I drove home from the DNC to Berkeley (from Reno today) because I had a feeling that I should be at the Grand Opening for the Northern Cali HQ of the Obama campaign, and I thought it would be fun to surprise people at the event.The East Bay Field Office is also home to the NorCal Headquarters, and tonight was the GRAND OPENING!!
When I drove up to the office tonight, I was astonished.
Before I could see any of the crowd, I could hear them chanting, "Yes We Can!"
There were hundreds of people lining the streets and clamoring to volunteer and express their support for Obama.I got goosebumps and (finally) a parking spot...
The office was absolutely overun with people all fired up about Obama--we had over 500 people at the event!!!
Hundreds of people signed up to volunteer for phone-banking, traveling, and other help for the Obama campaign!!
I hadn't realized when I left Nevada this morning what a big event this was--I could hardly get into the office through the flood of people trying to get in to sign up to help.We had an amazing set of speakers, who addressed the crowd from the upper balcony. Included in the program were San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CD-9), and Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. Assemblymember Loni Hancock (CD-14), Alameda Central Labor Council Executive Director Sharon Cornu, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, and Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Foundation Art Pulaski, and a representative from Ron Dellums office were also featured speakers.
The speeches engaged the crowd, which responded with cheers, emphatic chants of "Yes We CAN," and winning smiles!!
Mayor Gavin Newson mentioned that it is was better to be here at this grand opening event than to be watching Fox News; he continued by expressing that the Republicans are out of touch with the priorities of this country. He reminded us that the future is not in front of us: the future is within us!
Mayor Tom Bates spoke about taking our country back, and now is the time to do that together. These past years have been very hard on Americans and we have a chance right now to turn that around and take our country back.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee was stirring, eloquent, and as wonderful as a speaker can possibly be. The crowd loved her--they went wild when she spoke, when she raised her arms up, they cheered. When she finished speaking, the crowd began chanting, "Barbara Lee speaks for me." I couldn't agree more--as a fellow social worker and Obama supporter, Barbara Lee definitely speaks for me!! This was my first time meeting her, and she was as lovely and genuine in person as I imagined she would be.
Our Deputy Field Director for California, the dynamic and phenomenal Peggy Moore introduced the speakers and fired up the crowd! Her comments were inspiring and it was truly impressive to see how she was able to engage with the hundreds of people gathered below in a way that felt direct and personal, as if she were speaking to each person individually. Peggy introduced Pam Coukos, our Regional Field Director for Northern California, and Pam gave a rousing speech highlighting the work that needs to be done in the next 60 days.
Peggy Moore, Barbara Lee, and Pam Coukos
