Check out the story behind the Obama logo as told by Sol Sender, who led its creative development. Sender recounts the story in two parts on the VSA Partners website. A graphic presentation of the other ideas that were considered in the development process leading up to the ultimate selection of the now ubiquitous design is at "Obama logo ideas that weren't chosen."
Both parts of Sol's interview are on YouTube. And if you advance to minute 2:18 on "Sol Sender - Logo Design Part 2 of 2" you will see our Food Tasters for Obama logo -- conceived by me and executed by my son Zach -- used as an example of the "viral expression" of the grassroots movement.
We will be back with more political analysis and satire soon. If you would like to be notified when a new article is posted join Food Tasters For Obama.
Dear Friends:
To those of you who so kindly congratulated me for Tuesday’s election outcome, as if Barack Obama’s victory resulted from my personal and deeply committed efforts. I thank you for your generous comments.
To those who may have wondered how I fared in “radio silence” for six weeks on the Ohio battleground. Be assured that I survived.
To those who do not know me or are unfamiliar with my previous descriptions of the realities and ironies of the 2008 election. What follows is the final chapter of my life as a political activist, a missionary for democracy, an apostle of Change. Hopefully you will also understand how it is that for the first three nights after I returned home I woke up from the same dream in which I wander nameless streets in search of faceless voters.
The Buckeye State
On September 23 I joined the Ohio Campaign for Change as a member of its newly created Vote Corps. The invitation had warned of 14-hour days, seven days a week, right up through Election Day. I accepted because the Obama campaign considered this important enough to make it a paid position and because it was in the one state McCain had to win to become President.
I left home certain that my life experiences -- in retail sales, as diplomat and political officer, and Obama volunteer in seven states – would be useful in the Buckeye State. Stopping at Starbucks on the way out of Burlington that Sunday morning, I noticed the first trace of red on the outer edge of a leaf on a small maple tree in the parking lot. I realized that by the time I returned to Vermont the leaf peepers would have come and gone. Fortunately, it turned out to be a mild autumn in Ohio that showcased the Buckeye State’s own colorful foliage.
The Akron Vote Corps
A hundred of us reported to Columbus for Vote Corps training and by the first night we were already deployed across the state. I was assigned to the city of Akron, birthplace of Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James and Pretenders’ singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde, who wrote about her birthplace in “My City Was Gone”. The Akron Campaign for Change Office was headed by Regional Field Director Max Lesko. In charge of Summit and Portage Counties, he proved himself a very capable and genial manager. My hosts, Cathy and David, and their daughter Nicky, lived in a northwest suburb. Their friendship and cozy accommodations would be my home for the next six weeks.
At first the Akron Vote Corps consisted of six whites, from metropolitan DC, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Texas and California. Like most of the Obama staff and volunteers I met during the primaries, they were young and well-educated. In fact, I was two-and-a-half times their average age. By the end of the second week we lost one and gained five new members. Our new team-mates were all African Americans, from California, Texas and Georgia. Their average age was early forties and many had worked on the Kerry campaign. One of my first initiatives was to buy half a dozen fingerless gloves for our new friends from the warm weather states. Our Vote Corps was rounded out by a “Lead,” a young lawyer from Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown’s Washington staff.
The Vote Corps’ mission was to register voters, identify supporters and get out the vote for Barack Obama. Our primary targets were “Sporadics,” first time voters and people who voted Democratic in the past, but did not always turn out. For a while we were also instructed to knock on every single door in a targeted neighborhood. I successfully resisted attempts to create competition within our group for most doors knocked, “Doors” being the campaign’s primary measure for the work accomplished by staff and volunteers. My feeling was that competition focused on this imperfect metric would distort our effort, demoralize some members of our group, and sacrifice quality for quantity. For in the end, the real measure of our success would be the vote count on Election Day. And to that end, it was our diligence after the “knock” that would help determione the outcome.
Registration
Our first task was registering new voters and re-registering people who had moved before the deadline of October 6. We knocked on doors and scoured bus stops and other public places to register as many people as possible. Most people were already registered, as they clearly understood the importance of this election. Those who had not yet done so enthusiastically signed up, particularly in the African-American community. My first Saturday in Akron, I missed my first grandchild’s first birthday party back in Virginia. But my reward on that day was registering many first-time voters, including former felons who had recently regained the rights of other free men and women.
Many of our Sporadics were transients who frequently moved from one run-down Akron neighborhood to another. This city was in decline for a long time, and the recent economic downturn just aggravated conditions. In older residential neighborhoods there are a growing number of abandoned homes or houses soon to be vacated due to lost jobs or foreclosure. Many porches are marked by hand-painted signs announcing “Copper Already Stolen” or littered with trash by people who have given up. It is in this environment that we spread our message of Hope and Change.
