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July 14, 2008

Obama campaign to set up regional office in Joplin

By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

Local Democrats are excited at the prospects of a Joplin-based office for the Barack Obama presidential campaign.

Democrats on Monday night packed a Joplin hall to hear a regional field director outline plans for a campaign that will rely on residents for grass-roots organizing.

The announcement that Joplin will be the site of a regional campaign office was one of several comments that brought applause from the crowd that filled the Laborers’ Union Hall at 20th Street and Empire Avenue.

The Joplin area typically is a satellite of Democrat campaigns based in Springfield, said Tim Anderson, a regional field director for the campaign.

“Because this area turned out so well for (now U.S. Sen.) Claire McCaskill two years ago, there will be a regional office here,” Anderson said.

He said the 16 counties that will compose the region “have been tough for Democrats,” but compared it with the area surrounding his hometown of Norfolk, Neb.

“It was a GOP stronghold, but there has been a 30-point shift in the last six years; no one thought it was possible,” he said.

He said the Obama campaign recognizes the importance of Missouri as a bellwether state “and will do a lot of work here.”

“It’s a historic campaign at a historic time, with more people getting registered, more people voting, and more people understanding there is an opportunity to take back the country,” he said, to applause from the crowd.

He said initial chores will be opening a campaign office, with plans for voter registration drives, neighborhood canvassing and setting up booths for the campaign at county fairs and other events.

Also introduced was Cecil Hynds-Riddle, who will work in the area as a field organizer.

Both referred briefly to the fact that residents may be coming to the campaign late, after supporting Hillary Clinton or another Democratic contender.

“I really think we’ll be stronger because of it; we have the message,” Anderson said.

To questions from the crowd, Anderson said the Obama campaign workers “will stay through the election.”

The Kerry campaign pulled workers from Missouri in the final weeks four years ago.

Doug Brooks called the crowd “the largest I’ve ever seen at a committee meeting.”

“There are a lot of new faces among the regulars and a lot of young people,” he said. “I’m excited to see that.”

Brooks, who lives in rural Joplin, is a member of the Democratic National Committee.

Missouri is getting plenty of attention from both campaigns so far. Obama has made a number of stops in the state, and John McCain, who was in Springfield recently, will be in Kansas City on Thursday.



Slight lead

A recent poll shows Obama has a slight lead in Missouri. Among 800 voters questioned last week, Obama received 48 percent and McCain, 43 percent, among likely Missouri voters in a poll conducted for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV.

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