your perspective in life when you’re raised by a single mother….He saw her continued struggle to figure out how to support her family and get her education. He saw her sacrifice everything for him.’’
And she tried to relate to the many college students in the crowd, noting that, although she and her husband went to Harvard University, they relied on loans to do it. She promoted her husband’s proposal to help make college more affordable by linking government scholarship aid to social service.”In this society, people can’t afford to be teachers, social workers, musicians, youth coordinators, or pastors because what happens is the salaries they earn in these jobs won’t cover the cost of the degree it took to get the jobs,’’ she said. “Don’t we deserve a president who gets it?’’
In eleven days, we can elect a president who gets it -- that we're stronger together than on our own, and that affordable and accessible college education must be the foundation of our future.
Get involved in Ohio -- or drive there to help out -- as soon as you can!
Every college has famous alumni, and students feel a connection with those people. As a student at Boston College, where we will reveal a statue of football legend Doug Flutie this week, I can attest to that personally. Columbia University students have a special opportunity this year: Help an alumnus become our nation's next president.
Barack Obama graduated from Columbia in 1983. (You can see him in his college days above.) Twenty-five years later, Columbia University College Democrats are organizing a trip over their fall break (conveniently scheduled for November 1-4) to head down and campaign in Virginia's 10th Congressional District.
“Virginia has not gone blue for many years, and this campaign trip could be symbolic of the significant changes that are taking place across the electoral map,” said College Democrat member Rowland Yang, CC ’11. “The fact that a group of young people are demonstrating so much national enthusiasm will certainly resonate.” The number of students heading to Virginia may also be indicative of what many have called a national enthusiasm. A record-breaking 132 members will make the trip, more than double the number in previous years. “We never anticipated such interest,” said College Democrat media director Avi Edelman, CC ’11. “Being active on this election is very important—it is a historical election. By campaigning, we are giving Columbia students an opportunity to participate in grassroots campaigning.”
“Virginia has not gone blue for many years, and this campaign trip could be symbolic of the significant changes that are taking place across the electoral map,” said College Democrat member Rowland Yang, CC ’11. “The fact that a group of young people are demonstrating so much national enthusiasm will certainly resonate.”
The number of students heading to Virginia may also be indicative of what many have called a national enthusiasm. A record-breaking 132 members will make the trip, more than double the number in previous years.
“We never anticipated such interest,” said College Democrat media director Avi Edelman, CC ’11. “Being active on this election is very important—it is a historical election. By campaigning, we are giving Columbia students an opportunity to participate in grassroots campaigning.”
Even if you don't go to school in a battleground state, chances are you live near one. Columbia students are traveling hundreds of miles to help their fellow Columbia Lion get elected. Organize a trip with your friends and local chapter of Students for Obama today!
Monday was quite an exciting day in Florida as early voting got underway. Senator Obama rallied supporters in Tampa in making a spirited push for voters to cast their ballots before Election Day. So the final phase begins -- and the World Series, for that matter:
A day after the Tampa Bay Rays won an improbable spot in the World Series, team members introduced the Illinois senator who has made history as the first black presidential nominee. 'This election is a critical moment in our history’, outfielder Fernando Perez told the crowd. ‘We're here today to encourage you to get out and vote and vote early for Barack Obama. We can change the nation’.
After the rally, our campaign volunteers shuttled supporters to early polling locations as the crowd of 8,000+ dispersed. The Associated Press reported groundbreaking turnout across the state in its first day of voting for the general election:
Florida kicked off early voting on Monday, with record crowds heading to the polls and voters waiting hours to cast their ballots. Elections officials said the few reported problems were minor. Final statewide numbers for ballots cast Monday won't be available until Tuesday, but counties large and small, traditionally Democrat and traditionally Republican, were reporting record turnout. The early voting sites will remain open two weeks until the weekend before Election Day.
Students at Florida A&M University are already making their mark. 1,000 students voted before noon today:
Almost a thousand Florida A & M students, faculty, and administrators voted early Monday, the first day of early voting. The show of support has eclipsed any previous first day of early voting. The students, almost a thousand strong, left the Florida A & M campus led by their president, Dr. James Ammons. “We’re going to make our mark today, the rattlers of Florida A&M.”
Find your early voting location, bring five friends, and vote today in the Sunshine State!
Florida, Florida, Florida. Election Day -- and sometimes the weeks afterwards -- are always exciting times in the Sunshine State, one of the most crucial swing states in this (or any) election. Thanks to early voting, every day between now and November 4th is Election Day in Florida.
