Baldy in a Battleground - Episode 4

Editor's Note: Let's take a quick break (returning in a few minutes, of course) from the Democratic National Convention to check in with the grassroots efforts of the Obama Campaign with another fine episode of... Baldy in a Battleground...

And Now, Some Hope

Dear readers, I will now share some good news from this battleground state. The campaign for change and hope is not all snafus and slip-ups.

This past weekend, we volunteers here on the ground received some training for this grassroots operation. The governor of this battleground state attended and fired us up good. (He must have been a cheerleader in another life, because he was really something with the cheers.)

Also in attendance were some amazing people with inspiring stories...

- A woman who has been a life-long Republican, but who supports Obama because her brother will be shipped off to Iraq in three weeks.

- An Iraq War veteran, also a life-long Republican who, after receiving a standing ovation from the crowd, was so overcome with tears that all he could squeak out is, "This unlawful war has to end. It has to."

- A man who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights Movement. He's over 70, a pillar of this community, and still going strong. He told me that men like Obama only come around every 40 years, in his experience, so we young'ns better pay attention.

- A single mother, who was paying a babysitter money she couldn't afford to be paying so that she could attend the volunteer training. With tears in her eyes she told me that for the first time in a long time, she's felt hope. Hope was enough. It's what she has needed all along.

- An old white widow who stood up and told us how she gets people to talk about Barack Obama: she wears a pin that says "Democrats are Sexy! Whoever heard of a good piece of elephant?" She received a standing ovation.

- At some point, someone stood up and said they were supporting Barack because, "He's The One." Me and my field organizer immediately started making Star Wars jokes, but deep down, we both believed it. In that moment, in that room, with 900 unpaid volunteers willing to put everything in their lives on the back burner so that they can dedicate themselves to getting this man elected, I believed it.

Obama's campaign here on the ground is by no means perfect. In fact, it's handled surprisingly badly. But, and this is a donkey-sized but, this election is not about paid campaigners from out of state, who will flit on to the next campaign on November 5th.

No, this election is about the students, single mothers, hardworking fathers, young men and women, soldiers, and everyone else from this state who are no longer willing to sit back and see what happens. They're taking their state back and they are going to win this election. Not with fancy numbers and polls, but with sheer determination and will.

And, yes... hope.