Back in Time, Part III

A Window Into My Campaign Trail--
A Pack of Cats Like No Other

(the story concludes...)

The event was either going to be fantastic with very few snags or horrible with nothing but bumps. In my mind there was no peace; to say that I wasn't worried would be a revisionist view of history. I did have faith--a lot of faith--in the community of volunteers that had been built during the prior three months. I knew that this was their moment to shine, to show the national and local campaign staff, the Villages naysayers, the press that while we were grossly outnumbered in support in the Villages, we were enthusiastic, professional, and present. We were definitely worthy of a front page story.

I called my team leaders and they called their phone tree of volunteers. By 1:15 pm, greeted by a line that had been in place for over an hour inside the Savannah Center, 48 volunteers showed up. Paulette wasn't anywhere to be found; my Regional Field Director was lost in the maze of the Villages roads. I knew my volunteers best--their personalities, their commitment, their leadership styles. We held a meeting and I assigned them to roles with captains. I set them free to be the ambassadors of the campaign and their neighborhoods.

While I ran left and right completing last minute details and discussing the flow of the afternoon with the Villages and campaign staff, the volunteers took ownership of their roles. Parking Attendants filled every last legal spot with stickered Obama golf carts and cars in the lot until the police closed it off. Line Captains worked the line that had wound through the building and around the entire perimeter of the building in the heat, passing out stickers, candy, and water. Ushers kept a careful account of how many entered the room after the doors opened and sat people in an orderly fashion until all the seats were gone. The Villages Event Staff never had to be called.

Two of my volunteers, Bill and Walter, worked with the Villages Recreation Staff on a regular basis through the Housing Development Association. They served as my troubleshooters; already having a relationship with the guys in charge certainly helped. Walter helped all of us realize that now that the event was in progress, everybody wanted the same result. In front of every area media outlet--print and television alike--the campaign and the Villages both wanted the day to run smoothly, making as many people feel included and happy as possible. When the line was still wrapping around the building even after 500 people had been let for seating and standing room only, Bill intervened with the Fire Marshall. The Fire Marshall agreed to let 100 more people in, then 100 more and continued to do so until the final cap was at 1050. Over 1000 people gathered at a Villages recreation center to see a Democratic surrogate--it is not an exaggeration to say that this was a monumental and historical first for the Villages Democrats.

When Caroline Kennedy arrived, despite being over an hour behind schedule, the room erupted in thunderous applause. She spoke for only 12 minutes to people who had waited over four hours to see her. It didn't matter. The exuberant pride and joy that people felt was palpable. People looked to their left, to their right, over their shoulders, realizing that they were in it together. They no longer had to feel like the outsiders.

People often ask me what my proudest moment was during the campaign, expecting that I will say the moment I heard MSNBC announce that Florida had turned blue. Surprisingly, it's not; this event holds that prize for me. It was here when I watched the community that we worked so hard to create and maintain through the ups and downs of those months flourish and knew that beyond the election it would remain in tact. We got our front page article in The Daily Sun, and in almost every other local paper as well, but the Villages Democrats walked away with so much more.


Time: 38 minutes
Place: Paved Park/ Steph's Front yard
Weather: Warmer than it looks, but still icy.
Distance: 4 x 800s, .5 mile warm up
Feeling: Still got a long way to go...
Overall grade: B-