Amherst College beat Williams College in 26 innings, 73-32, in 1859, in the first inter-collegiate baseball game, played at North St. and Maplewood Ave. in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Hard to explain a baseball score like that without insulting the many alumni of Williams and Amherst, three of whom currently serve in the House of Representatives. Chris Murphy, D, CT, and Mark Udall, D, CO (Williams), and Tom Davis III, R, VA (Amherst) teamed up with John Olver D, MA 1st CD representing all of these historic towns in Western Massachusetts in March, 2008 to
"introduce a bill to recognize Pittsfield, Massachusetts, as being home to the earliest known reference to the word "baseball" in the United States as well as being the birthplace of college baseball. ...The resolution was introduced with 26 original co-sponsors, including the members of the Massachusetts delegation and graduates of Amherst and Williams Colleges. It will now move to the House Committee on Education and Labor for review." according to a press release from Congressman Olver's office dated March 14, 2008.
Olver has a PhD in chemistry from M.I.T., and was previously a chemistry professor at UMass. He is currently co-chair of the House Climate Change Caucus, which is how I stumbled over his baseball bill and couldn't resist getting your attention with that score.
More importantly, Olver sits on two sub-committees of the House Appropriations Committee, chairing "the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and related agencies. This panel has jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation, including the Federal Aviation, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak. The Subcommittee also is responsible for the annual budgets of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. ...In 2007 John Olver was named to the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee. This panel has jurisdiction over the Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, among other agencies." from Olver's official website.
The House Appropriations sub-committees were re-organized to make more sense with the change in leadership in 2007. It's educational to understand how committees are organized, especially the powerful Appropriations Committee.
So, I'm throwing out a pitch to consider John Olver as a key player in the next administration's team on Climate Change, based on being a scientist with deep knowledge of how all of the related Federal agencies function, and how they are funded. Based on how hard it is to get a baseball resolution passed in the House, a man of patience. Based on the quality of roads and bridges in Olver's district, a man of action. Thank you Congressman Olver for Routes 116 and 9 up here in the Hilltowns!
A+ from middleclass.org for 2008, up from A.
Age: 72, representing MACD1 since 1991.
Uncommitted super-delegate, along with Mark Udall. Chris Murphy is pledged to Obama.
Hey, it's April!
“In the early sixties, I was perfectly happy being a wife and mother—the prototypical fifties housewife,” recalled Lee Kass, a town captain for Barack in Amherst. But after the birth of her second child, she began to feel a growing sense of independence, which prompted her to return to the working world. "I decided that if I didn't go back to work, I'd go insane," she said.
In 1965 Lee decided to go back to school. She completed a Masters in Special Education and taught emotionally troubled kids for five years. She also set up community programs for the mentally disabled.
In time, Lee earned her doctorate and became a practicing psychotherapist. While teaching adults at Empire State College in upstate New York, she grew particularly interested in the continued mental development experienced by adults. Now retired from psychological counseling, she teaches classes on “Conscious Aging” at the Rivier Institute for Senior Education.
Lee says, “My intention is to get students to open themselves to the possibilities that the later years in life present many opportunities for continuing growth and development.”
“This is an incredible time of life, and offers opportunities for doing things we didn’t have time for in earlier life stages.” she said. “At the same time, there are challenges in dealing with changing health, relationships with adult children, and the financial uncertainties of retirement.”
Lee admits that she shares the anxieties of many of her students, particularly on facing retirement. “Thank God for Social Security,” she said, “and thank God for my husband’s pension. We are comfortable, not wealthy, but we are able to live well enough.”
She is working for the campaign because she believes that Barack has an unmatched ability to understand and empathize with people from all walks of life. “Barack can relate to people of all ages, but I know he understands the challenges faced by seniors because of the role his grandparents played in his upbringing,” she said.
This ability to empathize, Lee believes, will enable him to inspire more Americans to enter the political process to reclaim politics from the special interests. As a result, she’s working on a primary campaign in New Hampshire for the first time.
She said:
I have never felt so passionate about a candidate, as I do about Barack Obama…I feel as passionate about him as I think my father felt about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was his hero.
Nan Stearns introduces Barack's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng.
Amherst resident Nan Stearns learned the importance of having a strong support network during her husband’s 30-year career in the U.S. Army. She lived all over the world, from Taiwan to Germany to Alaska, and during those travels learned to quickly put down roots and reach out to her new community. Nan has put those skills to use in the past few years, founding Women Making a Difference in New Hampshire and working to organize the Souhegan Valley for Barack.
Nan and Peter have been married for nearly 50 years. During Peter’s time with the Army Corps of Engineers, the Stearns family lived at duty stations across the country and the world. During these travels, Nan taught school and volunteered for organizations like the Girl Scouts and the Red Cross. This volunteering did not extend to politics until recently.
Until the 90s, both Nan and Peter considered themselves Republicans. They changed their affiliation to “undeclareds” when they concluded that the Republican Party had changed over the past and party had left them behind. Nan and Peter became active grassroots supporters in the Dean campaign, and that experience convinced them to continue to engage in New Hampshire politics.
In 2005, Nan helped found Women Making a Difference, a network of like-minded women advocating for change on issues including election integrity, childhood obesity, fair taxes, and global warming.