Young people have the chance to provide the difference for Obama in Florida, and early voting makes that easy. If you're like my roommate, and have a huge exam on Election Day -- vote early! If you'd rather spend all day volunteering on Election Day -- vote early! Your reason is up to you, but if you're capable of voting early, you should.
You can do more than that, however. You can tell five friends about early voting, and make sure that they get to the polls. 626,280 registered 18-29 year olds in Florida did not vote in 2004 -- more than enough to swing the election. Adopt Five friends today, tell them about early vote, and get them to the polls! You can do this with college students or other Florida voters. All the information you need is right here:
Adopt Five College Voters:
Adopt Five Florida Voters:
Find your early vote location:
Find your local Obama field office here.
Visit the Florida Resource Center here.
Join Florida for Obama today, and get out the early vote!
This entire campaign, from a student's point of view, has been a three-step process. First, people who've worked their whole lives in politics have told us that students don't vote, they don't contribute money, they won't organize themselves and they're not worth a campaign's investment. Next, we've respectfully disagreed and, with the fantastic help and support of field organizers, youth vote directors, and national staff, built a nationwide organization of students working for change. Step three happened on a smaller level during the primaries, and if we all work hard, can finally take place nationwide on November 4th -- proving them wrong, once and for all.
Students from all 50 states have organized, fundraised, and worked for months and months for one reason -- we believe in Barack Obama. This video captures that spirit:
I also wanted to be sure to point out one part of David Plouffe's encouraging fundraising video, which was e-mailed out to supporters this morning. Plouffe emphasizes the amount of student givers, and towards the end of the video, they reveal how many students have given to this campaign:
128, 964.
College costs a lot of money. So do books, pizza, movies, and just about every other part of life on campus. The fact that 128,964 students have given to Barack Obama shows how hungry we are for change, and how important it is to invest in our future.
Keep up the good work. 16 days to go.
Michelle Obama spoke to an impressive crowd of supporters in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Wednesday. With the uncertain futures of America’s lending institutions looming over the political environment, Michelle talked about her and Barack’s own struggles with heavy debt from student loans:
She told about 1,000 people at the Grand Wayne Convention Center that she and her husband had large student loan debts after attending college. She said she believed the economic policies of the Bush administration had threatened the country’s middle class.
Barack Obama gets it. He gets it because he’s lived it. Don’t we want someone in the White House who knows what it’s like to carry a little debt?
Like Barack and Michelle, we live with the realities and responsibilities of student debt, but we deserve a real commitment, and real leadership from Washington to help ease our burden. Senator Obama has demonstrated his priorities in his plan to make college affordable for every student.
Toward the end of her remarks, Michelle encouraged supporters to volunteer their time and efforts in the final push toward November 4th, and to take advantage of early voting in the state, to help avoid crowds and complications at the polls on Election Day. Remember, every vote in every state will make a difference, including yours.
Help turn Indiana blue. Join Indiana for Obama today, and pledge to vote early.
Michelle took the stage with Jon Stewart last night, and discussed how she evaluates Barack's decisions, the fact that it's been 20 months (!) already in this campaign, and how her role has grown and changed.
I really try to stay focused on what I see on the ground. We've spent this entire year with people saying, this couldn't happen. But when we've been in Iowa and New Hampshire, and we're out there with crowds of people, and that's the reality we've focused on. That's one of the things I've liked about Barack's campaign, he's always pushing for the decency that's there in Americans.
You can watch part one of the interview here, and part two here.
No matter where you get your news, you have to respect the comic genius of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Barack Obama has turned in some memorable performances on the show, and this Wednesday, for the first time ever, Michelle Obama will appear. Here's the info:
Michelle Obama will appear as a guest on the Emmy® and Peabody® Award-winning "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Wednesday, October 8 at 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT), the night after attending the second presidential debate at Belmont University, Nashville, TN. This marks Obama's first visit to "The Daily Show." Her husband, Senator Barack Obama, has appeared on the show three times, most recently on April 21 on the eve on the Pennsylvania Primary. The Democratic nominee for President of the United States also appeared on August 22, 2007 and November 7, 2005.
Tune in and tell your friends!
It's always tough to tell what will motivate students. Free pizza is always a good start, and free t-shirts are even better. But every once in a while, students get motivated by a cause or a speaker who connects with them.
