DISCLAIMER: THIS BLOG POST IS MY PERSONAL OPINION AND IN NO WAY REPRESENTS THE OPINION OF THE NORTH CAROLINA OBAMA CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE
I'm sitting in an office in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, one week into my stint working for the Obama Campaign for Change. It has been a fabulous experience thus far, working with so many driven, inspired people, who are trying to help put Senator Obama in office as President of the United States.
North Carolina is a battleground state in this year's election, which is pretty odd for those of you who are not familiar with US politics. This is typically a red (Republican) state, with a lot of military families and an overall conservative outlook. There are a number of universities here, which tend to be more liberal, but a Democrat has not carried North Carolina in more than 30 years.
This year is different though - we have a wonderful, inspirational candidate in Barack Obama. We also have a war in Iraq and a teetering economy. So the polls are basically deadlocked between Senators Obama and McCain with 12 days to go until Election Day.
I've really enjoyed being on the ground and helping reinforce the campaign staff that has been working hard to make North Carolina blue. I've been knocking on doors, calling people and helping organize events since I drove the 9+ hours from New York to Winston Salem last Friday.
The two major issues are pretty obvious: the war and the economy. I was out canvassing last weekend with a guy who personified “Joe Sixpack.” He is a family man and works in the local government. He has voted Republican in almost every presidential election, but this year has been volunteering for the Obama campaign. He told me he is getting squeezed hard by the economic downturn and by the sounds of it he is doing relatively better than a lot of the people he knows.
What really hits home though is the war. I was speaking with one middle aged man who had just sent his stepson off to Iraq the previous week. This guy was still undecided, but was leaning toward voting for Obama. He had a big family and you could tell that sending off a son to the war was weighing heavily on him.
I came back from that canvass and was talking with some of the field organizers in the office. Someone mentioned that one of the folks there had a cousin who had been killed in Iraq the previous week.
I've always been a pretty conservative Democrat when it comes to international relations and military force. I supported the War in Iraq initially, when it seemed there were WMD there. I believe that the US should use its military abroad when it best serves our national interest, even when we have to act unilaterally. That being said, I have long thought that we should take the bulk of our forces out of Iraq as soon as the Iraqis can handle their internal security themselves. We have done all we can there and should balance our support for the Iraqi government with the need to focus on other important security risks abroad and the economy back home.
After starting to hear the stories of folks in North Carolina it is pretty clear why the polls are so close. Senator McCain is so out of touch with the lower and middle classes here on the War in Iraq and the economy and Senator Obama is providing a strong vision of how to get this state and this country back on its feet. Hopefully the campaign can get out the vote and we will have the first Democratic Presidential victory in North Carolina since 1976.
