In gearing up for coverage of Seattle’s democratic caucuses, I must admit I’m having a heck of a time tracking down any campaign leads for Hillary Clinton in the State of Washington, much less campaign offices here in our Emerald City.
In fact, I was told by someone at Clinton campaign headquarters in V.A. that there aren’t any officials currently here in Seattle, and the woman who answered the phone was “unsure if there were likely to be any in the future.”
Now I realize our “tiny” little state isn’t one of the Super Tuesday states but c’mon Hill, where’s the love?
The obvious place to start a search for campaign offices in a given state is to visit the campaign websites for a list of leads by state. This is, presumably, to facilitate Pat Citizen if he or she decides they want to fight the good fight for their candidate. It seems all they would need to do is head down to their chosen candidate’s local campaign office, sign up, and be put to work in short order.
But you’re out of luck if you live in Seattle and develop a sudden lust for Hillary Clinton, because as of 2 days ago she has yet to open a campaign office here in Seattle. Sure there are supporter sponsored events to rally the Clinton base going on around town, but the Clinton camp is, at least in my recent experience, lacking a presence here. Especially in contrast to the Obama camp who reportedly has a nice, shiny campaign office near the heart of Pioneer Square, in downtown Seattle.
While many Democrats are struggling to see the contrasts that exist between the two presidential candidates, it seems that perhaps they need to look to the minutiae. Is having a campaign headquarters in Seattle going to be the clincher for Obama winning the nomination? Probably not, but it speaks to the broad strategy of his campaign. Obama is, decidedly, the grassroots candidate, which is such an enormous part of his appeal.
A simple cursory search of campaign visits to Washington by Clinton and Obama show another contrast in their respective campaigns. Clinton has focused more on the big-ticket fundraisers here, while Obama speaks at area Community Colleges and High schools. See Connelly's blog at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer here http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/... to read more
I’m not saying that Obama doesn’t do his share of fundraising. According to Postman Obama is the first candidate to break the $1 million mark in fundraising in W.A., but who is giving?
A look here http://www.opensecrets.org/...at the Center for Responsive Politics website called Open Secrets. They give a list of donor demographics for 2008. Notice how most of Obama’s donors are giving in the $200+ category. Clinton’s numbers show quite the opposite trend with the majority of her donors giving in sums exceeding $2,300.
So what’s the difference between prohibitively expensive fundraisers and public rallies? Well, the democratizing factor, for one. Obama is pushing this inspiring rhetoric of unity and togetherness, but it seems he may actually be practicing his message as well in his campaign strategy.
Jeanne Buell, Vice-Chair of the Idaho Democratic Party had a lot to say about this issue when she spoke to a University of Washington journalism class on Monday. Buell said she is tired of political candidates and their big ticket fundraisers only coming to campaign in Sun Valley Idaho. “Sun Valley is getting to be like Vail, C.O.,” Buell said. “It’s not representative of the regular population in Idaho, and it’s time for the candidates to do something for the everyday people.”
The last time Clinton visited Idaho she hosted an event in Sun Valley that boasted a $500 minimum “donation” in order to attend. Buell said that even after that big fundraiser in her state, the Idaho State Democratic Party saw no revenue from the event. “Huckabee did the same thing,” said Buell.
Recently, Buell has been approached by both democratic candidates, not only because she is the Vice Chair of the Idaho Dems, but also because she is one of the coveted super-delegates in her state. “It wasn’t unusual to receive 4 or 5 phone calls a day from the campaigns,” Buell said. Buell even got a call last week from Chelsea Clinton, on behalf of her mother, asking Buell for her endorsement.
Buell recently announced that she plans to endorse Barack Obama. Obama is going to visit Boise tomorrow, Sat. Feb. 2 for an event. Buell will make her endorsement public there tomorrow. “He’s running the most organized campaign I’ve ever seen,” said Buell, “after the 2004 election he hired every top campaign manger there was.”
Buell is excited for Obama’s visit to Idaho, and has no reservations about her endorsement. “He’ll make one hell of a president,” said Buell.
Washington State may not be a big player next week after Super Tuesday, but we may have some influence if the race is still too close to call, because candidates will still have time to campaign here before our caucuses next weekend. Maybe Obama knew this and Washington is part of his strategy, it’s hard to say. We’ll see what happens.
Student journalists will be covering the caucuses here in Seattle for www.seattlepoliticore.org if anyone wants to keep up with the caucus happenings in Seattle.
The site is going live today, and will be updated daily. So check it out, we really are interesting and important here in Washington State, I swear!