Starting on September 30, we entered “golden week” when voters could both register and vote early. Ohio’s new rules allowed “no fault” early voting by absentee ballot or in person. A single polling place was created for Summit County at the Job Center in northeast Akron. The Job Center is well-known, because job losses have been ongoing for many years. The building, also known by locals as “the old library,” is next to another landmark, the County’s Auto Title Office. For those without cars, bus number 12 took people there from downtown in 15 minutes.
Early Voting
Registration and early voting at the Job Center was very convenient. Open every day, including Saturday and Sunday, there were 50 polling booths and seating for voters waiting for their paper ballots. But many Ohioans, especially African Americans disenfranchised in previous elections were suspicious. They worried that ballots were going to “disappear,” as reportedly happened in 2004 in Cuyahoga County. Overcoming these legitimate concerns required some persuasion. Our most important argument was: “Barack Obama wants his supporters to vote early.” That usually did it. We helped to spread the word that this process would protect, not suppress voting rights. And by November 3, the daily early vote turnout had grown from hundreds to thousands, the wait from 15 minutes to three hours.
By my third week I had developed a routine for creating a multiplier effect in conversation with early voters. Once they had made an Early Vote Commit, I introduced community organizing techniques to build on the widespread desire to help Obama get elected. Within the family, a grandparent or parent, or maybe the principal driver would agree to take responsibility for getting the entire household to vote early. I also encouraged voters to take along a relative or friend, or a neighbor who needed a ride.
Finally, I would make the following pitch:
“I’m working for Obama and I want you to work for him too. So I’m going to deputize you. No badge, no pay, just the satisfaction of knowing you helped to elect Barack Obama."
That always earned a smile. Then I continued:
"Now I'm sure you know someone who wouldn’t vote unless you drag their lazy a-- to the Job Center to vote. Do you know anyone like that?”
I could tell when they were hooked. Eyes turned skyward. Faces revealed minds thinking of who they would get to early vote. A knowing smile indicated they knew exactly who they would take along. In closing I urged them to let everyone know how easy it was to vote at the Job Center and that Obama wanted them to do so. By the time I left their door, the early voter had been empowered and had taken ownership of the Obama campaign. Now it was their campaign too.
Get Out The Vote
During our last week in Ohio, the Vote Corps was dissolved. We were detailed to assist Field Organizers with their neighborhood teams of volunteers, which were part of the Ohio get out the vote (GOTV) strategy at the precinct level.
I was assigned to Barberton to work for Sol, an energetic field organizer from Texas. My main “turf” was the south Akron neighborhood of Kenmore. Unlike my earlier work with Sporadics in largely African American neighborhoods, I was instructed to “persuade” and “motivate” the remaining “Undecided” voters. But with Election Day closing in fast, there would only be minutes to talk to any single voter.
In Barberton and Kenmore, the Undecideds were predominantly white, working class Democrats. Most did not want to vote for McCain, but were not yet sure about Barack Obama. I understood their concern. Not only was Obama a relatively new and unknown political personality. Most of these voters had supported Hillary in the March primary. And like voters elsewhere, they were being bombarded with smear emails, Republican mailings about Ayers and NRA propaganda warning Obama would take away their guns.
With openly racist voters there was the curt “Thanks for your time.” But it was not difficult to pull the other undecided voters off the fence, especially with the credibility of being an older white man with a knowledge of history and 23 years of federal service under five US Presidents. These voters knew that Obama and Hillary shared a common policy agenda and that she was campaigning hard for the Democratic ticket. They also recognized Rove tactics and our argument that: “They can’t win with the truth, so they are attacking him with lies.” Second amendment concerns were easily neutralized with Biden’s quote: “No one’s taking away my Beretta.” But the simplest most effective argument was “Are you happy with the way things are going or do you want change?” And Change is what voters wanted more than anything this year.
Election Day
November 3rd and 4th were taken up with the final GOTV effort, primarily distributing door hangers and reminding voters of their polling places. From 3:30 pm on Election Day until it was too dark to read house numbers, I scoured for remaining undecided voters who had yet to cast their ballots. I actually found several and they agreed to go to their local poll station, which by then was no longer crowded.
I was at the Barberton volunteers’ party at Lake Anna Hall when MSNBC announced Ohio for Obama. Having already won Pennsylvania, I knew it was all over except for reaching 270 electoral votes. While happy, I was so physically and mentally exhausted that the victory did not seem real. I headed back to my host family home and watched the candidates’ speeches before turning in and resting for the long drive home. Now as my dreams of knocking on doors in Ohio recede, the enormity of our achievement and the challenges facing Barack Obama are coming into better focus. I have no idea what my next step will be, but I will continue to do what I can to get our country back on the right track.
Epilogue
After 40 days of walking the streets of Summit County, I had knocked on or distributed campaign literature at over 4000 doors.