Students at the University of Virginia were recently pumped up by a visit from Michelle Obama. Their chapter president was inspired to write up what the UVA chapter has been doing, and the general feeling around the campaign in Charlottesville. Every student should read this and take notes -- this is how we're going to elect Barack Obama on November 4th.
Conference calls, high profile speakers, hours of data entry, piles of voter registration forms, difficult media, and a bustling office are all parts of the robust presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama in the critical swing state of Virginia. They are also integral parts of the lives of students who are running the Obama campaign at the University of Virginia out of the campaign office just steps away from campus. The Obama campaign not only believes in the ability of young voters to change the outcome of this election by voting, they are also entrusting those same young voters to make sure their peers are registered and vote on election day. There is certainly oversight from staffers who work for the campaign, but for the most part the election at the University of Virginia is being run for students by students. The office which opened in early September is nearly exclusively staffed by student volunteers who do the nuts and bolts work of a campaign from getting people absentee ballot forms to spinning the school newspaper to write a positive article about the campaign. A dedicated core group of students spends much of their free time working from the office while also empowering hundreds of their fellow students to register their friends, neighbors, and classmates. Most of theses students are still attending school and have to balance long nights working at the office with early classes in the morning. As President of Hoos for Obama (Hoos is the unofficial mascot of the University of Virginia), I am proud of all the work that we are all doing at the Obama office. We have been able to set up a Dorm Captain program in which we have students in nearly every dorm and apartment registering students to vote. We have a similar program in classrooms along with Sororities and Fraternities. To date we have registered more than 1500 students to vote, but there is still much work to be done. What the Obama campaign has done with students at the University of Virginia is indicative of what they are doing across the nation. This campaign is not only about winning an election or electing a candidate, it is empowering ordinary Americans to get involved in their own political process. Many campaigns in the past have paid lip service to getting young people involved in presidential politics, but have failed to make a legitimate effort. However, the Obama office at the University of Virginia shows the dedication of both students and the campaign make this year different. Regardless if young people actually make the difference on November 4, this election will be looked back upon as a defining moment in American history in which young people finally got involved in their democracy.
Conference calls, high profile speakers, hours of data entry, piles of voter registration forms, difficult media, and a bustling office are all parts of the robust presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama in the critical swing state of Virginia. They are also integral parts of the lives of students who are running the Obama campaign at the University of Virginia out of the campaign office just steps away from campus.
The Obama campaign not only believes in the ability of young voters to change the outcome of this election by voting, they are also entrusting those same young voters to make sure their peers are registered and vote on election day. There is certainly oversight from staffers who work for the campaign, but for the most part the election at the University of Virginia is being run for students by students.
The office which opened in early September is nearly exclusively staffed by student volunteers who do the nuts and bolts work of a campaign from getting people absentee ballot forms to spinning the school newspaper to write a positive article about the campaign. A dedicated core group of students spends much of their free time working from the office while also empowering hundreds of their fellow students to register their friends, neighbors, and classmates. Most of theses students are still attending school and have to balance long nights working at the office with early classes in the morning.
As President of Hoos for Obama (Hoos is the unofficial mascot of the University of Virginia), I am proud of all the work that we are all doing at the Obama office. We have been able to set up a Dorm Captain program in which we have students in nearly every dorm and apartment registering students to vote. We have a similar program in classrooms along with Sororities and Fraternities. To date we have registered more than 1500 students to vote, but there is still much work to be done.
What the Obama campaign has done with students at the University of Virginia is indicative of what they are doing across the nation. This campaign is not only about winning an election or electing a candidate, it is empowering ordinary Americans to get involved in their own political process.
Many campaigns in the past have paid lip service to getting young people involved in presidential politics, but have failed to make a legitimate effort. However, the Obama office at the University of Virginia shows the dedication of both students and the campaign make this year different. Regardless if young people actually make the difference on November 4, this election will be looked back upon as a defining moment in American history in which young people finally got involved in their democracy.
The deadline to register to vote in Virginia is October 6th. With the help of hard-working chapters like UVA, we'll be able to turn Virginia blue -- so join Virginia for Obama today!
The New York Times recruited student reporters from colleges and universities across the country to report on student reaction to last night's debate. The reviews are in: Senator Obama's message of change, relief to middle class families, and a smart foreign policy continues to resonate with young people.
