Volunteering for Obama

What history may not record, is the tireless work done by thousands of ordinary people who committed considerable time, energy and effort in doing whatever they could to help the presidential candidate of their choice win the race to the White House. For my part, I want to acknowledge the role these thousands of unsung heroes and heroines played, having had the rare and historic opportunity to personally witness and briefly participate in the grassroots campaign that helped President Obama emerge victorious on November 6 and win a second four- year term in office.

While the US presidential election campaign was in full swing, I was in Chicago — Obama’s hometown or constituency as we would call it in TT — visiting with my sister, Anjie, and her husband, Troy, who had been activists for Obama since 2008 and who played a key role in helping him win that election campaign. As a journalist with Newsday for the last 14 years, I have covered a wide array of political events. I have covered general and local government elections in Trinidad from 1998 to 2010, the Fifth Summit of the Americas (the first major summit which Obama attended after being elected President in 2008) and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Port-of-Spain in 2009 and Tobago House of Assembly elections in 2003 and in 2008. I even had the opportunity in July 2010 to cover a Caricom Heads of Government Meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica, which incidentally was the first major regional meeting which Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar attended shortly after the People’s Partnership won the May 24, 2010 election. So when Anjie invited me to see what volunteering for Obama’s grassroots campaign was like, it was an offer I could not refuse. I accompanied her to a small campaign office located in the Village Center in the suburb of Hyde Park, where she lives, on November 3. The first thing that struck me as we stepped out of the cold temperatures of near two degrees celsius into the office, was the warmth and energy of activity taking place inside.We were greeted by a kindly female organiser who thanked us profusely for coming out to volunteer. She was intrigued when she learnt that I was offering to volunteer, especially since I was not an American citizen.

“As long as you don’t donate any money, you’ll be fine,” she said with a smile.

Accompanying us to the campaign office on that day was our youngest sister, Therese, who arrived in Chicago one day earlier on business and also volunteered to participate in activities. On a table before us were hundreds of cellphones which were electronically connected to a system called Votebuilder.com, which the Democrats and the Republicans were using to electronically canvass votes in all parts of the United States. I was instructed by another organiser how to use this ingenuous system, which allowed me to automatically connect with voters within any state to ask them to support President Obama.

As I was given my instructions, I wondered about the elections I had previously covered and realised just how far behind political parties in Trinidad and Tobago are with respect to how they encourage the electorate to cast their votes for them. In this age of rapidly evolving technology, traditional tactics of door-to-door canvassing are being complimented, some may argue being replaced, by this form of electronic canvassing.

Once you have signed in to Votebuilder.com, the system starts calling the phone numbers of prospective voters in the state in question. In my case, I was part of the group which was mandated to call the State of Wisconsin, which was considered a swing state in the election. Here in TT, we call them marginal constituencies, and in both cases every vote in these areas is particularly crucial. I didn’t have to think about what to say to the prospective voters either, as Votebuilder provided me with a script, telling me what to say to the voter, how to ask them if they were supporting Obama; if yes, to let them know where their polling station was located (that information was in the script too) and to thank them for their vote. Should the voter have been supporting Romney, not voting, moved, deceased or was not available, that information would be compiled along with the names of the voters who were supporting the President.All of this data was then used by the Democratic National Congress to determine, in all parts of the United States, who were the voters supporting Obama, who were backing Romney, who were undecided and other pertinent information which could be relayed to volunteers on the ground in various states, to fine tune their efforts to get as many Obama voters to the polls as possible.

As we worked the phones from that office in Chicago that night, my brother-in-law, Troy, was in the field in Iowa, another key battleground state, working with other volunteers to bring Iowa home for Obama. So I began making my calls.

“Hi. I’m Clint, with President Obama’s grassroots campaign, how are you?” was the introduction I used every time. None of the persons I called had any idea that I was a Trini and not a US citizen. I’d then ask the voter, “Can we count on your vote for President Obama on November 6?”

Responses varied when I asked that question. One man I spoke to replied, “We don’t have to have a long conversation. I’m supporting Obama and I’ll never trust any of them (Republicans).” You can’t be more supportive of Obama than that, I thought to myself at the time. “Absolutely. I voted already for him and my husband is going to vote for Obama on Tuesday,” said a very enthusiastic elderly woman when I called her. Across the table from me, another volunteer had a caller who said she was supporting Obama and lived in a whole houseful of Obama supporters.