More importantly, I had in-person conversations with more than 1500 voters and obtained about 1000 Early Vote Commits, which probably understates the number of people who were convinced to go to the Job Center. Along the way I also helped remove several hundred bad addresses from our “Turf,” easing the task of later attempts by volunteers to find our voters.
The Akron Vote Corps’ effort over five weeks contributed greatly to the early vote turnout, which by Election Day totaled 90,000, or fully one-third of the 272,000 ballots cast in Summit County. And while he won Ohio’s 20 electoral votes with 51% of the state’s popular vote, Barack Obama won Summit County with 57.45%.
If you would like to be notified whenever Mark Wiznitzer posts a new article join Food Tasters For Obama.
This afternoon Ned Lamont, former Democratic candidate for Senate in CT against Joe Lieberman, stopped by the Campaign for Change office to show his support, thanking volunteers and making phone calls to help Get Out the Vote in the last week of the campaign.
In 2000 we were out hustled. In 2004 we were out muscled with the Swift Boat attacks. Now, with the power of our volunteer base, we won't be out hustled or out muscled this year.
"Everyone has their eyes on New Hampshire," Lamont said.
Join Lamont's efforts: come to your nearest New Hampshire office to help Get Out the Vote.
Watch Ned Lamont's message of support from January here
Change happens because the American people demand it. Because they rise up and insist on new leadership and new ideas, a new politics for a new time. - Sen. Barack Obama
Six days until the election - six days to join us in making history. This isn't the time to let up and rest on our laurels, it's the time to push forward to victory. This is what happens if we get complacent:
Don't trust the polls. We need to push through the finish line.
Sign up now to help us fight for every last vote.
Make calls with us, knock on doors with us, help out in your local office, bring food to volunteers and staff, house a volunteer, make calls from home, put Obama flyers around your town... whatever you can do our staff can help you with.
This is our time.
MANCHESTER-- Former Vermont governor and current chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean will be in New Hampshire this Thursday, October 30th for a Rally for Change. With just over a week until New Hampshire voters head to the polls, Gov. Dean will stress the incredibly high stakes of the election for young voters and encourage them to vote. Dean will also discuss Sen. Obama's plan to create jobs and improve the state of our economy so that young Granite Staters can successfully enter the workforce upon graduation. Earlier today, the Obama campaign in New Hampshire released a list of 50 New Hampshire student leaders who are not only supporting Sen. Obama's Campaign for Change, but are working on campuses to elect former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, and Congressman Paul Hodes. These student leaders have been and will continue to play an active role in the last days of the campaign energizing students to vote and have dedicated their time to engaging classmates in the electoral process. New Hampshire students can visit NH.BarackObama.com for more information on voting and how to get involved in these final days of the campaign. Thursday, October 30th 11:45 a.m. Rally for Change with Gov. Howard Dean UNH Durham- Granite State Room-- MUB 83 Main Street, Durham
MANCHESTER-- Former Vermont governor and current chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean will be in New Hampshire this Thursday, October 30th for a Rally for Change. With just over a week until New Hampshire voters head to the polls, Gov. Dean will stress the incredibly high stakes of the election for young voters and encourage them to vote. Dean will also discuss Sen. Obama's plan to create jobs and improve the state of our economy so that young Granite Staters can successfully enter the workforce upon graduation.
Earlier today, the Obama campaign in New Hampshire released a list of 50 New Hampshire student leaders who are not only supporting Sen. Obama's Campaign for Change, but are working on campuses to elect former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, and Congressman Paul Hodes. These student leaders have been and will continue to play an active role in the last days of the campaign energizing students to vote and have dedicated their time to engaging classmates in the electoral process. New Hampshire students can visit NH.BarackObama.com for more information on voting and how to get involved in these final days of the campaign.
UNH Durham- Granite State Room-- MUB
83 Main Street, Durham
This blog was written by Jennifer, a volunteer from the Upper Valley for Obama Team Nestled in the beautiful landscape of Hanover, NH, the Kendal retirement community is renowned for its active, engaged senior residents. A dedicated group of Obama campaign volunteers from Kendal demonstrates why this reputation is well-deserved. For several weeks now, Kendal residents have been holding their own phone bank for Obama out of their residences, with Edie taking the lead in organizing their efforts. The dedicated group has proven to be quite a force in reaching out to New Hampshire voters throughout the state, smashing their own calling records and earning a special trophy from campaign staff (seen below). How do they do it? Each morning, Edie's pie basket (also seen below) appears with fresh calling packets for volunteers to pick up. By evening, packets are returned to the pie basket to be picked up by staffers for data entry. The next day, the process starts again, and hundreds of calls are made. Hats off to our great team of Kendal volunteers!
