Obama 2012 has officially started here. We got the initial contact and introduction from the person running the Ohio campaign here locally and we had an Ohio conference call with Michelle Obama. I just listened in on the call. I weigh in so often here that when I engage in actual politics I have nothing controversial or combative left to say. It’s good. I can listen to people because I’m not composing my stinging rebuttal or next question in my head while the person I’m listening to speaks. We heard from two volunteers, one in the Toledo area and one out of Cincinnati.
There were three hundred at the Dayton office opening. I was alone in my office, here in the boonies. If any of you were on the call too I’d love to hear what you thought.
The Republicans have not picked a presidential nominee yet, but President Barack Obama’s Ohio team opened its Dayton headquarters Thursday night looking ahead to the November election.
The headquarters, at 411 E. Fifth Street in the Historic Oregon District, is the third office the Obama campaign has opened in Ohio. The other offices are in Chillicothe and Shaker Heights near Cleveland.
During the grand opening, first lady Michelle Obama spoke by phone to a room full of volunteers and supporters.
“We’re going to finish what we started,” Obama told the crowd. “We got our work cut out for us. Obama told the audience she was coming to Ohio on Feb. 23. She will be holding a fundraiser at the Westin Hotel in downtown Cincinnati.
Republican presidential candidates are also preparing to campaign in Ohio during the next month ahead of the March 6 primary.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has events planned for Akron and Columbus on Feb. 18. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will headline the Cuyahoga County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner on Feb. 16 in Mayfield Heights near Cleveland.
None of the GOP candidates have opened field offices in the Dayton area.
Jessica Kershaw, press secretary for Obama for America Ohio, said the Dayton office will be used for phone banks, canvassing kickoffs and other events.
“We need to organize everywhere,” she said. “Dayton is an important city for us.
Ah, memories. From February 19, 2008:
The two Democratic presidential contenders have set up shop in the Miami Valley – one in Dayton, the other in Kettering.
The Dayton Barack Obama headquarters is having its ribbon cutting and open house on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 5:30 p.m. The office is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Obama headquarters is on the first floor of the Kettering Tower at Second and Jefferson streets in downtown Dayton.
The Hillary Clinton campaign opened its local office on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 3854 Wilmington Pike in Kettering. The chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Terry McAuliffe, made a quick stop Tuesday night to officially open the office.
Paul W.
Kay, you don’t by chance happen to know a chap by the name of Ethan F. do you? He’s my roommate (for another couple of days) and will be going to Ohio to coordinate a few districts. Great guy, he was there in 2008 as well.
With the news this morning about the economy I’m actually feeling really psyched about the upcoming election and campaign.
Maude
Good morning Kay. This is great news. I am so glad Mrs. Obama is helping with the campaign. She will be a welcome addition this year.
Obama has said that he doesn’t take anything for granted.
He is trying to get companies to keep jobs here as it is costing more for goods to be made in other countries. One company, can’t remember which one is moving a factory to Turkey because China is expensive.
rikryah
THANKS for the updates Kay.
kay
@Paul W.:
I don’t, sorry, but that doesn’t mean anything. We get one person per cycle out here. Our person is always named “Chip”. It’s a job requirement or something.
Bulworth
Just seeing these names in print gives me optimism.
Michelle Obama > Romney/Santorum.
I think Michelle could win this thing by herself.
SuzieC
I’m going to campaign organizer training run by OFA tomorrow. This is in Columbus.
Zifnab
Can anyone remind me who won Ohio in the Dem Primary or the general election?
geg6
Greetings from you next-door neighbor! Just got my first organizing phone call yesterday, asking if I was still interested in volunteering again. I almost yelled “YES”, but cut down the volume after a second of thinking that over. But I was enthusiastic enough that the guy who called laughed. I can’t wait. I had such a great time and experience in 2008 (the first time in volunteering for these things in 32 years; it’s always such a slog!) that I wouldn’t miss 2012 for anything. OFA may be the best organization I’ve ever seen and they make it fun.
This is it, folks. If we can’t do it, we’re all doomed. The stakes are too, too high to sit this one out.
Cassidy
I think I would beat someone to have the opportunity to speak to Michelle Obama. That’s the kind of women, combined with their Mom, I want my girls to look up to.
kay
@Zifnab:
Clinton won Ohio in the primary, easily. Obama won it in the general.
The primary was silly, in my view, because they were both pretending to be further to the Left on trade than either actually is. Just nonsense, mostly. A lot of accusations and counter accusations on trade.
kay
@geg6:
My daughter moved to Pittsburgh, geg, so I’ll be visiting a lot. She went to a Steelers game! She has a hockey player boyfriend, so she’s completely acclimated :)
Libby's person
I’m doing my first stint of voter registration tomorrow. I can’t phone bank or knock on doors, but I can do voter registration. I’m in a blue area in NC, so I know how important this work is – my county needs to turn out the vote big-time for NC to go for Obama again.
I attended an Obama house party a couple of weeks ago. I was really impressed by the young woman from OFA who ran the event, and more generally by the level of organization for the Obama ground game. It was also great to see the diversity of the attendees; my best memories from 2008 center around strangers coming together like long-time friends, at least temporarily ignoring social and cultural barriers that normally separate them/us.
GObama!
geg6
@kay:
You should seriously get in touch with me when you’re coming to town. Your daughter will love it here (and she went to a Stillers game!!). If we get together, maybe some other local Juicers would join us and we could have our town BJ meetup. Maybe Cole would even make a special guest appearance. I’ll bet Tim F. would come if there was beer involved.
I am not kidding about this, girl. Let me know if you’re up for it.
