Obama's KC HQ - an interesting experience yesterday

[Neecy]

I'm still angry with Obama over the McClurkin debacle, but when I got an invitation to an open house at his KCMO HQ in midtown I decided to go and look around. I'd been holding out for Gore but that looks like a lost cause. I went with my sister, who lives in Kansas City and we figured we'd stop in, say hello, and maybe pick up some literature.

We walked in and a very nice young guy greeted us as the door. I knew what would come first, and I was right - "What state?" I sighed. When we walked into Kerry's KC HQ in 2004 we got the same question, and of course I ended up working in Missouri. Kansas isn't on a lot of radar either in the primaries or the general. I glumly pointed to myself, said "Kansas", and pointed to my sister and said, "Missouri".

Imagine my surprise when the guy pointed at me and yelled, "YEEESSSSSSS!!!". This is where it gets strange.

I knew Obama had opened a Lawrence HQ, and I'd also gotten an invitation to a Kansas caucus training session. That alone was unusual. But apparently Obama badly wants to win the Kansas caucus because his mother was from Kansas and he still has ties to the state. Both of the guys I met at the KMCO office are Kansas coordinators, and Obama now has seven paid staffers in Kansas. They're looking for space now in JoCo.

I've never seen a national Democratic campaign pay so much attention to my state. And the Kansas guys now have my Missouri sister working on a Kansas event. That alone is funny as hell, given the time I spent doing grunt work in Missouri in 2004. And because someone actually cares about Kansas and is putting so much effort into organizing it, and I agree with him on most of the issues, I ended up agreeing to volunteer for Obama here.

I really expected to be asked to work in Missouri for their primary, and I would have done it. But I much prefer to talk to my own neighbors, in my own town for once. I'm not soliciting for Obama support here, since everyone has their candidate, but I thought the focus on Kansas was interesting and decided to pass it along fwiw.

[Fovea]

1. I'd like Obama's support to consider office space in WyCo

I think it would be a good symbolic gesture to the Kansas African American and Latino communities.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. That is indeed good news

I am a Kansan and I have worked the presidential election in MO for as long as I can remember. It is usually a lost cause in Kansas.

If Obama's people are really serious, they need to get involved with the Dems in Kansas. We had a Johnson County meeting on Sat and no one from Obama's campaign was there. The Wy Co Dems meet this weekend. I wonder if anyone from Obama's campaign will be there.

[Neecy]

3. I'll talk to our coordinator about this

They've been established in Lawrence for about a month now, and I think that's where most of their energy was focused at first. They're just now ramping up their JoCo/WyCo operations and I'm hoping they'll have more activity here. I know they're sponsoring a debate watching party in JoCo on Thursday night - I'm just waiting to get the final details.

I guess it makes sense to start off with Lawrence to get as many university students organized as possible to canvass the state, and then branch out to the suburbs. That seems to be the game plan, at least as far as I can tell.

[Neecy]

4. update...

I got the final info on the debate watching party - it's going to be at The Lucky Brewgrill at 5401 Johnson Drive (east of Nall) this Thursday evening.

There will be a caucus overview starting at 6:00 (feel free to skip this) followed by the debate watch party at seven. If anyone wants to meet some of the Kansas Obama staff or just watch the debate with a bunch of Democrats feel free to come by.