Rock Rock Obama

The Hamilton Board of Elections is open for early voting on Saturday from eight o’clock until noon. By the time Bob and I arrived just after nine o’clock yesterday, the three hour, 400-person line wrapped around three full city blocks.

I phoned in this information into headquarters, who them placed a giant breakfast order with a local Burger King. Meanwhile Bob and I distributed water, early vote stickers, Sportsmen for Obama pins (that’s all that was left at the campaign) and bumper stickers.

By eleven o’clock, the line had increased to about 600 people. Bob took advantage of the post Halloween candy sales and picked up two large bags of treats. We passed them out asking who was “hungry for change?” I also announced to the crowd “Whether Democrat, Republican, or independent, we can all agree that Snickers bars are delicious.”

I personally invited everyone in line to come here Barack Obama speak on Sunday, November 2 at Nipper Stadium at the University of Cincinnati. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. (You, blog reader, are also invited.) 

Bob also trotted out his newly created campaign chant: Barack Obama, rock rock Obama. The crowd joined in. It’s not normally possible to rev up a crowd waiting to vote, because of partisan mix. But the crowd that was voting at the Board of Elections was, once again, mostly black and at least 90% Democratic leaning. 

Our job was to keep people on line. We know we lose most of the votes when people don’t stay. But on this day, for this candidate, our job was pretty easy. The crowd was fired up and determined to stay. Some people waited close to five hours to vote. 

Later that evening, in a brief conference call with thousands of campaign staff nationwide, Sen. Obama emphasized the importance of keeping people’s spirits up while they were waiting to vote. We expect long lines, and so it’s vitally important that we keep folks engaged in the voting process.

The Obama campaign has placed a premium on participation and civic engagement. It’s not just rhetoric (as it seemed with Kerry) or a tactic designed to ratchet up the volunteer numbers. It stems from Obama’s core belief that empowering and including people in the process makes for a better, stronger, more vibrant campaign.

That’s what you get when you elect a community organizer. Now imagine these same principles genuinely applied to governance.