Good morning, folks! Welcome to the liveblog of the grand opening of Obama's headquarters in Austin, Texas! I'll be reporting to you live from the festivities all morning. Special greetings to those of you new to DailyKos!
Here's what we've got planned for this morning:
Obama Office HQ Opening in Austin
816 Congress Avenue, 2nd Floor
10:00 a.m. -- Coffee and Breakfast Tacos
11:30 a.m. -- Precinct Captain Training
12:30 p.m. -- Special Presentation by Mayor Cory Booker from Newark, N.J.
1:00 p.m. -- Phone-banking and block-walking
It's a busy day here in the office. For those of you that can't be here, take part by heading over to the Texas Phonebanking Diary HERE hosted by mindoca where you can help the efforts to call every Democrat in Texas and urge them to support Barack.
As we get things going here, find out how you can get involved with the Obama campaign in Texas, and answer your questions about the hybrid primary/caucus here.
Texans, Get Involved! There are many great ways to support Barack here in Texas. We need precinct captains for all 8,000 state-wide precincts: sign up to become a precinct captain now! Strong Democratic strongholds will need entire precinct teams. We're also working the phones, calling everyone who has ever voted in a Democratic primary here in Texas to measure and encourage their support for Barack. Head over to today's phonebank and join other bloggers from around the country as they make calls into Texas and urge voters to vote Obama! Thanks mindoca for putting the phonebank together!
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Volunteers Pour Into the Office to Sign In | City Councilman Mike Martinez was the first Texas elected official to endorse Barack. The former fireman is here to make sure we obey local codes! |
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Phonebank Training This-Away! | Field directors explain how to talk with voters on the phone. |
Texas' great liberal blog Burnt Orange Report offers a plethora of information about the hybrid primary/caucus process:
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Kids for Obama have decorated the office with their Hope-Inspiring Art | Brendan supports Barack because he will elevate the conversation. |
Right now, folks are flowing into the office and straight into phonebanking and precinct-captain training. There are so many people that satellite sessions are being held on other floors, and everyone is learning how to help Barack. ::
T-SHIRTS! someone just said there are t-shirts somewhere. A frenzy broke out. Folks are really eager to get some Barack merchandise! I'm going to go take a few pictures and report back in a few... :: My fellow Austin Kossack
lirtydies! is here! She's helping me cover the Obamamania that is sweeping Central Texas today.
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Here is Ian, head of Texans for Obama, and yours truly. | One of dozens of precinct captain training sessions. |
Word on the street is that there are over 1500 people here, and it's only 10:30. I also recieved word that the Hillary office opening had less than 300 people have turned up at her office opening across town.
In the news today in Texas:
- Per KXAN, over 26,000 people have entered the lottery for 100 precious tickets to the Democratic debate here in Austin. Note: I am actually not one of them, having witnessed the candidates debate at the Netroots Nation convention last summer.
- The Daily Texan, the student newspaper at UT, reports on campus efforts to involve students in the primary election.
- The Austin-American Statesman editorial board endorses proud Democratic candidate for Congress in TX-10 Dan Grant.
- The Austin Chronicle also provides a list of endorsements by key Democratic groups in local Austin-area races.
- News 8 Austin reports that a UT Athletics administrator is under investigation for $60K that went missing from accounts he oversees.
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Local Democratic celebrities: City Council candidate Robin Cravey, Sonia Santana, and and Burnt Orange Report's own Matt Glazer are all here. | Ian greets a long-time family friend here to support the grassroots Texans for Obama. |
Folks, it's so crowded here people can't get in the front door! Our grassroots director Ian is currently being interviewed by the
Wall Street Journal and a huge group of local candidates are here too, marveling in this outpouring of volunteer support!
| Brian P. Ruiz is here, he's the proud Democratic candidate for TX-31, who will be facing John Carter, a Republican, in a district that spans Williamson county and central Texas.
