On Saturday and Sunday at the Columbus, Ohio Arts Festival, a group of Obama volunteers braved the blistering heat and winds to register 187 voters at a tabling event. Between the enthusiastic volunteers and a life-sized Obama cardboard figure, they also signed up 96 festival goers to work with neighborhood teams and do a host of other jobs needed by the campaign staff. Most had never worked for a campaign before. A group of Chicago artists approached the table and described how surprised they were to see so many people in the middle of Ohio sporting the more than 500 Obama pins that were distributed. Not one McCain pin was in sight for the entire two days of the festival!
Our first ex-Hillary supporter manned the table for a few hours and was especially effective in talking to other new Obama supporters. Some of these potential new voters are still watching and reading and thinking, while others expressed the desire to start working for a Democratic victory in November by getting an Obama bumper sticker to put over those of other candidates they had previously supported. Throughout the two-day festival, Obama supporters walked over to the table just to thank the tabling volunteers for caring enough to give their time. We all were reminded about why we are working so hard to support Obama when one volunteer described how the neighbors had pitched in to buy decent body armor for a neighbor in Iraq. When the government wouldn’t pay to fly this soldier home on leave after a long tour of duty, once again each neighbor pitched in $150.00 so he could finally visit his wife and kids.
Obama supporters walking through the festival told us that they heard more than one person asking friends, “Have you had your photo taken with Obama yet?” With the volunteer spirit we saw this weekend, Obama pins, registration, and volunteer recruitment will energize people at Ohio festivals throughout the state this summer and fall. Through volunteer efforts like this one, come November, Ohio will be one important swing state in the “blue” column.
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