Election Night in Chicago
by Holly
Downtown Chicago at night is fun but remove all the cars, add a glittering skyline, and mix in thousands and thousands of very happy people you get real excitement. The flow of people carried us down Michigan Avenue. Still not sure of where we were to go, we jammed up the stream to ask the very friendly cops the directions to the entrance for the ticket section.
Ticket holders go to the right; non-ticket holders to the left - to the back of the park. The rest of the 250,000 people were left on the surrounding streets. We moved in a long line 50 wide through the gates as they checked our credentials in a very loose fashion. No bags - keep on moving. Telephone calls to our daughter updated us on the progress of the election. Pennsylvania is Obama: YES! Slowly we move in mass and 45 minutes later we file through final yellow-ribboned checkpoint.
75,000 people were admitted to the slanted grassy grounds with a podium and large screen TV. The lower part of the bowl-shaped area was filling up. The slopping sides with the better view, were full. We didn't care; we squeezed in between SEIU Union members, 20-somethings and 74, 988 others!
Good news, Ohio goes for Obama--- yes, yes, yes! We did the math, add CA, WA and OR. This is going to be a quicker night than we thought.
Several of us figured if we all moved together we could sit down on the grass and still be able to breath. 8 others and I sat down in one unit. We could see the clear sky and stars above the pillars of legs but still hear the sound of CNN announcing that Florida was added to the Obama column.
We all smiled and shared stories of campaigning in surrounding states. We talked about the first time we met Obama live. After two years of working, we felt every minute was worth it to be here on this day. During a standing break I took pictures of the crowd, watched the TV screen and checked through the binoculars to find the stage.
At 2 minutes after 10 PM CNN declared Obama the winner! The crowd shouted in unison. It was New Years‚ with hugging kissing and crying. Pictures flashed, people jumped and arms waved above the crowd.
The sound system played inspirational music and we waited in anticipation as the entourage of cars with flashing lights approached the back of the flagged stage.
The beautiful American first family dressed in matching black and red, walked on the stage holding hands high to the crowd. Obama addressed the nation with his eloquent words. How wonderful to know this man will be our president and speaking to us and for us as a nation. A wave of true joy washed over me lifting me up as I heard myself spontaneous shouting, Yes, yes, yes!
My sister and co-workers worried about us being in danger. The opposite was true; right here in downtown Chicago people of all ages, races and backgrounds came together to celebrate with Obama. Obama "got it." We are not just a conglomeration of individuals, we are one America.
Me in South Carolina
by James
Here I am volunteering with some friends!
Countdown to Change
by Sam (former campaign staffer)
This is the famous "Countdown Clock" that the New Media team built... and this photo was taken approximately 24 hours before polls closed in California on election day. Working on the New Media team, helping grow a genuine movement, and meeting thousands of tireless volunteers and grassroots organizers, was the experience of my life.
Spike Lee and Me
by Matt (former campaign staffer)
On Election night, the design team was working right up until the end. We were making last minute tweaks, updating election maps, and making sure the website didn't crash under the immense pressure it was under that night. I looked up bleary eyed from my monitor and saw Spike Lee- a creative hero from my hometown of Brooklyn- walking by my desk. My wife Michelle who was visiting snapped this shot of us minutes before we headed to Grant Park for the acceptance speech.
Proud
by Rhonda
I volunteered and donated money on a regular basis. I will never forget the weekend before the Presidential election. I just been to the beautician and my hair was newly coiffed. I was going door to door placing reminders to vote Tuesday and it started to pour down raining. I was drenched head to toe. I did not care because this was more important than looking nice. On election night I could not watch tv. I was so scared, I would not turn on the television until after 8 PM when California's polls closed. It was announced shortly after that Barack Obama won. It all was so surreal. I was so proud to be an American and an African American. I could only think of my family members who did not live to see thiat day - my grandmother, uncles and my aunt who recently died in 2007. I recall my aunt's husband who always said we would not see an African American president in our lifetimes. I feel so lucky and blessed.