This blog was written by Jennifer, a volunteer from the Upper Valley for Obama Team
Nestled in the beautiful landscape of Hanover, NH, the Kendal retirement community is renowned for its active, engaged senior residents. A dedicated group of Obama campaign volunteers from Kendal demonstrates why this reputation is well-deserved.
For several weeks now, Kendal residents have been holding their own phone bank for Obama out of their residences, with Edie taking the lead in organizing their efforts. The dedicated group has proven to be quite a force in reaching out to New Hampshire voters throughout the state, smashing their own calling records and earning a special trophy from campaign staff (seen below).
How do they do it? Each morning, Edie's pie basket (also seen below) appears with fresh calling packets for volunteers to pick up. By evening, packets are returned to the pie basket to be picked up by staffers for data entry. The next day, the process starts again, and hundreds of calls are made.
Hats off to our great team of Kendal volunteers!
If you'd like to get active and help out the efforts of our great Kendal team on the phones, find your local field office and get involved. Get Out The Vote starts tomorrow, so we need your help now more than ever. If you can't make it in to your local office, or if you have limited time to volunteer, think about using Neighbor to Neighbor, our online call tool, to make calls whenever it is convenient for you.
Chris Hughes, Director of Online Organizing, just wrote this blog post about our brand new redesign of Neighbor to Neighbor, a tool that thousands of supporters are using right now to call and canvass Granite Staters.
Check out the exciting changes, and join us now.
For two months now, tens of thousands of people have been making phonecalls from the comfort of their own homes, and knocking on doors in their own communities.With 12 days to go, we’ve upgraded our calling and walking tool to make it easier to use. Some of the things that we’ve changed:• New look and feel that is consistent with the rest of MyBO and BarackObama.com• The call script window is wider and easier to read. The Save button is now at the top, making it easier to move from one voter to the next. Less scrolling means more time calling.• Easier to report contacts after having a conversationYou’ll notice that no functionality has been removed. We’ve tried as hard as possible to avoid making any dramatic changes with only a few days to go before the election. It’s simply been our goal to make the system more intuitive and easier to use.Let's get started calling!
For two months now, tens of thousands of people have been making phonecalls from the comfort of their own homes, and knocking on doors in their own communities.
With 12 days to go, we’ve upgraded our calling and walking tool to make it easier to use.
Some of the things that we’ve changed:• New look and feel that is consistent with the rest of MyBO and BarackObama.com• The call script window is wider and easier to read. The Save button is now at the top, making it easier to move from one voter to the next. Less scrolling means more time calling.• Easier to report contacts after having a conversation
You’ll notice that no functionality has been removed. We’ve tried as hard as possible to avoid making any dramatic changes with only a few days to go before the election. It’s simply been our goal to make the system more intuitive and easier to use.
Let's get started calling!
MANCHESTER, NH - In the midst of hunting season, Sportsmen and women across New Hampshire have joined together to announce their support for Senator Barack Obama for president. This announcement comes as hunters throughout the Granite State carry on the tradition of hunting from generation to generation during Youth Hunt Weekend for Deer, which is October 25-26 across the state.
"Growing up in New Hampshire, most of us spent our time outdoors hunting, fishing or hiking. These traditions were passed down from mothers and fathers to their children. As a hunter, I take pride in the outdoors and want a president who will honor that tradition while conserving our land and waterways," said Richard Moquin, statewide Chair for Sportsmen and Sportswomen for Obama. "Senator Obama will not only protect our Second Amendment rights, but preserve our wildlife so future generations can continue this tradition. I know he'll be a true friend of the sportsmen."
"I believe that hunting, fishing and spending time in the outdoors is a valuable experience for all generations - young and old," said Clinton King of Berlin. "An Obama administration will protect those rights, allowing national lands to stay open and continuing to allow gun owners to use our firearms, especially for hunting. As president, Obama will stand up for conservation, preserving national forest lands and ensuring that our wildlife is protected."
The New Hampshire Sportsmen and women for Obama is made up of one Statewide Chair and co-Chairs in each county of the state. They know that Senator Obama will stand up for their individual Second Amendment right to pursue their hunting traditions and ensure the future of hunting and fishing by expanding access to private hunting and fishing areas. The steering committee includes former New Hampshire Fish and Game Department officials, hunters, fishers and conservationists, as well members of the National Rifle Association.
As President, Barack Obama will continue to stand up for sportsmen and sportswomen by: Protecting the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own and use guns. Improving access by providing financial incentives to private land owners who voluntarily open their land to hunting and fishing. Advocating funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides needed resources to state agencies to conserve important wildlife habitat. Recognizing that global warming is real, is happening now, and poses a real threat to America's fish, wildlife, and the future of hunting and fishing, and providing real leadership to combat climate change. Supporting proposals endorsed by dozens of national hunting and fishing organizations to devote billions of dollars annually to state game and fish agencies and federal land management agencies to help them ensure that fish and wildlife survive the coming impacts of climate change.Ensuring that Farm Bill conservation programs are funded to provide maximum benefit to fish and wildlife.Supporting state efforts to educate youth in order to maintain hunting and fishing traditions.