Linda Featheringill
See? Expressing yourself on BJ makes you appear wise and serene. :-)
Linda Featheringill
@Bulworth:
There aren’t as many of the very poor in Mayfield Heights as in Cleveland or some of the other suburbs. So the Governor will probably be spared the horror of having to rub elbows with the wrong sort.
kay
@Linda Featheringill:
It’s true to a certain extent. I don’t pop off (as much), because I’ve already thought it through, heard all your arguments, etc. It’s not as heated and adrenaline-driven.
When I got invited to a local group to answer questions on the ballot issues in Ohio, I had seen every single point they raised there, here.
kay
@geg6:
I will. I like Pittsburgh, but I have no sense of direction, it is seriously a disability, there’s something wrong with me there, so I get lost all the time. Luckily, I don’t mind being lost all that much.
sherparick
The biggest and best news today for the President and the Democrats was today’s employment report and fall in the unemployment rates, both U2 and U6 (for my fellow sought taught economic geeks). The sounds you hear in the background on the gnashing of teeth and headbangint at Republican Natl. Headquarters, the Romney Campaign, Rush Limbaugh, Faux News, and assorted media types on CNBC, Politico, and WSJ, along with the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. See http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/
The dark cloud in today’s news is that it seems more and more likely that Isarael will go to war with Iran sometime in the next few months and drag us into it. Just the act itself, let alone the terrible, destructive, long war that will follow in Israel, Lebannon, and Iran (with perhaps a reinvasion of an Iraq allied with Iran) and the surrounding lands will jack the price of oil to $200 a barrel. This price spike will send the U.S. and the world back into a deep recession. And don’t forget that the other group that will find this result delightful are the Koch Brothers, Exxon-Mobil, BP, Haliburton, and the assorted wealthy CEO types and major shareholders in the fossil fuel industries like the Cheneys.
The question in my mind is whether Netanyhu would do this because of his and the Israeli’s right-wing irrational hysteria over Iran’s nuclear program or would they be doing because they also suffer from Obama Derangement Syndrome and hope that the subsequent economic catastrophe will torepedo Obama and get the plutocrats own man, Romney, into the White House. Romney has of course promised to make the foreign policy of the Likud the foreign policy of the United States, word for word, act for act.
Unfortunately its a long way to November and so much is a hazard to fortune and fools like Netanyhu and Merkel.
kay
@geg6:
The last time I was there, I got lost, so I asked directions using the name of the street that I was on. Like 7 people assembled to help me, which was funny all by itself, but they kept starting with the name of a road that I was not familiar with. I finally asked them what the hell they were talking about, and I laughed so much because they said ” it’s the same street. that’s what we call it”.
They just renamed the street and didn’t tell me.
geg6
@kay:
Heh, well, the ‘Burgh is notoriously difficult to navigate if you’re not a native (and, often, even if you are). Very easy to get lost here with all the Blue Belts and Orange Belts and such, not to mention all the one-way streets, and having a street grid in the shape of a triangle doesn’t help a lot with that. Having spent the beginning of my career in sales (radio and newspaper advertising), I am a great navigator of the city and its surrounding area. We could avoid the city altogether and go to one of the most charming towns just outside, Sewickley, and have a meet-up at the Sewickley Hotel (yummy!). It’s easy to find (just look for all the rich people), bypasses city traffic, and is fairly easy for people from areas of the metro area to get to.
Mnemosyne
@kay:
I often read in Victorian novels that servants would be given names designated by their position. So, for example, the first footman would always be called “James” even if his actual name was Peter, because the first footman was always called “James.”
Maybe “Chip” is just the title for your OFA person and not his real name. :-)
slag
@kay: Do you watch Wonder Boys each time before you go? You should do that.
Also…get a smart phone. I rarely recommend such things because I hate them, but they do make navigation in foreign lands vastly simpler. Smart phones are the new Harrison clocks.
Roger Moore
@sherparick:
Color me skeptical of Israel’s ability to attack Iran without our active assistance. What route are their planes going to take to get to Iran? They’re going to need to go through the airspace of one or more other countries to get there, or to take a very long all water route that’s currently being patrolled by the US Navy. Since Iran is likely to see giving free passage to Israeli planes as a hostile act, their neighbors are going to be very reluctant to go along without a promise of massive US backing. Without our support, they’re going to have a hell of a time making a strong enough attack to be worth the bother.
The Ancient Randonneur
Obama supporters in New Hampshire began re-engaging and canvassing back in November.
RalfW
I just love Republicans! So the party of personal responsibility says that Romney is not responsible for
1) being a crappy retail campaigner
2) brittle when being interviewed, even by friendly Fox-fire
3) pays 13.9% in taxes
4) actively stashes money in the Caymans and Switzerland
and of course
5) is a non-stop gaffee machine
Oh, no, none of that is the Mittster’s, yknow, fault.
It’s dem awful librul media types buying Obama’s meme. Uhuh.
Cain
Oregon started in November. I’ve been involved since Dec. Because we had an out of cycle election, Oregon has been used as a test bed of new ideas. We’ve started a dashboard software that the rest of the states will be using but we are testing out here.
I’ve been involved a team leader/groupie or whatever you wanted to call. For the last election with Suzanne Bonamici, my wife and I spent 8 hours a week phone banking and calling supporters and democrats. It’s a shitty job, but I’ve started getting used to doing it now.
I hope to see more of you involved and getting the MUP re-elected but getting some good democrats in and re-take the house and a bigger majority in the senate.
If we want to get the kind of things inacted, we will need to get good amount of progressives..
Sir Nose'D
The Dayton office opening was alive with energy. I’ve been worried that there might be an enthusiasm gap between 2008 and 2012. If one exists, I did not see it last night.
ruemara
Y’all give me the warm happies. I am proud of you. Maybe I will carve out some volunteer time, if I can get things settled after some issues come to the forefront this march.