Embedded in Texas: Obama Volunteer Discusses NV Caucus "Ugliness"

cross-posted to goodCRIMETHINK

This is my final video dispatch from working in Texas for Obama. It's an interview I did with Greer Westerink (whose video I posted almost a month ago). Greer lives in the Bay Area but was a caucus precinct captain for Obama in Las Vegas, NV. She and I spent hours working together in South Dallas, and she was always referring to the "ugliness" she saw from the Clinton campaign in Vegas.

I finally found a moment to ask her about it on camera. Here's what she had to say

Embedded In Texas: Insight From A Fellow Volunteer On HRC's Primary "Win"

I worked with Robert Swann. This man is the shiznits. He's a Dallas native, and posted a comment on my personal blog I thought worth sharing....

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Baratunde! For those of you following the blog, I’m one of the four men (the local guy) who responded to Baratunde’s call to unload food and drink when he first rolled up to the Dallas Headquarters from NYC.

To add to your impressions of the Texas Primary, here’s what I think is the biggest (almost) unreported story from the Primary/Caucus:

HRC’s “win” in Texas is being credited to fears inspired by the “red telephone” ad and to last minute doubts about Barack’s experience. As a Dallas native who canvassed seven turfs in South Dallas and Pleasant Grove (see video at dallasnews.com or google “canvassing dallas news”–our video is #1 for that search term) and then went to his own precint caucus in very Republican, very white Highland Park, I can assure you there were NO last minute doubts about Barack. Better than 90% of hundreds of doors I knocked on were strongly supporting Obama, both at Primary polls and at Caucus.

At my own Caucus location, all four precincts went resoundingly for Obama, with margins varying from 7 to 5 up to 11 to 3. My own precinct, 1226, went 9 to 4 for Obama. This trend held across the state of Texas, resulting in a caucus win for Barack. So where did all these Primary votes for Hillary Clinton come from?

Answer: REPUBLICANS!

Sabotage or “mischief” voting across party lines in the open primary is as old as Texas politics. We here in Texas know this. We want to be sure that voters in the upcoming primaries understand that what they saw in Texas was NOT a show of support for HRC, but rather an attempt by cynical Republicans (who have nothing interesting to attract them to their OWN primary in Texas) to choose a Democratic nominee (Hillary Clinton) that McCain can beat in November.

The Republicans in my neighborhood were smirking and winking at each other as they went in to cast their Clinton votes. Ask any Texan who watched the polls in Republican precints. Why didn’t they do the same thing at the Caucus Tuesday night? Because at the Caucus, you have to show your face in order to participate. We tend to know our neighbors around here, and it would be hard to fool anybody about one’s true convictions in an open Caucus. The real vote, the principled vote, in the Democratic Primary in Texas in 2008, was the vote we cast at Precinct Convention (same thing as Caucus, for those of you observing Texas and scratching your heads.)

In this neck o’ the woods, a vote for Hillary Clinton is considered to be a vote for John McCain. The only thing Texas Republicans (those not already supporting Obama, and I met quite a few of them on my turf walks) fear is having to run against Senator Barack Obama in November. Those favoring Hillary Clinton in Mississippi and Wyoming and Pennsylvania (to name just a few) should think long and hard about this unless they want to see 4 more years of Bush/McCain.

HRC likes to claim that caucuses discriminate against working class folks. She can’t really believe that, and if you’d been with Baratunde and Greer and all the rest of us to see the Caucus lines in South Dallas and Pleasant Grove and Duncanville and Desoto and Oak Cliff, you wouldn’t believe it either.

Sent Barack another $25 last night. Time for all of us to do the same.

Robert Swann
Dallas, Texas

Oh And Obama Won Texas Officially BTW

Thanks to this diarist over at DKos for pointing it out. Makes me feel better as someone on the ground in Texas. Further irritation at the media for not doing its job. But what else is new?

Embedded In Texas For Obama: Interview w Bernice Montgomery

A video I shot while workin it for Obama in Dallas. Check out Bernice Montgomery. I love to see our people get down with politics like this. I hope Bernice and people like her stay engaged well beyond the election.

Embedded In Texas: Note On Early Voting Receipts?

I heard on K104 for those who voted early, they should bring a voter receipt to the caucus tomorrow night. It's not mandatory, but it will speed up the process because folks won't have to match your name.

A man who voted early just asked me what the rule was. I called the Dallas County Election office. Here's the skinny:

For folks in Texas or those who know folks in Texas, it's not too late to get a receipt. In Dallas, you can pick one up at the Election Commission. Again, it's not required, but they recommend it.

2377 Simmons Freeway
in the building labeled Dallas County Health and Human Services (of course, right?)

Call 214-819-6300 to verify your precinct location. It is not the same as where you did your early voting.

Update: bring the following to the caucus

1. your voter registration card
2. an ID
   

Embedded In Texas - 1st Impressions, This Will Be Crazy

cross-posted to goodCRIMETHINK

Some quick notes on what I've seen so far in Texas. Overall, my mission here is very different than when I rolled to Virginia. Then, it was about convincing undecideds. Here, I've arrived later, and it's about turning out the vote and keeping a watchful eye on election day.

Within my first two hours of arriving in Texas, it was clear that the dual primary-caucus system, known as "The Texas Two-Step," has the potential to be a major clusterf---. I'm staying with some college friends in Desoto who are on Obama's state finance committee. They warned me that the caucus locations were designed to handle 50 to 100 people, but hundreds and perhaps thousands are expected to show up. The caucuses may need to be moved outside to the parking lot.

Voter enthusiasm and turnout on the Democratic side is just bananas, and I see why my friends are nervous about the caucus logistics. Here are some exciting and frightening numbers compiled by Burnt Orange Report, a Texas progressive blog:

Total In- Person And Mail Voters
2004: 114,114
2008: 698,992
% increase: 512 percent

Those numbers for Dallas are
2004: 9.568
2008: 98,825
% increase: 932 percent

Yes, you read those numbers correctly. Here in Dallas, we have seen roughly a ONE THOUSAND PERCENT increase in the early voting (ended Feb 29). Tomorrow is going to be absolutely bananas.

After catching up with my hosts, we rolled to Costco and purchased some food for me to take to the Dallas campaign headquarters. I also grabbed some bottled water. You can't fight without energy right?

Walking into the Dallas HQ, as an out of town stranger, was a good test of the Obama campaign's organizational skill. I walked in and yelled, "I have a car full of food and water! Can I get some help unloading?" Four men instantly came over and followed me to my car, and we emptied it in one trip. One was a local. One came from New York. A third rolled from Fargo, North Dakota. Yes, Fargo! When I returned to the office, I signed in as an out-of-state volunteer and waited a minute while they got me to someone who'd figure out how to deploy me.

Another in-charge type person asked me what my availability was for the week then handed me