Upper Left
Proudly Partisan News & Views by Shaun Dale
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
As I was saying...
...I spent an hour on the phone, conferencing with a statewide telephone gathering of Kerry volunteers and listening to National Campaign Chair Jeanne Shaheen.
The closest thing to a scoop was Gov. Shaheen's confirmation polls demonstrating Kerry's Iowa surge ahead of Gephardt and into a MOE tie with Dean. The fact that she took the time to call in from New Hampshire, though, was a significant confirmation that the campaign is looking past January and pursuing a national strategy for the nomination.
The most impressive thing about the call, though, wasn't really the star value of our notable guest caller. What really impressed me was the strength and depth of the Kerry campaign outside the liberal corridor of the central Puget Sound region. I'm a native Seattleite, and yes, as a matter of fact, I do think my hometown is the center of the universe, but I know there are votes in a lot of corners that a lot of campaigns have overlooked over the years.
Nothing's being overlooked by the Kerry camp, though. The campaign has been fully staffed statewide for a couple of months now, and there's a strong cadre of volunteers in every corner of the upper left. I'm no horticulturalist - heck, I'm not even a rural guy like HoHo of Manhattan - but the last time I checked, grass roots are grown on the ground, not in the air. Kerry may not match Dean's Seattle Meetup statistics, but he's built the kind of campaign on the ground that fills chairs in the caucus rooms.
Iowa surprise? Looks like. But just wait 'til we wow 'em in Washington!
// posted by Shaun @ 5:28 PM
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