Friday, February 01, 2008
125 converge on Roanoke restaurant for Obama rally
With many first-time political volunteers, the rally sought to stir support ahead of the Feb. 12 vote.
Related
The latest from our Blue Ridge Caucus politics blog
- Va. Senate votes to restrict local government land grabs
- House advances “personhood” and abortion ultrasound bills
From The Roanoke Times
Evan Mack, a concert pianist who lives in Lewisburg, W.Va., was among the 125 or so Barack Obama supporters who filled The Venue Restaurant in Northwest Roanoke on Thursday night for a campaign rally.
Chanting "O-Ba-Ma," and his slogan, "Yes We Can," the group watched videos of their Democratic presidential candidate and roared with approval when Roanoke Mayor Nelson Harris told them, "This, ladies and gentlemen, is Obama territory."
Many signed up as volunteers to phone potential voters in the Feb. 12 Virginia primary. The restaurant's first floor was filled to standing-room-only before the event's scheduled start at 6 p.m. And by then more than 50 Obama T-shirts had been sold at $15 apiece, plus dozens of $2 buttons and bumper stickers.
Many in attendance, such as Mack, said they are first-time political volunteers.
"He has inspired me," said the musician, who hosted a letter-writing campaign for Obama at his home Wednesday night. "Nine of us hand-wrote 194 letters to likely Democratic voters in Virginia."
Why not stick to campaigning in his home state? "The West Virginia primary isn't until May. The nomination could be decided by then," Mack said.
The crowd was diverse, about evenly split between black and white, with strong representation from a cross-section of generations. Some parents brought elementary school-age children, but gray hair was abundant, too.
One among the more mature demographic, Mickey Counts, a registered nurse at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, helped at the T-shirt concession. Like Mack, Obama's campaign is her first, too.
"I'm in this to make a better country for my grandchildren," she said.
Although backers of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton haven't been as visible as Obama volunteers so far in Southwest Virginia, some have been busy behind the scenes, said Susan Swecker, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee's Southern caucus.
"We have 10 or 12 people in the Blacksburg area who were making calls for Hillary to Nevada to rally support in that caucus" earlier this month, she said.
Swecker said enthusiasm for Clinton is strong in Virginia. "We'll get some delegates here. We're not conceding anything," she said.
To be sure, Swecker finds it daunting to have "a popular governor," Tim Kaine, backing Obama. "But we have some good people working in Hillary's organization, like Mike Henry, who was a campaign manager for Kaine."
Swecker pointed out that Virginia's primary election isn't a winner-take-all contest for delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August in Denver. "I'm confident that Hillary will get a healthy number of delegates in Virginia," she said.
But her opposition in Roanoke is typified by Arthur Landrum, owner of The Venue, who hosted the rally.
"I'm just excited about Obama. I think he's the candidate who will end the war in Iraq and bring other needed change," said Landrum, yet another first-time political mobilizer.
