Saturday, August 4, 2007, was Sen. Barack Obama's 46th birthday. Thus, as a present to him, we conducted a huge statewide canvass, where volunteers from all over the country (okay, mostly the Midwest, but you get the point), came into various towns in Iowa to help potential new voters. Here is identify one cool T-shirt from some people from Missouri, who also came with their adorable little boy who wandered around the office everywhere. Also pictured is Ashley (on the left). She is a fellow intern with me in the Outreach portion of the campaign. She helps Brian, who I think is veterans and the environment, but not sure. She is from Philly, went to Lake Forest University in Chicago, and moved after living one year in San Diego. We've become good friends for various reasons, including both representing the East Coast and she really likes Asian food. She spent a year in China. And Michelle, she is also very much in favor of adopting (or stealing) Asian babies.
I personally canvassed in West Des Moines neighborhood with some people who drove up all the way from Oklahoma City (eight hours!). The group is in the picture to the left. I hung out with three of them quite a bit. On the far left are Caitlin and Aaron. I actually canvassed some neighborhoods together with Aaron, while Caitlin went with a local. The second from the right is Jeff. He is one of my favorite people also, for reasons I can't really share right now, but I plan to be picking his brain for information very soon in the near future. The van is a rental van, but Aaron does some graphics works and made the Obama material. They got lots of good honks on the way up. He is going to the University of Texas for law school very soon, so Michael Woods, looks like I have TWO people to visit now in Austin!
The bunnies were taken at a house we were supposed to canvass that looked like some former hippies lived there. The neighborhood was pretty heavily Republican, as we skipped a lot of houses, and even the ones that were home were very much Republican husband, Democratic wife households, and the husband did most (as in all) of the talking. Still, even there we got some good supporters. One guy was a retired Marine (served in the Korean War) on the USS Saipan who thought Bush had run the military into the ground, and we talked for a bit. He was between Obama and Edwards. Another lady already had an Obama bumper sticker on her car, and she said her daughter was interested in volunteering. She also told me to tell the (conservative) neighbors that she was very happy to see Obama working her neighborhood!
Pictured above his Hill Harper. After we got back from the canvass, I took Caitlin and Aaron to get something to eat, and then they went out canvassing again, while I went to work the above event. Hill Harper is currently a star on CSI:NY, and he went to Harvard Law School with Sen. Obama. Before the professionals outing, he held one for high school students (stay in school, etc.) at the campaign headquarters. He had a lot of good things to say, but two immediately come to mind. First, he said that he met and likes Sen. Clinton. He has been in her house and also spent time with President Clinton. What he doesn't like is that the Sen. Clinton he knows personally is not the same Sen. Clinton that appears on the campaign trail. Sen. Obama, however, is the same. The second is once in Harvard Law School, he set up a basketball game at a prison. He knew Sen. Obama was busy being the editor of the Harvard Law Review and everything, but when he asked him to play in the game, he immediately said yes because he thought doing the outreach was more important than his other duties. Sen. Obama was their best player, so their winning very much depended on him. As lined up against the guy he was guarding, however, Sen. Obama asked him what he was in for. The guy said "double murder." Sen. Obama didn't shoot the whole game.
After all the events, the campaign had a BBQ, to thank the volunteers, especially those from out of town, and then we went to party in Des Moines. Pictured above is the Liar's Club in the Court Avenue district. Not bad for Des Moines aye?
On Sunday, I got up (a little under the weather - wonder why?), went to the grocery store to make Asian coleslaw (a little spicy and with raw ramen noodles), and then drove two hours to Solon, Iowa to attend the Iowa Asian Alliance - Eastern Chapter's annual picnic. Actually, it was their first picnic, so we'll see if it is annual. I met a lot of cool people there, including the heads of most of the various Asian organizations in Iowa. They had a talent show, and a good potluck food spread. They ate about 2/3 of my coleslaw, so I was happy. In the picture on the right, the girl sitting at the table is Sen. Clinton's field organizer for Iowa City. This was her region, so I'm guessing she was not happy I was there.
I leave you with two pictures. On the left is Sam. He was an intern in the field department, and this was his last day. So, we held a BBQ at his house, and it also happened to be his birthday, so we also had a cake for him. It was a surprise party. His main boss Ronnie got him a present (ITunes gift card) and wrapped it in an IPhone box. Funny to see Sam's reaction on so many levels. Sam is from Springfield, Illinois, and is going to be a freshman at Yale in a few weeks. Remember his face. He will be famous someday. On the right is a picture of the Iowa Speedway. That picture is for the Marshes. =)
The upcoming week is fair week, so stay tuned...
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