O’Malley might not have big ad buys, massive rallies, or funds, but he has genuine support

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from Emma Whitford at the Star Tribune:

Making calls for O'Malley

___Phone banking is one of those things that you dread until you actually start doing it. I made close to one hundred calls today, and in the end I managed to reach about seven people. I only actually talked to one woman, and I believe we both learned a lot from each other.

She explained to me why she was a Hilary Clinton supporter and talked to me about how dissatisfied she was with America’s polarized and stagnant political system. She was losing faith and felt that political strength was necessary to accomplish anything, which she believed Hilary possessed.

After she was finished venting to me, I couldn’t disagree with her. In fact, it felt insincere to leap into campaign rhetoric at that moment and dismiss the very real frustration she had expressed. I felt her pain, I was also frustrated.

But our conversation had made me less so. It inspired me. We were both involved in and begging to fix a system that was broken. I gave her my pitch for O’Malley, I asked her to reconsider my candidate and by the end of our talk she agreed that he was a good idea. Apparently I had inspired her, too.

Even breaking through with just one voter was thrilling. O’Malley might not have the big ad buys, massive rallies, or campaign funds that the other democratic candidates have, but looking around at the people I was working alongside today I could tell that he has genuine support.

No one chooses the underdog unless they’re completely determined. If I could return to the office each day and have a connection with even one voter, it would make my experience on this campaign completely worth it.


read more: http://www.startribune.com/o-malley-for-president/364944371/

-- Emma Whitford is a St. Olaf sophomore from Middleton, Wis., majoring in Political Science. She is in New Hampshire as part of a St. Olaf political science class studying the presidential election.

[Freddie Stubbs]

1. Except in Ohio

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2. yep, his campaign mismanaged the petition drive in Ohio

...the article is mostly about campaign volunteers in NH- a glimpse from the O'Malley campaign trail.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Which leads me to wonder how much of a campaign he has outside of Iowa and NH

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4. there haven't been any other missed deadlines for ballots elsewhere

...I'm not sure if you actually follow O'Malley, but his campaign hasn't generated much traction anywhere.

He's left with a slim chance of progressing from a decent or outside-the-expectations result in Iowa, or NH, and building on those successes.

[PoliticAverse]

5. His problem is that it is genuinely small. n/t

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6. he has a good army of volunteers

...which is really what this O'Malley intern is referring to.

[daybranch]

7. not in Ohio.

His petition circulating volunteers collected only a little over 1200 signatures here, only 866 counted. Sure did not look to work so dedicated and most of them had Maryland addreses, further indicating his lack of support. Hell I collected 800 signatures in Greene and Montgomery Counties and 2 others collected over 700 each to prevent Senate bill 5 from being implemented. At this point O Malley will not get on the ballot in the primary or the general election if by some miracle he could win the primary. This should be accepted as a death blow to his campaign and he as a good leader should not condemn his followers to an impossible task. Righrt now he is just sucking up bits of news time better spent on discussion between the two viable candidates.

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9. you're free to look elsewhere

...nothing forcing you to read this campaign volunteer's account. Nothing forcing you to give a wit of attention to O'Malley's campaign. But this is just a nice story from the campaign. It isn't meant to spark a debate about O'Malley's viability. It's an account of the dedication of this intern to the campaign and the ways in which it inspires her. You obviously have a different view, but I think there's room here for this perspective from behind the campaign.

I'm not a fan of the zero-sum game in primary elections. First and foremost, it's our best opportunity to put forward our progressive agenda and elevate our issues and concerns to a national level of debate.

Secondly, it's a competition; not a beauty contest judged by media and pollsters. We'll be able to judge the value of time spent in all of this for O'Malley when the voting happens. Right now, it's funny to hear someone say O'Malley is taking up news time.

And, you're going to speak for his volunteers? Lol. Give these folks credit for knowing their own place and mind.

[firebrand80]

8. He certainly doesn't have any bandwagon fans nt

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10. okay.