Over two hundred people registered this morning at the Manchester City Hall, as a diverse crowd of gathered to chat, dance, listen to music, and hear Actor Jeffrey Wright ("W", Syriana, Casino Royale) speak about coming together to create one nation seeking change.
I look around me, wherever I go at Obama events, and I see the complexity of America represented in the faces of the people around me at these events. You know, a lot of what's happened in the last few months has been to narrow the vision of America down to Hockey Moms and Joe Six Packs and Joe the Plumbers. But America's more complicated than that. There's Jose the Barber. There's basketball big brothers. We're all here together and its we who make this country great.
[Powell] talked about how the strength of this country is in our diversity, the strength of this country is in its complexity. Colin Powell himself was born from immigrant parents from Jamaica. That's the story of our country. And when we start to exclude, at such critical times as these in terms of America's place on the global stage, when we seek to exclude whole sections of the population as we try to face these challenges we undermine our capacity to really overcome them.
"Getting people to register the day of is a great opportunity," Wright said. "You've got to find these pockets, these pools of people to register."
Can you join us to Get Out The Vote this week? We only have ten days to remind people they can register on the day of, and participate in this election. Let's go out and win New Hampshire and change this country.
Jeffrey Wright, an actor in films such as "W", Casino Royale, Syriana, Cadillac Records and The Manchurian Candidate, will be in Nashua and Manchester this Saturday, meeting Granite Staters to hear about the issues on their mind this election and speak about his support of Sen. Obama.
Wright is no stranger to politics. A native of our nation's capitol, Washington, D.C., Wright studied Political Science as well as acting while attending Amherst College.
Wright will encourage all eligible voters to participate in this historic election and bring about the change we need by voting for Barack Obama and Democrats up and down the ticket.
This is a great opportunity to get your friends who are undecided or unregistered involved in the political process. If you have time between knocking on doors and calling your neighbors this weekend, join us for a block party in Manchester or a meet and greet in Nashua this Saturday.
Every election, we are reminded just how important New Hampshire is to the national landscape. In 2000, Al Gore lost our state by just 7,000 votes. Four years later, John Kerry won by just 9,000. It's going to be incredibly close this year, too. Barack needs your help today. Hundreds of thousands have volunteered, and millions have registered to vote for the first time. Now we need to make sure that this incredible enthusiasm translates into votes. With just two weeks until Election Day, we need you to look at your calendar and block off time to volunteer for the campaign. There are tens of thousands of voters who have not heard directly from this campaign and we must reach them before polls close on Tuesday, November 4th. We need supporters like you out there doing the kind of work that wins elections -- knocking on doors and reaching out to undecided voters in person. Sign up now to volunteer to make a difference in the final push, and bring a friend with you to double your impact. These last few days before Election Day, November 4th, are the most crucial of the election. Barack is counting on supporters like you to make our get out the vote efforts as effective as possible. Whatever you can do and however much time you can give, there's a job for everyone. We need people to canvass, make phone calls, help with visibility, and drive voters to the polls. And given the rising negativity and attacks coming from the McCain campaign, it's more important than ever that voters learn more about Barack -- who he is and how he'll bring about the change we need. Sign up now to volunteer and help Barack win New Hampshire: nh.barackobama.com/gotvnh Together we can help elect Barack and bring about the change we need. Thanks for all that you do, Katina Katina Tsongas Field Director New Hampshire Campaign for Change
Every election, we are reminded just how important New Hampshire is to the national landscape. In 2000, Al Gore lost our state by just 7,000 votes. Four years later, John Kerry won by just 9,000.
It's going to be incredibly close this year, too. Barack needs your help today.
Hundreds of thousands have volunteered, and millions have registered to vote for the first time. Now we need to make sure that this incredible enthusiasm translates into votes.
With just two weeks until Election Day, we need you to look at your calendar and block off time to volunteer for the campaign. There are tens of thousands of voters who have not heard directly from this campaign and we must reach them before polls close on Tuesday, November 4th.
We need supporters like you out there doing the kind of work that wins elections -- knocking on doors and reaching out to undecided voters in person.
Sign up now to volunteer to make a difference in the final push, and bring a friend with you to double your impact.
These last few days before Election Day, November 4th, are the most crucial of the election. Barack is counting on supporters like you to make our get out the vote efforts as effective as possible.
Whatever you can do and however much time you can give, there's a job for everyone. We need people to canvass, make phone calls, help with visibility, and drive voters to the polls.
And given the rising negativity and attacks coming from the McCain campaign, it's more important than ever that voters learn more about Barack -- who he is and how he'll bring about the change we need.
