After a frantic Election Day of calling and door-knocking, the campaign staff and volunteers huddled around an ancient borrowed TV in the former nursing home that (until today) housed the Montrose, CO Obama Campaign for Change office. Lesley fiddled with the rabbit ears antenna as we munched on donated food watching the results trickle in. It looked good. "Pennsylvania!" "Ohio!" The excitement built. Then, at 10 p.m., the polls on the West Coast closed.
California, Oregon and Washington were put in the Democratic column, and Barack Obama was declared to be the 44th president-elect of the United States. It was stunning, even though we all expected him to win. We began to scream, cry and hug one another. It was an astounding victory, not only for Barack, but also for those tens of thousands of us brought together by this unlikely candidate.
We were led by three Obama field organizers -- Fresno twin brothers Alex and Justin, and Willa from Omaha, Nebraska. They began from scratch last July in this conservative rural West Slope community, working out of a local coffee shop. They built a mostly female, middle-aged (if we all live to 110!
) volunteer force, many of whom had never before worked on a political campaign. They are the embodiment of hope.
Margaret -- the mother of a disabled child -- organized the voter telephone calling lists, and she and teenaged Katie took no prisoners as they recruited local people to call, canvass, rally and telephone their friends, neighbors and strangers. Marty was the field marshal, organizing complex piles of maps and lists for the door-to-door canvassing. Lesley worked to keep the food tables filled to bursting to feed the troops, organized housing for out-of-state volunteers, and also joined dozens of locals who knocked on doors in upscale neighborhoods, ramshackle trailers, farms and ranches.
I wanted to introduce you to these remarkable people, so that you know the presidential victory was shared those who worked with a burning passion to change our world. You may not agree with the candidate, but this pursuit has been patriotism, pure and simple, and when I get home I plan to fly our flag every day.