Idaho mobilizes for Obama visit to Elko

Update 9/22/08: Here are some photos sent in by the Twin Falls crew from their trip to Elko last week.

A group of 17 of us from Twin Falls, and eight others from Minidoka and Sun Valley volunteered at Obama’s rally in Elko, Nevada, on September 17. We carpooled to Elko on Tuesday night, then were at the  the city park by 8 a.m. Obama had incorporated his economic plans into this speech, and my favorite line as quoted by Slate “questioned whether McCain could make good on his challenge to take on the "old boys' network." With so many former lobbyists in his campaign, said Obama, "the old boys' network is what they call a staff meeting.”

Here’s the good news about Twin Falls County Democrats: I had an email from Kassie Cerami (Idaho Obama organizer) on Sunday saying Idaho had been asked for twenty volunteers. I didn’t understand until Monday at noon that all twenty were being asked for from Twin Falls. We managed to find 25 volunteers by the time we left Tuesday night. I especially want to thank the LaRocco campaign for letting us take Matt Kopydlowski and all of you who rearranged your life to take part in the Obama campaign.

Comments

[Julie in Boise]

w00t!!!

Deborah, thanks for sharing this ... and thanks to the Magic Valley, Mini-Cassia, and Wood River Valley folks who answered the call. I honestly think Twin Falls County may decide several of our races this fall.

Did you take any pictures? Send me six-eight or so and we'll put up a slide show

[Julie in Boise]

I'm repeating this comment from an earlier thread. Thanks, ID Moderate, for this firsthand report ... good job talking with the Nevada voters!

My report on the Obama rally in Elko, NV, 9/17/08:
My wife (Crystal), a friend (Gloria) and I drove down from Twin Falls. We arrived early enough to get a good seat, about 35' from the dais. The speech was good, and included the "good old boys network = McCain staff meeting" line, which got a good response. Sen. Obama spoke for about 1/2 hour (never mentioned Palin once), and did stick around for quite a while afterwards working the rope line (Gloria got to shake his hand!).

We had a great time meeting fellow Obama supporters from all over the Great Basin and surroundings, and there were times in the speech that Sen. Obama showed why he has such strong support: When he spoke about how we need to restore the basic idea that if you work hard you can provide for yourself and your family, I got a little verklempt, thinking about how that American dream has been slipping away from us in the Republican economy where the cards are stacked to favor the ultra-rich.

After his speech, Sen. Obama did an short stand-up interview with "60 Minutes" reporter Steve Kroft. Before we left the venue, we stopped and chatted with a local policeman. I had estimated there were 500 inside the roped audience area, but it was hard to tell how many more were outside due to the VIP and press tents, trees, etc. He estimated 700 total, but that seemed a little low to me, and the official number from the campaign was 1500.

One of the best moments of the day came afterwards, when we had lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant (Chef Cheng's--very good food, BTW, and right across the street from a business sporting a "Honk for McCain/Palin" sign that got no response the entire time we were within earshot of it). While we were at the counter paying, our waitress noticed our Obama stickers, and we chatted a bit. She seemed like she wanted to know more about the candidates but hadn't had a chance to educate herself, so we shared our views. The topic of race came up, and I asked one of my favorite rhetorical questions: "Why is Obama black, given that his father was black, but his mother was white?" (It almost always gives people pause, and opens a good dialog about why we need to move past race issues, and how an Obama presidency would go a long way toward healing the old wounds.) I then noticed a fellow waiting patiently to pay, and I thought "Oh, oh, have I ruffled some feathers?" But he too joined in the discussion, and by the time we left, I got the feeling there were two people who had been undecided before, but who might be leaning toward voting Obama now!

Finally, we came home to the news that Sarah "Caribou Barbie" Palin's poll numbers had taken a 10 point nose dive in the previous 24 hours.

Overall, a very good day!

Posted by: ID Moderate | September 19, 2008 at 01:38 PM