Sign up now to volunteer and help Barack win New Hampshire:
nh.barackobama.com/gotvnh
Together we can help elect Barack and bring about the change we need.
Thanks for all that you do,
Katina
Katina Tsongas
Field Director
New Hampshire Campaign for Change
When the leaves start to change colors up here in Dover, New Hampshire, the residents begin to expect two things: tourists for "leaf peeping" season and an election to be just around the corner.
The Granite Staters are fired up and ready to go as they came out for a great training Monday night to learn how to get out the vote for Barack Obama. About 130 longtime veteran activists and volunteers working for a campaign the first time brought their calendars and fit as many volunteer shifts in as possible to help Barack become the 44th President of the United States. The training discussed the multiple tasks designed to get out the vote, from canvassing and phone calls, to poll watchers and rides to the polls.
You can join the Dover residents committed to change by signing up here to volunteer during GOTV. We're looking for more volunteers to join our ground game, knocking on doors and making phone calls to voters. You could also help us out by signing up to host a GOTV Volunteer in your house, bring a meal to your local office, or make calls from your own home on Neighbor to Neighbor.
Are you feeling the fierce urgency of now?
The Red Arrow Diner, a Manchester establishment since its founding in 1922, has had its fair share of politicians walk through their doors. A place for coffee and conversation, the Red Arrow Diner has drawn just about every candidate during the primaries.
Only one of those candidates has won over Manager Elaine Boule though, and that's Barack Obama and his steady response to the issues that impact New Hampshire voters, especially the economic crisis.
Listen to Elaine's views in this video:
"John McCain is a little too wishy-washy. I understand that he was in the service and he's a war hero, and he's very good about what's going to go on with the war. I appreciate his service. I don't think he'll make the next best president.
Read the whole article in today's Washington Post "The Trail" on their website.
Check out Barack in the Red Arrow last May on the campaign trail.
This blog was written by Field Organizer Calla Brown
Vivian is one of New Hampshire’s most enduring supporters of Barack Obama. Having met Barack at an event just a few months after he announced his candidacy, Vivian decided on the first-term senator from Illinois over the deep field of Democratic candidates. There was something in the way he talked to her—cool, intelligent, and thoughtful—that led Vivian to believe that he would change the way things had been going in recent years.
Perhaps one of the most persuasive people to set foot in the Nashua office, she has been known to turn an undecided voter into a full-fledged supporter while managing to schedule them to do repair work at her house the next weekend. She knocks on car windows while holding signs at intersections and poses tough questions about jobs and health care to McCain-stickered cars. She volunteers at every event in the area, whether it is a rally for Barack Obama himself or the last-minute organizational meeting before a big week of campaigning.
Just recently, in the wake of the collapse of finance giant Lehman Brothers, Vivian’s employer downsized its operation. The most recent hire, Vivian found herself at the bottom of the seniority ladder, and management had to let her go.
Tears still in her eyes, the first stop Vivian made after losing her job was our field office. With her usual big smile and eagerness to help out, she announced that she was going to have a few more hours to offer the campaign on top of her already substantial volunteering schedule. She proceeded to her usual position at the head of our phone bank, laughing in her usual way, but this time, with just a bit more determined than usual. Vivian McGuire is a constant reminder to all of us here in the Nashua office why we need change and why we need Barack Obama.
Join Vivian in our Nashua office to work tirelessly for the change we need:
Below are clips from the editorials. Full remarks can be found on the Nashuatelegraph.com and the ConcordMonitor.com.
Today, we endorse Barack Obama in his historic bid to become the 44th president of the United States of America. At this critical point in the nation's 232-year history, the young senator from Illinois is the right person at the right time to lead this country back to its former greatness and standing in the world community. At first, like many Americans, our initial attraction to Obama as a presidential candidate was influenced by his extraordinary speaking skills, which he has used to inspire millions all across the country. But we were equally impressed when we met with him a little more than a year ago in the TV studios of Nashua High School South. (The video is available for viewing at www.nhprimary.com). From the moment we opened the session by asking him to detail his strategy for removing U.S. troops from Iraq, Obama answered our questions with a thoughtfulness that transcended the talking-point responses we heard from other candidates. But, given everything that is at stake, we have confidence that he would rise to the challenge, much as he has done at other key stages of his life, and use his considerable leadership skills to build consensus toward the public good.Read the full article...
Today, we endorse Barack Obama in his historic bid to become the 44th president of the United States of America. At this critical point in the nation's 232-year history, the young senator from Illinois is the right person at the right time to lead this country back to its former greatness and standing in the world community.
At first, like many Americans, our initial attraction to Obama as a presidential candidate was influenced by his extraordinary speaking skills, which he has used to inspire millions all across the country.
But we were equally impressed when we met with him a little more than a year ago in the TV studios of Nashua High School South. (The video is available for viewing at www.nhprimary.com).