Ruiz supports Obama because "our messages are similiar. We need to take Washington D.C. back for the people. I'm also not taking money from special interest groups and lobbyists, and he brings hope to the average, every-day person to run for offices like this." |
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Ten Facts About Texas:
- Texas has more counties (254) than any other state.
- 70% of the population of Texas lives within 200 miles of Austin.
- The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. It does not, however, get its own primary on March 4th.
- Six different countries have ruled parts of land now a part of Texas.
- Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other comparable area in North America.
- Dallas/Fort Worth airport occupies 73.2 square kilometers. The entire island of Manhattan occupies 87.5 square kilometers.
- Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. The Dublin Dr Pepper, 85 miles west of Waco, still uses pure imperial cane sugar in its product.
- Our state gem is the Texas blue topaz, our state reptile is the horned lizard, and our state small mammal is the armadillo!
- The dome of the building stands seven feet higher than that of the nation's Capitol in Washington, D.C.
- Everything really is bigger in Texas!
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Folks keep pouring into the office, and are ushered straight into a training session on on either phone-banking or precinct work. Once finished, they're sent straight out into the field! | Look! It's kath25 and her State Senator Kirk Watson! He endorsed Obama just this week, and his district has the most delegates up for grabs on March 4th. |
Val supports Obama because she believes that if we're creating a new movement for change in this country, this movement has to be led by people of color. "I think Obama is the best-suited person to take us there."
She first heard about Barack Obama when she worked for the League of Young Voters, who supported him in his races in Chicago. They wrote a book called How To Get Stupid White Men Out of Office, about grassroots movements, which featured Obama.
"As a Latina, Obama inspires a new generation of people to become active not only in terms of civic engagement, but in terms of leadership." | |
FIRED UP!! ... READY TO GO!!! ... FIRED UP!!! ... READY TO GO!!!
| Hook 'Em! Here I am joined by a cadre of students from the University of Texas, undergrads and grad students alike. Some of these folks are the leaders of our on-campus Obama movement, which will help drive record turnout at the polls and deliver delegates to Obama in our district. Nothing like youthful enthusiasm! |
Update! Cory Booker's plane is delayed due to the weather (did I mention that it's cold and rainy here and Congress Ave is shut down to to tomorrow's marathon and
yet still! 2,000 volunteers are expected to cross through these doors today? Did I mention that?) so his motivational speech has just been pushed back to 1:30.
GET YER FINGERS TO THE PHONEBANK!
We've got plenty doing here, but we need your help. Barack Obama needs your help. Go join the Texas Phonebank right now!! And please leave a comment and toss them a few recommends.
We're having so much fun getting involved. Head over to Barack Obama's Texas Page and do your part, too! Politics is more fun when you participate!
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Now I'm talking to Gilbert, who just came in to the blogger room from listening to Cory Booker's speech:
"There was one piece of the speech that really hit home to me that I won't forget: when he talked about closing his eyes and seeing what was really there in the projects. Cory said that at first he only saw the dilapidated buildings in his neighborhood, but his mother told him, 'that's not what you see. You'll never be able to see what's possible if all you see is what is wrong.' Sometimes you have to close your eyes and have a positive vision for the future."
Gilbert said that he took from this speech the importance of creating your own circumstances, and that anything is possible. "I transfer that to my own life and career -- it gives me hope, that my efforts are meaningful and relevant. This whole experience has left me feeling incredibly energized."
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Newark Mayor Cory Booker... | ...and rapt audience and media. |
Aaaaaand we just gave away our 1,200th grassroots Texans for Obama bumpersticker.
Wrapping it Up:
Well, folks have left the office and are out working the streets, and I need to go talk to the new media people. Thanks for all of your support today, bloggers and readers, it was great fun sharing this experience with you all! Have a great weekend volunteering for Barack, and remember, YES WE CAN!
Special thanks to Boddhisattva and lirtydies for helping me out here in the blogger room, and to all of the great volunteers who came in Fired Up! and Ready to Go!
And a Very Special Thanks to all of the wonderful volunteers with...