Over the past year, we talked to veterans who shared their personal stories with us -- and discussed why they're searching for a new kind of leadership. One of those was John Melvin, who served in Iraq and introduced Barack at a foreign policy speech in Iowa.
Watch his story in the video below:
When we sent our cameras out across the country to film the Vote for Change kickoff, we were inspired by the footage that came back. Supporters from New York to Kansas to California felt like they were part of something bigger than one candidate or election cycle.
As one of our New York volunteers said, "We are reenergizing not just the Obama campaign, but democracy in America."
Check out the video from the New York Vote for Change -- and organize your own voter registration event.
Michelle Obama phonebanked with volunteers to get out the vote in Louisville, Kentucky yesterday. Here's a video of one her calls:
UPDATED: Polls have now closed in Kentucky, but you can still make calls to Oregon until 8:00 PM PDT tonight.
Yesterday, our grassroots supporters across the country talked to their neighbors about registering new voters so that their voices - and not those of the special interests - would be heard in Washington.
I dropped in on the kickoff event in Lawrence, Kansas, where volunteers were inspired by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to get involved in the campaign and change the process:
If you've visited our YouTube page recently, you might have noticed that we just passed 1,000 videos there -- thanks to our tireless video road crew that puts up clips after all of Barack's events.
Check it out...
It was the beginning of a life grounded in public service -- one that recognized that ordinary people could be empowered to change their communities. Today, a lot of the same issues that Barack tackled as a community organizer are the ones he's taking on as a presidential candidate.
"This is the first economic expansion since they've been keeping these records since World War II in which the average family income actually went down. In the meantime, your cost of everything from gas at the pump to groceries to home heating to health care to college have all skyrocketed during that same period," he says.
These videos out of Indiana recall the lessons Barack learned on the ground: listen to people, and work for a positive change.
"I wasn't led to working people because of politics. I got into politics because of working people," he says.
Barack started the day at church in Lebanon and later got a chance to talk to Pennsylvanians in downtown Bethlehem. Here are a few pictures from today:
Here's a clip I just came across while going through the video we shot during Barack's Pennsylvania bus tour. Before his town hall meeting on March 31st in Lancaster, he stepped outside to talk to the overflow crowd.
"We've got an advantage that I think nobody else has," he said. "We've got grassroots support; we've got people writing $25 checks; we've got people volunteering... That is ultimately what is going to change the country."
In an age of constant media chatter about soundbites and poll numbers, what does it really mean when Barack says that he thinks that "change happens not from the top down, but from the bottom up?"It means that the people you rarely see in the spotlight are the ones who are actually driving this campaign: our field organizers and unpaid volunteers.Many were inspired to join the campaign after reading Barack describe his experiences as a community organizer in "Dreams from My Father." That was true of the young organizers I filmed in Pittsburgh -- Ashley, Kristen and David.In this behind-the-scenes video of our field operation at work in Pennsylvania, you can get a sense of what's different about this campaign. As the organizers explain, their motivation isn't just getting Barack elected; it's about empowering ordinary people to demand more from their government. And that requires organization."Ordinary citizens can have an enormous influence in what happens in Washington. The problem is is that they're just not organized right now," Barack says."And so, those that are organized -- the corporations, the special interests, the big lobbies -- they have a disproportionate influence. And part of what hopefully this campaign is about is to tilt the scales a little bit more in favor of ordinary people."
At the beginning of the school year, Bronx high school teacher Jackson Shafer says his students were beyond apathetic about politics - many couldn't even name the Vice President.
But something happened around the time of the Iowa caucuses - a realization that they were living in the middle of history, that change was possible and they had a role to play in making it happen.
Shafer says his students started coming to school early - and even suggested an extra homework assignment inspired by Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" speech after the New Hampshire primary.
Freshman Anna Boateng performed her speech for the class, beginning: "People say that South Bronx kids will never amount to anything, but I say, 'Yes We Can.'"
On the same day I filmed their speeches, Barack was delivering his speech about racial reconciliation in Philadelphia. The Bronx students took up the challenge to talk about race and how their generation is already breaking down old barriers.
Here's their story:
On his farm in northeastern Mississippi - where his family has resided since the Civil War - Mike Murphy planted his Obama sign and hopes that unity will again prevail at this turning point in American history. All across Mississippi, we've talked to voters hungry for change.
Alvaro Corral, un estudiante de la Universidad de Texas en Austin, explica su apoyo por Barack.
Video: Hayne's StoryWhen critics try to dismiss this movement as a fad that's not grounded in reality, I hope they'll actually take the time to listen to the stories of our supporters. Long before they were filling stadiums to listen to Barack's speeches, they were canvassing their neighborhoods and having in-depth conversations about what "change" and "hope" really mean to them.As a public defender who sees a lot of hopeless situations in her daily work, "hope" means something very concrete to Hayne Yoon. While she worked in the juvenile court in East L.A., she saw children who were caught up in the race wars and afraid to go to school – clients who later returned to the courts as adults. "It seemed like patterns that would continue across generations... The system had failed them," she said.We met up with Hayne when she was canvassing an immigrant neighborhood – mostly Korean and Salvadoran – last October. She said she was inspired by Barack's history as a community organizer to actually get out in the neighborhood herself and talk to people about how to change the country.Part of Barack's leadership, she says, is to show us "what we can be."She recognizes that it's "so easy to go back into these entrenched positions where it's black against white, or black versus Latino, where everybody's kind of fighting it out." But she believes that Barack "transcends racial politics" and hopes to see an end to the division in her lifetime.
As early as last June, our grassroots volunteers in San Antonio, Texas were organized and spreading the word about Barack.
"One of the things I like about Texas is that we're the friendly state," says supporter Carolyn James. "Politics has gotten to be very cut-throat and vicious... And one of the things that Barack Obama can do is to bring back friendliness into politics, so that people work together for a cause."
Here's another video that shows the sweep of Obama's support among young people in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina... and beyond:
Back in April - now almost a year ago - we noticed something stirring on college campuses that felt different than other election cycles.
On the eve of the Massachusetts primary, here's a look back at how some Boston College students were able to become the early adapters of a nation-wide movement:
A little over a week ago, we won South Carolina because grassroots supporters took the campaign into their own hands and convinced their friends and neighbors that their votes counted. Two hours before the polls closed that night, we caught up with students at Benedict College as they made a final push to convince their classmates to vote. Here's their story:
Everyone has a story, and all the stories lead to the same conclusion, as Barack said in his South Carolina victory speech: "That out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope; and where we are met with cynicism and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people in three simple words: Yes. We. Can."
Growing up in California, Rosa didn't always have enough to eat - except when her parents, immigrants from Mexico, were able to find union jobs. Today she's a labor union advocate and an attorney.
We met her at the Women for Obama event in San Francisco last fall, where she explained how her immigrant background influenced her decision to get involved in the Obama campaign.
"For the first time in my life, I feel like there's someone who is honest and who has a true interest in really understanding where people are coming from," she says.
Here's another peek into our strategy in South Carolina - the way we think politics ought to be done. As Jeremy Bird, the SC field director, explains, it's about developing leadership among our volunteers and actually listening to what people have to say.
When we say this is "truly a grassroots campaign," we mean it in a very concrete way. Since last summer, we have encouraged South Carolinians to hold house meetings with their friends and neighbors and talk about the change they want to see in the country.
"People's stories are what matter," Bird says. "People are moved to act based on what it is that shaped who they are."
The philosophy is summed up by what one house meeting participant said about the young field organizer in Florence who helped lead the discussion there.
"See, this is what really is inspiring me about him - is you."