From the moment we opened the session by asking him to detail his strategy for removing U.S. troops from Iraq, Obama answered our questions with a thoughtfulness that transcended the talking-point responses we heard from other candidates.
But, given everything that is at stake, we have confidence that he would rise to the challenge, much as he has done at other key stages of his life, and use his considerable leadership skills to build consensus toward the public good.
Read the full article...
The choice could not be clearer. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois should be this nation's next president. As the first African American to hold the highest office in the land, Obama would make history and instantly remake America's image abroad. But that is not why he deserves to win. Obama has the temperament, judgment, ideas and vision to be president. Despite his decades of experience and heroic history, John McCain is not the right candidate for this moment. No decision highlights this difference more starkly than McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Unlike Obama's choice for vice president, Sen. Joe Biden, Palin is unqualified, profoundly so, to hold either of the nation's top two offices. Obama's considerable skills are augmented by his intelligence and his ability to inspire. All of that will be necessary to tackle problems that have grown to seem insurmountable over the past eight years. Serious people are talking about the end of America's supremacy as the world's leading economic power. The nation's young assume that they will not be as well-off as their parents. Unless the nation changes course quickly, their parents fear they could be right.Read the full article...
The choice could not be clearer. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois should be this nation's next president. As the first African American to hold the highest office in the land, Obama would make history and instantly remake America's image abroad. But that is not why he deserves to win. Obama has the temperament, judgment, ideas and vision to be president. Despite his decades of experience and heroic history, John McCain is not the right candidate for this moment.
No decision highlights this difference more starkly than McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Unlike Obama's choice for vice president, Sen. Joe Biden, Palin is unqualified, profoundly so, to hold either of the nation's top two offices.
Obama's considerable skills are augmented by his intelligence and his ability to inspire. All of that will be necessary to tackle problems that have grown to seem insurmountable over the past eight years. Serious people are talking about the end of America's supremacy as the world's leading economic power. The nation's young assume that they will not be as well-off as their parents. Unless the nation changes course quickly, their parents fear they could be right.
With only 17 days left until November 4th, John Kerry returned to New Hampshire to talk about turning NH blue, McCain's negative attack robo-calls, looking out for our troops and veterans and what's at stake in this critical moment of our history.
97 days from today George Bush leaves Washington. What's important is not just that he leaves but that we replace him with someone who has the right vision for this country.
As the McCain camp continues to hit NH homes with false and dishonorable robo-calls, John Kerry called on John Sununu to break his silence and speak out, as Sen. Collins (R-Maine) has against these smears.
I also call on John McCain to grab back that decency he exhibited four years ago, eight years ago, and to take those negative messages out of here. They do not belong in the United States' political system.
Speaking to a packed office of volunteers who had just returned from canvassing, Kerry took the time to thank New Hampshire, and the flood of residents of his own Massachusetts, for their relentless hard work, laying the groundwork four years ago, and for refusing to stop since.
I am confident because you've never quit, you've never stopped, you're out here knocking on doors and calling voters, that we're going to win the greatest victory we've ever won in 17 days... This is as important as it gets. On Thursday before the Tuesday Election, I was going to win. The next day Osama bin Ladin appeared in a tape on television and we froze in the polls. This takes hard work right to the very end.
There are 17 days left before election day, and we must make this battleground state our battleground. We must make calls, we must knock on doors and we must get involved. Don't let up.
It's 10:30 am in Manchester, and hundreds of canvassers have already hit the doors. Coffee, coats, and stickers in hand, volunteers have been streaming in the office since 9 am, arriving in cars and by the bus load with friends, family and neighbors.
Over 550 canvassers are expected in our Manchester office alone today, coming in from Manchester, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont.
"Lots of people, lots of energy," Ed, a full-time volunteer, said. We've even had dachshunds for Obama."
The dachshund, Stan, with owner Jennifer from Boston, has canvassed twice before. Stan came decked out in a "Bark Obama" t-shirt, tail swinging.
"The only problem is that he wants to go to every door," Jennifer said.
After arriving, the canvassers received a short training and tips for canvassing, and met with local field organizers to plan their morning of reaching out to Granite Staters.
Can you join us to canvass this weekend or next weekend? Sign up here to help us if you are from out of state, or sign up using this link to help out if you are a New Hampshire resident. You can also find your local office here.
We only have 17 days left to make the change we so desperately need in this country happen, so get involved now.
