The Obama Volunteer Vibe: Punks and Billionaires

If my weekend is any indication, Barack Obama will be our next president. My day consisted of little old ladies, college kids, a waitress from my favorite restaurant, and the pizza guy. There were also ten computers, 300 volunteers, 400 walking maps, and countless cell phones. 

Georgia is a crucial state for Barack Obama’s campaign, and the state headquarters on Northside Drive in Atlanta shows it. The headquarters sits behind the Georgia Dome on the somewhat-industrial-wasteland west side of Atlanta—an area long defined by poverty and urban blight. But the headquarters itself takes up three retail suites spread across the first floor of a building that houses shiny new lofts with hip concrete-and-yellow-painted-steel balconies. This type of new construction is popping up all over the West Side, and this section of Atlanta is on the upswing—like the Obama campaign. 

Saturday morning, 9:00 a.m., I walked into the headquarters as an unannounced volunteer. The first room looked like a newsroom with a set of computers and fifteen staff members whizzing away. Next door was the volunteer staging area. A few tables sat in a big room with red walls covered with campaign posters. About 250 people crammed into the room; but for the stacking caps and Obama buttons, it could have been a nightclub. The older volunteers sat and talked with their backs pressed against those who were standing. The younger ones maneuvered around, shaking hands and giving hugs. Some people milled around outside. Others waited in line to take a picture with the life-size cardboard cutout of Barack himself. 

“Wow,” I said to the staff person next to me. “Any other campaign would kill for half this many volunteers.”

“Well, we’ve got 650 more at Snapfinger Road,” he said. “And it’s still nine in the morning.” 

I can guarantee you that no other campaign in Georgia had 900 volunteers ready to canvass precincts at nine o’clock last Saturday morning. 

And on Tuesday, if Barack Obama wins Georgia, and enough other states to stay in the race for President, it will be a reflection of a political movement the likes of which I have never seen.