I'll let them explain why. Here's some reaction from Zach Aman at the Colorado School of Mines:
A massive group of students concluded that “Obama definitely won that debate."
The general consensus is that Obama sounded more “balanced,” with a “wider” and “broader” view of the situation.
Obama’s advice seems to resonate with the libertarians at the Colorado School of Mines; if you’re going to give money to the corporations, the federal government must be accountable to the taxpayers. The ideas of “eliminating golden parachutes” and ensuring responsible oversight are essentials.
Genny McLaren, California State University-Chico:
Students liked that Obama said that dependency on oil and whether peak oil is coming in the next 20 or hundred years, we need a plan now and need to address foreign issues that have to do with specifically with foreign oil use. That is something that the current administration has failed to do.
Our newspaper just finished a three-day survey of 350 undergraduate students on campus (about 3,000 total). We’ve got a diverse representation of opinion. 71 percent of respondents said they were absolutely certain to vote in November. 52 percent said if the election were held today, they’d vote for Obama, 32 percent said McCain, 17 percent were undecided.
Katelyn Polantz, University of Pittsburgh:
“We’re less respected now,” Obama said. How true. Last year, I spent a semester in London at a program hosting students from Pitt and a few other schools. When we arrived, we were warned how closely Europeans and Britons, specifically, follow American foreign policy and politics. We were often approached by Londoners in casual conversation about how we felt about the United States’ actions abroad and how we felt about the current administration. And generally, we hadn’t often met too many Europeans who were in favor of recent foreign policy — some Europeans were even hostile to my fellow students purely because of our Americanism . . . Obama’s image abroad, as evidenced by his tour this summer, couldn’t hurt.
Jeffrey Riley, University of Central Florida:
I believe that Obama’s concern for “middle America,” not only on how the American economy will effect them through changes in taxing, but inversely how America’s foreign policy abroad ends up effecting them, will greatly resonate with the students at UCF.
Ellis Smith, University of West Georgia, Carrolton:
People are really responding positively to Obama’s “This idea that by not talking to people we’re punishing them is silly."
What came through most clearly in these reactions is that students all across the country are hungry for specific proposals from the candidates to address our future. Senator Obama was clear, composed, and detailed in his vision for America last night.
You can learn more about Senator Obama's positions here, and register to vote or request an absentee ballot at voteforchange.com -- tell your friends!
College students are understandably worried right now by the state of the economy. Seniors (like me) are certainly troubled by job prospects after graduation. What happens on November 4th is going to affect all of our futures – young and old – but for young people, it seems especially urgent. The economic turmoil this week has made it even clearer that we need to get to the polls on Election Day and vote for Barack Obama.
Thankfully for students, the website voteforchange.com makes it easy to register and work out all the details of an absentee ballot application. Our job as students is not only to register ourselves, but also to make sure that all our friends know about voteforchange.com.
The Obama campaign is helping by launching an ad campaign in college newspapers. One target is North Carolina’s “Research Triangle,” where ads for voteforchange.com have been running in Durham’s The Independent and UNC-Chapel Hill’s The Daily Tar Heel. The ads address energy with a quote by a student named Josie K:
I registered because the future won't run on oil.
Barack Obama will be in Greensboro, North Carolina at the Washington Street in front of the J. Douglas Galyon Depot on Saturday. Doors open at 10AM, and the event begins at 12:15PM. This campaign is doing everything it can to win the state of North Carolina, and with the help of young people and students who use voteforchange.com, we can do it.
You can join North Carolina Students for Obama here, and sign up for school-specific text message updates. Don’t get mad, get registered – and register your friends.
Big news in Georgia today: early voting has begun! Early voting is perfect for college students who are unsure about their class schedules, possible tests, or other factors that might stop them from voting on November 4th. Early voting locations for Georgia can be found here, along with hours and days when early voting is available.
Georgia Students for Obama has been working hard for months to try and turn Georgia blue, and they’re starting to get noticed. Public Broadcasting Atlanta just ran a story about efforts on Georgia campuses to register students in the state. At Spelman College, it sounds like things couldn’t be going better:
"We're Young Democrats of America. We're basically registering anyone who is not registered to vote."Flanked by Obama '08 fliers, [Sudria Twyman] thrusts voter registration cards and ink pens towards students. And the students eagerly oblige. "Just everybody wants to come out and support and be involved in the next election. We're getting overwhelming response from freshman as well as returning students."
