Southern Fried Grassroots
June 9th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
This morning I went to a soul food restaurant in Austin for breakfast and found myself in the middle of a Texans for Obama meeting. Apparently today is a nationwide canvassing day for the campaign, with volunteers going door to door to spread the hope of Obama, perhaps audaciously. Inside the restaurant* assorted groups of people gathered at tables and introduced themselves. With Glen Maxey already in attendance, the MC announced that Rep. Mark Strama (D-Austin) was on his way to deliver a pep talk.
Sure enough, minutes later Strama arrived, with baby on his shoulder. (Infants became a theme: there were so many strollers and drool bibs in the place that the Rep. later joked it was a “Babies for Obama” meeting.)
Strama busted out some old campaign material to explain his Obama endorsement. He was won over months ago when 20,000 people rallied in Austin. The huge, diverse turnout reminded Strama of his first campaign for the statehouse. Back in 2004, his aggressive efforts to reach out to potential voters who had become disengaged from politics led to thousands of votes by those who had never voted or hadn’t voted in years. It made the difference in a super-tight election. He pulled off the upset by 500 votes in a district “gerrymandered” for the Republicans.
Republican Jack Stick challenged the results, Strama told the audience, alleging that the Democrats’ campaign efforts were “part of a pattern of conduct designed to alter the outcome of the election.” He allowed for a humorous pause. A few chuckles went up from the crowd, and a deep voice at one of the tables shouted, “Yeah, baby!”
Strama raised his hand and, with a big grin, said, “Guilty.”
It’s Obama’s ability to change the outcome of elections by attracting new voters that got Strama on board, and it’s why he was there this morning encouraging the grassroots effort.
But, at the same time, this isn’t the ‘roots of the dirty Dean days. The #1 goal for the morning, organizers told their troops, was to talk to as many people as possible — and then e-mail their canvassing numbers to the national campaign quickly to make the evening press release as impressive as possible.
*The restaurant was Austin original Hoover’s, which is gracious enough to put some of their recipes online. Try the smothered pork chops, I beg you. Good for the soul.
June 9th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I like the Observer, but this article made me gag. I’ve never seen written fellatio, but this would be it I guess. I’m no lover of conservatives, but Strama misses the point and you give him the space. Stick’s complaint was that Strama falsely registered voters or falsely used existing voter registration. Being cute about it and turning a phrase may win points at an Obama rally, but we risk losing a lot if we don’t at least be more careful and less obvious.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:54 am
Sorry, the quick write-up wasn’t intended to be pro-Strama or anti-Stick, it was just a report of what was said.
As for your contention that I somehow served at the pleasure of Strama because I (by quoting Strama) didn’t give proper weight to Stick’s complaint, I’m happy to write up a correction if there was evidence to back up Stick’s accusations that I missed in the research.
But in a number of close elections around the country, Republicans have made similar claims that Democrats illegally manipulated voter rolls to steal the election (Hubert Vo’s victory and the Washington governor’s race are two examples off the top of my head). All of the claims have turned out to be unsubstantiated, though.
Just because the issue Stick was talking about is indeed serious doesn’t mean specific allegations that are eventually found lacking must still be treated as a grave threat the Constitution.
June 12th, 2007 at 9:29 am
I participated in the nation wide canvassing event and it was a great success! Statewide, we knocked on over 5,000 doors. In Austin alone, we knocked on over 1,000 doors.
June 13th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Re: Jason’s concern that I was making light of the allegation of voter fraud
While I’m impressed with Matt Wright’s ability to take accurate notes of my remarks while he was innocently trying to eat breakfast at Hoover’s last Saturday (and I admit I wondered at the time how many other people in the restaurant were surprised to find themselves in the middle of an Obama rally), he left out an element of the story I told that might allay Jason’s concerns.
I was, as Matt describes, making the point that Obama has the potential to bring millions of new voters to the polls. Having managed a national voter registration drive for Rock the Vote, and having founded a company that enabled Americans to fill out a voter registration form online, I am a big believer in bringing new people into the process.
So in emphasizing the importance of Saturday’s canvassing effort and how it can truly make a difference in the outcome of the election, I told a story I commonly tell of my own election against Jack Stick. We worked hard, along with an extraordinary countywide volunteer effort led by Glen Maxey and Bruce Elfant, to register new voters and bring new people to the polls. The ultimate testament to our success was when Stick petitioned to overturn the election. Here’s a direct quote from his Petition:
“Contestant alleges the registration of 2,300 voters on the last possible registration date, and 8,000 voters within the 90 days prior to the election, is so implausible that it represents violations of Sections 13.042,13.043 and 13.072 of the Texas Election Code and is part of a pattern of conduct designed to alter the outcome of the election.”
In my remarks last Saturday (and I’m pretty sure I remember the remarks verbatim, because I’ve given this speech so many times now that half the crowd was mouthing the words along with me), I quoted this patently absurd allegation, pointed out that ALL campaigns are “a pattern of conduct designed to alter the outcome of the election”, and proudly declared that I was indeed guilty of bringing a large number of new voters to the polls.
I closed by pointing out the obvious: there is nothing violative of the Texas Election Code about getting new voters involved; in fact, it’s exactly what we need to be doing both to help elect Democrats and for the sake of American democracy. I believe Barack Obama has the potential to engage new voters on a scale that will change American politics profoundly, and for the better.
Of course, Stick eventually dropped his election contest because there was nothing fraudulent at all about the new voters - he just really, really didn’t like how they voted. Fortunately, in the United States of America, that does not constitute grounds for overturning the outcome of an election.
June 14th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Thanks for stopping in, Rep. Strama. As for the accuracy of my notes, Hoover’s has those paper table covers, which I turned into a reporter’s pad. I do regret that the write up probably didn’t make the joke as clear as it should have, allowing Jason above and perhaps others to infer the wrong message from the joke.