In between calls, we agreed that it would be great if all those supporters were in fact eligible to vote. Back to calling again. I got the unmistakable sound of the hanging up of a phone receiver when I informed a gentleman I was calling on behalf of President Obama’s campaign. He joined a list of voters I called in Wisconsin who were placed in the “refused” category. Some persons didn’t seem to care there was an election going on and preferred to continue with their usual routines. I called for one gentleman and the person who answered the phone said, “He’s busy watching a football (American) game and can’t come to the phone right now.” I was told by another woman that the person I wanted to speak to had moved, but she did not say where she had moved. “Effie don’t live here,” was the reply I got on this call.

Anjie got some interesting responses when she called voters in Wisconsin as well that night. She later told me when she called for one woman, she was told by someone at the residence that the person had unfortunately passed away earlier in the week. The three of us returned again on November 4 to the same office for another round of phone lobbying, having learnt the ropes from the previous night. At all times, none of the volunteers deviated from the rules of engagement clearly outlined by the organisers running the office. We were always polite and respectful no matter what the persons on the other end of the phone said, and always got the campaign message across. While it would be considered a drop in the bucket for some, I took some measure of pride that in the series of calls I made, I was able to successfully convince at least six people in Wisconsin to vote for Obama and maybe these people in turn were able to encourage friends and neighbours to do the same.

Throughout the days I volunteered at the centre, the mix of persons who turned out to volunteer was interesting to see. Men and women of different ages and ethnicities came almost in shifts throughout the day and night to do their part. As they worked, other persons contributed by providing pizza, sandwiches, bottled water, sodas and coffee to keep them going. The President was grateful to the volunteers at that office, as indeed he was for volunteers across the US who worked long hours, either in an office or out in the field somewhere, encourgaing as many Americans they could to vote for him.

On November 6, Election Day, Obama paid a surprise visit to that office to thank all the volunteers who worked for their efforts and even made a few phone calls himself.

Election Day in Chicago itself was also a day to remember. Though I did not go to any polling stations or see people walking around the city with electoral ink on their fingers, as would have been the case in TT, one could tell election fever was in the cool fall weather which the Windy City is renowned for at this time of year.

The Chicago Police Department had Obama’s private residence on Woodlawn Avenue, located south of where I was staying in Hyde Park, under heavy guard, as it was reported he had come home to monitor the outcome of the election. Obama and vice-president Joe Biden and their families in fact stayed at the Fairmont Hotel downtown for the early part of the evening, watching the results as they came in.

While State Street, the main thoroughfare in downtown Chicago, still had lots of people going about doing their business, the crowds were thinner than in previous days. As I passed people on the street, on the bus, or on the train as I roamed about the city, I observed them talking to others on their phones or texting friends to find out whether they voted and when they were going to vote.

The weather that day was cold and rainy, prompting a friend back in TT to email me to say this weather did not bode well for Democrats in the past. However, as the results of the election would reveal later that night, political superstition held no sway. Throughout the day on television, radio and the Internet, there were a plethora of polls and predictions as to whether Obama or Romney would emerge victorious.

Similar to back in TT, the pollsters envisioned different scenarios, some of which predicted an Obama victory, a Romney victory, or that the race was too close to call. The polls were open from 7 am to 8 pm. When the polls closed and night fell over the Windy City, this in no way calmed expectations and anticipations over who would win.

Around 6 pm, as Democrat supporters were gathering en masse at McCormick Place, where Obama was expected to speak, I was on my way back from shopping at Ace Hardware in Hyde Park and noticed a group of young men debating over which Obama t-shirt to wear to McCormick Place. Passing a nearby coffee shop, Chicago police officers were scrambling to their cars, coffee and bags of food in hand, as they hustled to get to their assigned posts for the night.

Fate was good for Trini folks on that night, as Anjie was able to obtain three guest passes which would allow us allow us entry to McCormick Place for the Democrats’ rally. The passes bore the seal of the Obama-Biden campaign with the simple words underneath of “Election Night, November 6, 2012, Chicago, Guest.”