It’s efforts like these, though they are difficult and sometimes can seem like an uphill battle, that could make the difference in this election. Thomas Kelley, blogging on the site for Georgia for Obama, has also recognized just how important student efforts will be in the state:
Here in Georgia something has been stirring on college campuses. Students are taking on leadership roles with the Campaign for Change. Unite for Change teams are active at almost every college campus within the state. Registering their fellow students at a rapid pace, student volunteers have exhibited a sense of urgency and activism that has not been seen out of younger Americans in decades. But there is still more work ahead.
The days are dwindling as we approach election day (only 43 left!), but in Georgia, you don’t have to wait. Go vote early today, and encourage your friends to do the same!
This Friday, the national political scene will swoop down upon the University of Mississippi for the first presidential debate. There are stages to set up, microphones to test, and the entire national press corps to take care of. For Obama supporters, their primary goal this week is a little different: register students to vote, and turn them out in November.
Mississippi Students for Obama has been active for months, having held voter registration drives, on-campus phone banks, and volunteer opportunities from students. Aaron Harris, the Mississippi Director of the Obama campaign, emphasized that young people are getting involved because of peer-to-peer contact and the range of issues at stake in this campaign.
Cortez Moss, a freshman at Ole Miss, talked about his reasons for supporting Senator Obama. Chief among them was the war in Iraq:
“As young people, we have dreams and we have goals and we have visions in life, and most of them do not contain going to fight over in a war.”
So while the advance teams set up the media appearances, technicians set up the microphones and cameras, and the entire nation tunes in to watch Friday night at 9PM ET, the students at Ole Miss and all across the state of Mississippi will continue doing what they do best: registering new voters, making phone calls, and trying to deliver their state for Barack Obama. I'm sure they'll be successful in all those goals, but one thing is for certain: this Friday, Mississippi will have the best debate watch party in the nation.
Even if you can't be in Oxford this Friday, you can host or join one of the hundreds of debate watch parties taking place on college campuses. Find out how to host your own debate watch party here.
Sometimes it takes a little creativity to organize college students. As enthusiastic as young people are about this election, mixing politics with some Guitar Hero can never hurt. Students at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh put together a fun event this past week to raise student support for Senator Obama, and have some fun in the process.
Led by chapter chair Steve Greene, the campaign kickoff included a guest speaker, State Representative Gordon Hintz, a political impersonation contest, a Guitar Hero competition, and was covered in the school’s newspaper, the Advance-Titan.
Greene explained the goal of the night:
“Events like these create environments that let students know Obama hears them and is involved in them by giving them a way to find out more and what they can do to get organized and really make a difference.”
Thanks to sites like my.barackobama.com and Facebook, events like these are easy to organize and publicize. Bryon Eagon, Wisconsin State Coordinator of Students for Barack Obama, spelled it out clearly:
“From events on campus to information on voter registration, sites like Facebook allow the student supporters of Obama to connect and network with others through a site that is extremely popular among college students.”
So next time your parents criticize you for playing Guitar Hero in your room with your friends or wasting time on Facebook, remind them that those things can also be powerful political organizing tools. If you like the idea, follow in the footsteps of these UW-Oshkosh students and find some supporters on your campus today.
You can get involved with Wisconsin for Obama here, and find some student organizing resources here.
We've all heard it a thousand times. The youth don't vote. The youth don't care. They'll never turn out, they'll never get into politics, and they'll certainly never change the entire complexion of a presidential race.
Not only is Students for Barack Obama proving that conventional wisdom wrong, but new polling data refutes it completely. The newest installment of Rock the Vote's Polling Young Voters shows that young people are tuned in to the 2008 election – possibly more so than their elders.
In this compilation of polls, 77% of young people (age 18-24) report tuning in to the presidential debates, compared with 64% of people of all ages. In addition, the youth are trending strongly Democratic: When asked with which political party they identify, 32-42% identify as Republican or Republican-leaning and 37-49% identify as Democratic or Democratic-leaning. (RT Strategies, Democracy Corps, Rasmussen). Polls like these should give young people hope: every vote counts the same, and by the looks of it, young people are taking their vote very seriously.
So next time your parents or professors complain that young people don't care about anything, make sure you tell them about the details of the last Democratic debate, the dynamics of the new Nevada caucus, and why this debate was crucial with less than 50 days before the Iowa caucuses. That will show them.