“It seemed to me that many women in the state felt their voices weren’t being heard,” she recalls, “and I have always felt that there is tremendous power to be found in networks of people who are willing to merge their voices with others.”
Nan met Barack at a house party and shortly after Labor Day decided to devote her abilities to building networks in her own community to support the campaign. Her reason for supporting Barack is simple. She said:
He is the only candidate who can bring the country together again at a time when unity is desperately needed. After eight years of division, he won’t waste this opportunity to heal the country by polarizing the electorate.
The effort began months ago, when Soughegan Valley supporters set up their own small weekly phone bank at Jack McBriarty’s office. With only 31 days to go before the primary, that same phone bank is now filled to capacity every week.
Enthusiasm for the campaign grew over the summer and into the fall. At an organizational meeting on November 7th arranged by Nan of Amherst, the group elevated their support to the next level.
“Things just sort of took off from there,” said Nan. “It became clear to many of us that if we wanted Barack Obama to win, we needed to take some real responsibility for the campaign’s success.”
Supporters agreed to each commit to a concrete responsibility for the rest of the campaign. Howard Morse and Ruth Heden have turned their homes into yard sign distribution centers for Amherst and Milford. Frank Cinque and Lee Kass have directed their efforts to their peers—with Frank targeting high school students and Lee planning an information center for residents of a local senior living home. Other supporters, like Jeanne Ludt, have hosted house parties to offer their neighbors more information on Barack’s vision for change.
Eight years ago, Jeanne won an uphill race for the local school board thanks to a grassroots effort that began with house parties. In supporting Barack, she returned to the same house party model that worked for her.
She said, “People are willing to give their neighbors a fair hearing, so this is a good way of reaching out.”
Nan Stearns introduces Barack's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, at a house party.
Mindful of the important role to be played by Independent voters in the New Hampshire Primary, lifelong Independent Jeanne Emmick started a postcard-writing operation to target her neighbors who are also unaffiliated with either party.
“We are trying to convey to other undeclared voters out there that, in these desperate times, we need someone who can talk to both sides of the aisle and bring people together,” she said. “And Barack is the only candidate in either party that can do that.”
Grassroots organizations like Souhegan Valley for Obama are about to take center stage as we work to seal the deal with New Hampshire voters and get out the vote for Primary Day. Join the campaign and help organize your communities.
The Union Leader spotlighted one of our top volunteers on the front page of its Sunday Edition. Howard Morse of Amherst, 75 years old, has devoted countless hours to the campaign. Howard tells the paper that volunteering has had a personal reward as well as a political one: “he has found himself surrounded by young people whose contagious enthusiasm for Obama… has been a breath of fresh air.”
The Union Leader reports:
Many folks who have hit the age of 75 are spending their golden years on the golf course or cruising the Caribbean. Not Howard Morse. He's hitting the pavement campaigning for Sen. Barack Obama and working to keep Democrats in control of the State House…‘I have more fun with young people, and remaining young and healthy is a product of having fun.’
Many folks who have hit the age of 75 are spending their golden years on the golf course or cruising the Caribbean. Not Howard Morse. He's hitting the pavement campaigning for Sen. Barack Obama and working to keep Democrats in control of the State House…
‘I have more fun with young people, and remaining young and healthy is a product of having fun.’
Nothing says summer like Independence Day. In New Hampshire, the events on display range from the traditional parades and fireworks to distinctive New England touches like public readings of the Declaration of Independence, fairs, Pots and Pans parades and Rubber Ducky races. Of course, the major parades of the day are in Amherst and Merrimack, but the story doesn’t end there. In New Hampshire, the "Fourth of July" extends from the night of July 3rd clear through to the July 8th, and every event has its own unique history, culture and crowd.
So this year, we decided to go to all of them.
Energized crowds of staff, interns, supporters, volunteers, and Obama fans showed up to over fifty of New Hampshire’s most important Independence Day events saw vocal and enthusiastic participation on behalf of Barack and our movement for change. Last night alone, over 40 supporters attended festivals and fireworks shows in Greenville, Rochester, and Portsmouth.
Today, this shared celebration continued as Obama volunteers fanned out across the state.
Over a hundred and fifty volunteers turned out to form an energized, boisterous contingent of Barack supporters for the celebrated Independence Day parades in Amherst and Merrimack. A makeshift marching band led the way as the sun beat down upon the thousands of people hugging the parade route with their lawn chairs and drink coolers.
The volunteers and staff danced to the band’s beat, handed out stickers, and blew bubbles as they made their way along the parade route. As the first parade in Amherst kicked off, Howard Morris, the “M” in a human “OBAMA” sign, told me he was here because Barack represented “change we deserve.”
I sprinted ahead of the Barack train in both Amherst and Merrimack to speak with parade-goers as our musical contingent approached. The Kunkel family of 6, natives of Amherst, tried to shake me down for stickers and shared that they viewed Barack’s candidacy as presenting an “exciting and refreshing” alternative to what they had seen before.
In Merrimack, Elizabeth P. of Nashua told me that Barack’s time working with communities gave him a “unique brand of experience that we need in the White House more than we need another Washington insider or big-state governor.”
There’s much more still to come, including fireworks across the state (weather permitting). Check back later for additional photos and video of the day's events. Happy 4th of July!
