It was 5:00 AM on Tuesday, November 4th morning. I'd been up all night going over every little detail for the day's GOTV operations - from attorney deployment, to phone banking operations, suburban and urban election day ops, and everything else. I went home, took a quick shower and put on my fav Obama T-shirt thinking that I would just vote quickly at 6:00 AM, and then get to work making sure that Essex County led the state in getting the most votes for our next President. What I saw caused this veteran of over 25 local, county, state and national campaigns' jaw to drop in amazement: my polling location had a line with over 70 people ready to vote at 5:45 AM.
That line had voters of all ages, many with their children, 35% voting for the first time by my own on line (no pun intended) poll. As the councilman of the ward in addition to my campaign position within the campaign, I just had to ask folks on that line why they were there. One man with his son said he was there to be a part of history, and to include his son in this momentous occasion. Another woman wept as she came out of the voting booth. A machine went down in the church where I vote and although it would take three hours to replace it with one from the Belleville warehouse, most people stayed because voting with an emergency ballot just "was not the same" as pushing "that (one) button".
And this was not just in African-American districts in Newark, or East Orange, or Irvington. My suburban coordinators, instructed to vote as early as possible by yours truly, ALL called to say they were running late as Montclair witnessed long lines as did West Orange. There were lines in the predominately Latino districts as well - you know, the demographic that Obama was supposed to have trouble attracting to his candidacy? One could sense something bigger than an election was happening right before our eyes.
The Obama campaign in New Jersey, since its inception, brought the concept of movement politics to a state more accustomed to traditional party/machine campaigns. There was an active Draft Obama effort in NJ in late 2006 that became the grassroots Obama effort in the state (a few members of which that actually found organizing jobs in the Obama campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, hey Damian Bednarz).
That same campaign made up 20 poll points in 3 months, right in Hillary Clinton's backyard, due to this disorganized army of first-time canvassers and those of us that would declare war on the truly New Jersey party line, which was: Obama cannot win in this state, not in a primary, and definitely not in a general election. Indeed, wasn't that the unspoken outright fear of the party regulars universally felt and whispered, but never said in public nor to the loyal African-American wing of the state party? At a Democratic party rally, I actually heard high ranking elected Democratic officials say things like if Obama is elected president, or should he be elected.
The Obama Movement politics had one last triumphant effort that manifested itself on November 4th: winning a General Election and - you guessed it - non-traditionally. New Jersey, long used to street money, county party budgets and tightly controlled GOTV efforts run by DNC campaign management trained "experts," would be weaned off these accoutrements in cold turkey style. The Campaign for Change in Essex County had virtually no resources, no walking around money, no senior citizen trinkets, no money for canvassers, copiers, special events, and even significant sign visibility or chum, as we affectionately call it. We did not need it because creativity, improvisation, volunteers, donations, in-kind contributions, free online technology and communication modes and old fashioned grassroots effort produced the desired results. And the proof is in the pudding: 230,000 votes for the Obama-Biden ticket, more votes for Senator Frank Lautenberg and our county Freeholders than he/they have ever received, and an enthusiasm unmatched in voters' sheer joy and determination to make change and enjoy it. All we had to do was get out of the way and embrace the new.
That is what happened throughout Newark and the rest of Essex County. And when Barack Obama was declared the President-Elect of the United States of America, standing on the corner of Broad and Market in Newark, one could hear yelps and screams of joy from the all parts of the city. Thomas Jefferson advocated for a revolution in our politics every 20 years, and our town and county were long overdue for the kind of change in politics we witnessed this year. Let's hope, like Prince said, we find a way in "this doggone world, to make this feeling last".