Despite three days of heavy campaigning in Iowa and a four-hour drive back to Chicago, Troy joined us and together we made haste towards what would be the epicentre of US politics on November 6. For those who don’t know, McCormick Place is the largest convention centre in North America, with 2,670,000 square feet of enclosed space. It consists of four interconnected buildings sited on and near the shore of Lake Michigan, approximately 4 kilometres south of downtown Chicago. In addition to hosting a wide range of expos and conferences all year round, McCormick Place is also a major transportation hub, with a Metra train station located in its basement. We arrived there around 10 pm and had to walk two blocks to McCormick Place because of the sheer numbers of people who had gathered there and were continuing to flock there throughout the course of the night.

One parking lot outside the centre was filled with television mobile units from all American news stations and a few foreign news stations as well, all there to cover this historic occasion.

Our passes allowed us entry into this massive centre, into which all major buildings in Port-of-Spain, major stadia in the country, Rienzi Complex, Balisier House, Woodford Square, Mid Centre Mall, Aranjuez Savannah, Old Market Square in Scarborough and the Centre of Excellence in Macoya could be comfortably placed with plenty of room to spare. After undergoing rigorous scrutiny from the police and other security officials on hand, we arrived inside the main hall after wading through tens of thousands of people. “Look at people” was the first thought I had when I saw the largest gathering of persons for a single event that I had ever seen in my life.

From all indications, it was clear there were at least 50,000 people there and counting. Without a doubt, it dwarfed all of the crowds I had seen at political rallies I covered in the past and any others I will cover in the future. Outside the main hall, people were perusing Obama t-shirts and other merchandise on sale and buying food and beverages, as they waited for the results to come in. The atmosphere was energetic and festive with American flags being waved by everyone present, and people danced to the unmistakeable strains of some classic American pop, soul and rock and roll music, which were varied at regular intervals to keep the crowds sharp and active.

It was around 11 pm that the tempo climbed to fever pitch when Romney appeared on the large screens over the main stage to officially concede defeat and extend his best wishes to President Obama on his victory. This was the only time when Democrat supporters would have listened and cheered anything the defeated Republican challenger would have had to say. The crowd only had to wait for another 30 minutes before President Obama and the First Family walked on stage to thunderous cheers, applause, music and flag-waving. Though I could barely see him from where we were standing in the hall, on the monitors one could see how moved Obama was by the massive show of support for him that night. In delivering his victory speech, which he kept short and crisp, yet another failing of all TT politicians of recent years, Obama made sure to acknowledge the efforts of volunteers on both sides of the political divide, for the efforts they made to ensuring that democracy in the United States was alive and kicking.

“Whether you pounded the pavement or picked up the phone. Whether you held an Obama sign or a Romney sign, you made your voice heard,” he declared. However, Obama was glowing as he paid special tribute to the volunteers for the Democrats who paved the way for him to return to the White House for a second four year term in office.

“To the best campaign team and volunteers in the history of politics. The best. The best ever. Some of you were new this time around and some of you have been at my side since the very beginning, but all of you are family. No matter what you do or where you go from here, you will carry the memory of the history we made together and you will have the life long appreciation of a grateful president. Thank you for believing all the way, through every hill, through every valley. You lifted me up the whole way and I will always be grateful for everything that you’ve done and all the incredible work that you’ve put in.”

As he concluded his speech, the rally ended on a high note with thousands of people singing, dancing and waving flags for the dying moments of the rally to Bruce Springsteen’s smash hit “The Rising,” which was composed in memory of persons who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in Washington DC and New York, but which has now become one of the more popular songs preferred by US politicians.

As Obama waved to the cheering crowds that filled the main hall of McCormick Place, I wondered if he knew there were Trinis among the cadre of volunteers who helped him to win the election. What Obama’s re-election means for relations with TT, and how the policies of his administration will affect us over the next four years remains to be seen. I for one am thankful to have been able to participate in a unique event which has the capacity to shape the course of world history in years to come. Now I can say that I have seen democracy at work in its finest hour and seen truth prevail, through the small role I played in these political events which will have a special place in my memory for the rest of my life.