The Convention Speech
by Patricia
My most memorable experience of the campaign was sitting in Invesco during then Senator Obama's nomination acceptance speech. As he began his speech, and his voice boomed through the arena, I could feel the emotion coming from the people to the right of me and to the left. We were all mesmerized by that moment, by the sheer enormity of the history of that day. It was an experience I will NEVER forget.
North Carolina on Election Day
by Lora
I had been working for the campaign begining in early July and living in a VERY RED district in NC. I was excited that an effort was being made by a Democratic canidate in this State. That had not happened in a very long time.
On Nov 4th my house was a "staging" site for volunteers to work from as we went knocking on doors to get the vote out. We started at 5:30 am on Nov 4th and worked until the polls closed.
It was a cold rainy Nov 4th, no one really cared about the weather we just knew we had to knock on as many doors as was humanly possible. When everyone got back to the house we started telling each other how and what happened that day. Everyone who had been out had a story about one voter that was amazing , touching and will forever stay with each of us.
Here's mine:
It was 6:30 pm and I was exhausted. My youngest daughter came home from college to see if she could help so we picked a apartment complex so that we would not have to drive from house to house and could reach as many people as possible with very little time left. We went to the door of a single Mom with six kids. When we knocked on her door we could here kids yelling at each other and at her. She told us that she had just gotten home from work and had to feed the kids, bath them all and do homework. Pack lunches for the next day and the polls would be closed b-4 she could get there. We pleaded with her to just go , that this could be the most important thing she could do for her kids and her community. She was not convinced. I asked her what kind of message was she giving to her children that they were watching. As she closed the door I thought another vote lost. Going back to the car to laod everyone up and head to the house we looked across the parking lot and there she was loading all six kids in her van and heading to the polls to vote. We all stood there watching her and cried. We know we had been a very small part of a huge effort and that this single mom was why were there.
South Carolina Primary Day
by Alex
I first volunteered on the weekend of the South Carolina primary. A group of friends and I took a bus down to Columbia where we spent the day canvassing. I met some fascinating people going door-to-door, but it was that evening when I realized just how special this campaign was.
After 12 hours of getting out the vote, we headed down to the convention center in Columbia to watch Obama give his victory speech. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who had that idea. The line was at least 100 yards long by the time we got there. Just as we were about 10 feet away from the door, the Convention Center reached capacity - and we were all told that we would not be allowed inside.
I turned around and saw the thousands of people behind us start running in the other direction - to go watch a speech on television. My friends and I took off right behind them and piled into the first bar we reached to watch Obama's speech.
Never before in my life had I considered hundreds of people running to watch someone speak on television. This was the moment when I truly realized that Barack Obama was a once in a generation candidate and that this campaign was one I would remember for the rest of my life.
Turning Ohio Blue
by Katy
We came out from San Francisco, Boston, New York and DC to knock doors, debunk "myths", make calls, even drive people to the polls in Southeastern Ohio that final week leading up to election day. Some of our group could only come out for a day, but they still came. Even when people were tired, we just kept saying to ourselves that we were helping turn Ohio blue...this was the morning of election day only hours before we found out that Ohio indeed went Obama!
Before the Iowa Caucus
by Teddy
In the early days of the Iowa caucus, the most important thing was to get people to fill out supporter cards -- little pledge cards where people could commit to caucus for Barack Obama.
One afternoon, I knocked on one woman's door in Iowa City, but she was in a horrible mood. Her dentist had just botched a procedure and then overcharged her for it anyway. I listened for about ten minutes, and finally I said, "Look, ma'am, I'm really just trying to get people to sign supporter cards for Senator Obama. Are you planning on caucusing this year?"
"I don't usually caucus," she said, "but I do like Obama."
"I'll tell you what," I said. "If you commit right now to caucus for Senator Obama this year, I'll tell every other house on this block to boycott this dentist of yours."
We had a deal.