What are you doing this weekend? Can you join Sen. John Kerry at a canvass kickoff in Nashua or Manchester? Here are the details:
Kerry Will Denounce McCain Campaign Smear Tactics; Discuss Sen. Obama's Judgment and Plan to Bring Change to Washington MANCHESTER-- With less than 20 days left until Election Day, U.S. Senator John Kerry will travel to New Hampshire this Saturday, October 18th to reach out to Granite State voters about the Obama-Biden plan to bring change to Washington. As someone who experienced firsthand the Republican smear tactics that were used with voters during the 2004 presidential election, Sen. Kerry will discuss Sen. McCain's decision to mislead voters with vicious and false information instead of address the real issues impacting American families. Kerry will be in Nashua and Manchester. "The phone calls that Sen. McCain is using in the Granite State and across the country to scare voters and spread misinformation about Sen. Obama are incredibly offensive and demonstrate McCain's desperate attempt to distract from the economy," said Sandra Abrevaya, New Hampshire Communications Director. "We're thrilled that Sen. Kerry will be in the state this weekend to combat these false claims about Sen. Obama and discuss why Sen. McCain represents more of the same failed Republican leadership. CANVASS EVENT with John Kerry IN NASHUA SATURDAY, October 18 at 1:30 pm 306 AMHERST ST. NASHUA, NH VETERANS TO VETERANS VOTER CONTACT EVENT with John Kerry IN MANCHESTER SATURDAY, October 18 at 3 pm 359 ELM ST. MANCHESTER, NH
MANCHESTER-- With less than 20 days left until Election Day, U.S. Senator John Kerry will travel to New Hampshire this Saturday, October 18th to reach out to Granite State voters about the Obama-Biden plan to bring change to Washington. As someone who experienced firsthand the Republican smear tactics that were used with voters during the 2004 presidential election, Sen. Kerry will discuss Sen. McCain's decision to mislead voters with vicious and false information instead of address the real issues impacting American families. Kerry will be in Nashua and Manchester.
"The phone calls that Sen. McCain is using in the Granite State and across the country to scare voters and spread misinformation about Sen. Obama are incredibly offensive and demonstrate McCain's desperate attempt to distract from the economy," said Sandra Abrevaya, New Hampshire Communications Director. "We're thrilled that Sen. Kerry will be in the state this weekend to combat these false claims about Sen. Obama and discuss why Sen. McCain represents more of the same failed Republican leadership.
SATURDAY, October 18 at 1:30 pm
306 AMHERST ST.
NASHUA, NH VETERANS TO VETERANS VOTER CONTACT EVENT with John Kerry IN MANCHESTER
SATURDAY, October 18 at 3 pm
359 ELM ST.
MANCHESTER, NH
Join John Kerry in fighting against smear campaign tactics. To report a robo call and help the campaign respond to these desperate attacks faster please visit www.fightthesmears.com/report.
Barack drew thousands of people to Mack's Apple's today in Londonderry, NH to listen to him speak about the Obama-Biden plan for change, the day after the final presidential debate.
Well, New Hampshire, last night we had a debate. I think you saw a bit of the McCain attack strategy in action. But here's what Senator McCain doesn't seem to understand. With the economy in turmoil and the American Dream at risk, the American people don't want to hear politicians attack each other - you want to hear about how we're going to attack the challenges facing middle class families each and every day. You want to hear about the issues that matter in your lives. You want to hear about how we're going to bring about the change that we desperately need for our country. That's what the American people want to hear.
Barack spoke to the serious concerns of New Hampshire voters - addressing the economic crisis, creating jobs for the American middle class, fighting for families and working tirelessly for you in Washington.
John McCain thinks this campaign is all about me - but the truth is, this campaign is about you. Your jobs. Your health care. Your retirement. Your children's future. That's what this election is about. That's what I'm fighting for. Because I can take 3 more weeks of these attacks from John McCain, but the American people can't take four more years of the same failed policies and the same divisive politics.
New Hampshire, we are 19 days away from changing this country. But for those of you who are getting a little cocky I have two words for you: New Hampshire. I learned right here that you can't let up or pay too much attention to the polls. We've got to keep making our case for change; we've got to keep fighting for every vote; we've got to keep running through that finish line. This election is too important to take anything for granted. The future that you and I seek for our children is too important to let up now. The time for change has come.
New Hampshire, let's join Barack Obama to fight for every vote, every step of the way. Sign up now to join the campaign's team in NH and find your local office.
We need your help today.
Nestled in the beautiful landscape of Hanover, NH , the Kendal retirement community is renowned for its active, engaged senior residents. A dedicated group of Obama campaign volunteers from Kendal demonstrates why this reputation is well-deserved.
For several weeks now, Kendal residents have been holding their own phone bank for Obama out of their residences, with Edie Gieg taking the lead in organizing their efforts. The dedicated group has proven to be quite a force in reaching out to New Hampshire voters throughout the state, smashing their own calling records and earning a special trophy from campaign staff (seen below).
How do they do it? Each morning, Edie Gieg's pie basket (also seen below) appears with fresh calling packets for volunteers to pick up. By evening, packets are returned to the pie basket to be picked up by staffers for data entry. The next day, the process starts again, and hundreds of calls are made.
