This is the third in a series profiling women in key positions with the Obama campaign.
As political director of the Wake-Up Wal-Mart campaign, Buffy Wicks was so dedicated in her efforts to increase workers’ wages and health-care benefits that one journalist gave her the nickname “Buffy the Wal-Mart Slayer.”
Now, as state director for the Obama campaign, Wicks, 30, is focusing that same fierce determination to introduce Obama to Missourians through the efforts of a “grassroots army.”
by Suzanne Charlé
This is the fourth in our series profiling women in key positions with the Obama campaign. Suzanne Charlé , a supporter in New York City - an independent writer and editor - has volunteered her time and talent to conduct the interviews.
At 32, Mindy Myers, New Hampshire state director for the Obama campaign, is a veteran of tough, tight campaigns. Myers, who took a leave of absence from her job as chief of staff to Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, is credited with helping Whitehouse edge out the liberal (and locally popular) Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee in 2006.
As PAC political director for Senate Leader Tom Daschle, Myers became a well-known figure on the Hill. However, she hopes not to repeat some of her campaign experiences: After a stint in the Clinton White House, Myers joined Al Gore’s Presidential campaign as deputy director of constituency outreach. Election eve 2000 found her in Tallahassee, Florida, where she spent 36 days on the recount, before the Supreme Court declared Bush President. “Which is why New Hampshire is so important,” Myers notes. “Gore lost in New Hampshire by just over 7,000 votes. If he had won, there would have been no need for a recount!”
WOMEN FOR CHANGE: Senior Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes
This is the second in a series profiling women in key positions with the Obama campaign.
In July, Melody Barnes, 44, joined the Obama campaign as Senior Domestic Policy Advisor. Prior to that, Melody was executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. As chief counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy (1995-2003) Barnes, who received her J.D. from the University of Michigan, focused on civil rights, women’s health and reproductive rights, and religious liberties.
You have worked in Washington for much of your career. Have you ever worked on a campaign before?
This is the first time I’ve ever worked seriously on a campaign. When I was eight, I sold cupcakes to support the McGovern campaign. When I worked for Senator Kennedy, I would go out on election day, but that was it. I’ve always enjoyed politics and policy, but I focused on the legislative process. I never planned to get involved in a campaign.
What made you change your mind?
I was drawn to Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency because of his policy ideas, and because he feels strongly that people can be a force for change in government.
I spoke with him in January 2007, one-on-one, and he talked about things I hadn’t heard a Presidential candidate say since I’ve been old enough to vote. He energizes and empowers people to believe that they can make a difference. This obviously comes from his experience as a grass roots organizer.
With serious problems like climate change and a massive deficit, it’s very easy for voters to feel that it’s all too much, that “I can’t do anything,” and so they disengage. Obama speaks movingly about how people can be engaged. As someone who has worked in government, that is meaningful to me.
Emily Parcell, 27, Indiana state director. A native Iowan, Parcell is a veteran of the 2002 re-election campaign of Sen. Tom Harkin and the 2004 Iowa caucus campaign of Rep. Dick Gephardt. Described by Talking Points Memo as “one of [Team Obama’s] most valued campaign staffers,” Parcell was political director for Obama in Iowa, where “the Illinois Senator secured a huge win that essentially put him on the path to the nomination.”
For those who aren’t familiar with the responsibilities of a state director, what is your day to day like?As state director, I come up with the overarching goals of the campaign and plan how the campaign will operate in Indiana, making sure all the departments –everything from communications and new media to operations—work together and that goals are being met. In Indiana there will be close to 100 people on the staff.Every day is different. Outreach is important: Some days I meet with labor leaders, other days with local Democrats on the ballot to strategize. We pool resources, and offer to have our volunteers carry their campaign literature, if it helps. Of course, I track the budget and have daily conference calls with Chicago headquarters – we talk about mail, polling, TV. I’m involved in the decision-making process on all of this.One interesting challenge is that Indiana has never had a presidential campaign of this operational level, this competitive. Historically, Democrats have been elected statewide, but Indiana hasn’t voted for a Democratic President since 1964 [when LBJ led the ticket]. So there’s really no model of how to run a presidential campaign in Indiana—no plans, no prior budgets, we’re starting from scratch. We’re breaking new ground. For instance, activists weren’t used to having to door knock in July. They’re so excited—but they’re in a state of disbelief.Indiana is a conservative state, but it is a place where people are conscious of the economy, they’re feeling the pinch: Indiana led the country in jobs lost in June of this year and lost a total of nearly 50,000 in the past year. It’s important that we talk with people who don’t know who Obama is, about what he stands for, what his programs will mean in their everyday lives. Middle-class Hoosiers aren’t worrying about partisan platitudes, they are worrying about how much a tank of gas costs, they’re worrying about how to buy milk for their families. (Continued in Extended Post Text)
For those who aren’t familiar with the responsibilities of a state director, what is your day to day like?
As state director, I come up with the overarching goals of the campaign and plan how the campaign will operate in Indiana, making sure all the departments –everything from communications and new media to operations—work together and that goals are being met. In Indiana there will be close to 100 people on the staff.
Every day is different. Outreach is important: Some days I meet with labor leaders, other days with local Democrats on the ballot to strategize. We pool resources, and offer to have our volunteers carry their campaign literature, if it helps. Of course, I track the budget and have daily conference calls with Chicago headquarters – we talk about mail, polling, TV. I’m involved in the decision-making process on all of this.