"My raps ignite the people like Obama." - Common
There's only one presidential candidate driving rap artist Common wild – his fellow resident of the Southside (and fellow Grammy Award winner) Barack Obama. The Chicago rapper has been one of Obama's most vocal supporters in the music industry. MTV recently interviewed Common about his support for Senator Obama. He described how his mother supported Obama, even though he thought she was getting fooled by another typical politician.
Last fall, my friends and I headed downtown on the night of the Democratic gubernatorial primary. There was a real buzz in this election: after 16 years of Republican governors, Democrats across this bluest of blue states were excited at the prospect of taking back the State House. The only question was which Democrat would be the nominee. I had never worked in politics before and only had a vague understanding of the candidates. I knew that one in particular, a newcomer to the Massachusetts political scene named Deval Patrick, was doing things differently. His campaign went from underdog to frontrunner because of grassroots action and a commitment to changing the politics of Beacon Hill.
The primary results confirmed this, and my friends and I crashed his victory party at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel. There was a crush of people in the main ballroom, all anxiously awaiting the new nominee. When Patrick finally took the stage, I was struck by how clearly he expressed the purpose of his campaign: working together to make change by involving the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in their political process once more. I left the hall inspired, clutching a few blue Patrick signs that read "Together We Can," and ready to make good on that promise.
Patrick became the next governor of Massachusetts that November, Democrats took back Congress, and there was some real buzz that Barack Obama might run for president. I figured that the time was right for me to get politically involved.
Last night, almost a year later, Deval Patrick and Barack Obama held a rally on Boston Common to celebrate Patrick's endorsement of Senator Obama for president. My friends and I assembled our Boston College chapter of Students for Barack Obama and handed out our freshly minted "Barack Obama Superfan" shirts, which mimic the shirts that fill the stands for BC home football games. Riding down to Boylston, we reflected on how far we'd come and how crazy the journey has been.
We arrived to find a line hundreds of yards long to get in through security. Thankfully, five of us BC leaders (myself included) were cleared to stand behind the podium in a special section that included supporters, staff, and student leaders. We were taken back behind the stage and assembled on the bleachers. Almost ten thousand people stared back. It was intimidating but exhilarating.
Patrick's speech was inspirational, forthright, and overall one of the best I have ever witnessed. The Governor spoke about the need for a campaign to be about more than a person, but about an idea that all people can connect to and fight for. He touched on the importance of character over resume, the value of living and understanding life abroad, and how the most important aspects in a leader are "moral courage, a political backbone, the humility to admit what he doesn't know, and the wisdom to learn from others."
Governor Patrick then introduced the man who embodies all of that, Barack Obama. Ten thousand people went crazy, as did our section behind the stage. Who cares if you're in front of ten thousand people – this is Barack Obama!
Senator Obama delivered a speech that had the crowd cheering at every turn. He professed his love for the Sox (though, admittedly, the wrong color in my opinion). He expressed the frustration he feels that America has not been acting like America in the world, and how badly he wants to see a return to that. He talked about the foolishness of electing someone who "knows how to play the game" when the game-playing has to stop because it's not working for the American people. Most of all, he affirmed that he is an optimist for America – a "hopemonger" – who believes that when people work together to make change, they can make their country better.
Looking out from my place behind the stage at ten thousand cheering people, who couldn't believe that?
I realized again why I love politics. It's up to all of us to take the emotion and power from the Boston rally and turn it into action all across the country. New Hampshire is less than an hour away on Route 93. Together we can make the difference. We can be the change.
Thousands of people will soon gather in Boston to stand and cheer for a future champion. There were some questions before the season started, but now they have all been laid to rest: we're dealing with a serious contender. After traveling around the "nation" for months (it all started back in February), it's now crunch time. This is when you have to play like a winner, step up to the plate, and hit one out of the park.
Oh, and the Red Sox are also in the World Series.
Barack Obama is coming to Boston on Tuesday, October 23, for a free rally on Boston Common. Senator Obama will be speaking at the Parkman Bandstand (near the corner of Boylston and Tremont) with Governor Deval Patrick. The rally begins at 6:30 PM, but doors open at 5:30 and it's going to be packed. I can't wait to see them onstage. Both Patrick and Obama represent a new kind of people-driven politics that relies on grassroots campaigning, and both are impressive speakers. As a lifelong Red Sox fan and a junior at Boston College, I can't tell which I'm more excited for, Barack in my city or game one of the World Series! Thankfully, I don't have to choose.
Come one, come all – it's sure to be a fall classic.