One interesting challenge is that Indiana has never had a presidential campaign of this operational level, this competitive. Historically, Democrats have been elected statewide, but Indiana hasn’t voted for a Democratic President since 1964 [when LBJ led the ticket]. So there’s really no model of how to run a presidential campaign in Indiana—no plans, no prior budgets, we’re starting from scratch. We’re breaking new ground. For instance, activists weren’t used to having to door knock in July. They’re so excited—but they’re in a state of disbelief.
Indiana is a conservative state, but it is a place where people are conscious of the economy, they’re feeling the pinch: Indiana led the country in jobs lost in June of this year and lost a total of nearly 50,000 in the past year. It’s important that we talk with people who don’t know who Obama is, about what he stands for, what his programs will mean in their everyday lives. Middle-class Hoosiers aren’t worrying about partisan platitudes, they are worrying about how much a tank of gas costs, they’re worrying about how to buy milk for their families. (Continued in Extended Post Text)
Those of you following Obama's campaign in Indiana might be heartened by the latest from Howey Politics- Indiana:
A Hoosier ‘Prague Spring’?
Posted By Brian A. Howey On May 6, 2008 @ 10:46 am In HPI Weekly
By BRIAN A. HOWEY
INDIANAPOLIS - As a political journalist, I try not to get swept up in the emotion of the crowds. But standing in a light rain at the American Legion Mall last night and surveying 21,000 people waiting nearly three hours to hear Barack Obama speak was simply one of the most impressive political events I’ve ever witnessed. You might have to go back to the giant Ku Klux Klan rallies of the early 1920s, or, perhaps Homer Capehart’s huge "Cornfield Conference" in 1938 that revived the Indiana Republican Party to find a similar gigantic assemblage here in Indiana.
Going into Election Day, the polls seemed to suggest a Hillary Clinton victory in Indiana. The CNN and Real Clear Politics composites had Clinton up by 4 and 5 percent respectively. The oddity has been the two-day Zogby tracking that had Obama leading 45-43 percent, something that began over the weekend. But we remember Zogby predicting an Obama comeback in California on Super Tuesday, which didn’t even come close. But these trackings make some sense when you consider that at the beginning of last week, Rev. Jeremiah Wright was the driving force in this primary. Rep. Baron Hill and Joe Andrew threw their support behind Obama, but essentially changed the subject if not a lot of voters. But it gave Obama an opening where, as he said Monday night, the issue wasn’t simply him or his pastor. By week’s end, it was the gax tax debate that took front stage center.
This morning, Clinton financier Terry McAuliffe and Indiana Democratic Chairman Dan Parker were given the opportunity to predict a Clinton victory in Indiana. The MSNBC crew worked McAuliffe over for about five minutes before he finally said with a grin, "We will win Indiana."
Spread those comments over what we’re seeing on the Hoosier street and you get the feeling there’s something out there that perhaps the statistics are missing. There have been 188,000 absentees, including 146,000 for Democrats. That would seem to favor Obama, whose campaign has long emphasized early voting and began the Indiana sequence with an organizational edge. There have been big early voting turnouts in the college towns of Bloomington, South Bend/Notre Dame, West Lafayette and Indianapolis. There were stories like the one in the Anderson Herald-Bulletin this morning where Obama’s office stood with only one person. The rest of the volunteers were fanning out across the city mining votes. There were huge lines a the Indianapolis City-County Building over the weekend when hundreds of African-American voters lined up to cast a ballot.
The Politico noted that analysts are saying that Obama will need 10 to 20 percent edge in Indianapolis and Lake County to win the state. Gary Mayor Rudy Clay told the Times of Northwest Indiana, "We should have a large turnout in Gary because Senator Barack Obama is really and truly stirring up a lot of young people." Lake County has 13,539 new voter registrations, second only to Marion County.
We have been getting reports from Indianapolis that Obama supporters are standing on street corners with signs, urging the vote.
The critics have been hammering Clinton on the gas tax holiday and the national polls seem to indicate that issue also favors Obama. Sen. Clinton seemed to lay out the crux of the decision in Merrillville on Monday. "Think about who you believe, who you can trust."
Obama’s campaign believes the federal gas tax holiday plays into their wheelhouse because it lines up the old way of thinking against the new. At the American Legion Mall, Obama said the American people want "honesty" and "not spin and PR." He said they were tired of "wedge issues and Blue State/RedState." He talked of "breaking free from the old way of politics." The gas tax debate appeared to be the perfect pivot point in Indiana, the state that could render a decisive decision, for if Obama wins Indiana, the Clinton campaign will be gasping for air and money. If the election is decided by a few points, the delegate pickups will simply extend the status quo, with Clinton needing to win about 70 percent of the remaining small pool of delegates to catch up.
Hoosiers have gone through the gas tax suspension before. It saved Gov. Frank O’Bannon’s re-election bid in 2000. The critical question is whether Hoosier voters are swayed by this summer bandage that has been ridiculed by economists, or whether they see history repeating itself and want to politically invest in a long-term strategy.
What is clear is that today, history is being forged, not necessarily repeated. There is change in the air. Whether it is simply something like the Prague Spring of 1968 that utlimately took a generation to come home, or a revolution on the door step will be determined tonight in a place called Indiana.
