Caucus Season: It's Our Turn

We Have an Office

If you're struggling over which candidate to support in the Feb. 9 caucuses, and need one more piece of dubious data to absorb, consider this: Barack Obama is the only Democratic contender who's got a real physical office in Washington state. It's in Pioneer Square, on the third floor of the Howard Building, upstairs from an Asian tapas joint, and Obama volunteers have been there since June.

Last week, the scene there showed the calm before the storm, as official Obama staff had yet to arrive. A handful of loyal volunteers worked the phones and handed out buttons, amid a smattering of miniature American flags, giant posters of the candidate and his message, and photos of the candidate with local volunteers. A TV loop of Obama's greatest hits—the 2004 Democratic convention speech, his speech from the Illinois statehouse when he entered the presidential race last year—ran soundlessly in the corner.

Nathan Williams, an Obama volunteer and Seattle resident, said he's not new to presidential campaigns, but this is the first Washington caucus he's worked that might actually have some impact on choosing the party's nominee. Just back from pounding the pavement in Nevada, he said the goal is simple: identify supporters and get them to the caucus. "We have no doubt the Hillary people will be organized," he said. "But our strength is in having motivated people who aren't political pros getting their friends out."

Richard May, another volunteer and self-described "Obama apostle," got his first glimpse of the future candidate as a Washington delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He says the unique thing about the Obama effort compared with his previous experience on presidential campaigns for John Kerry and Bill Bradley is the amount of autonomy and freedom the "grassroots" volunteers have. (A poster above the reception desk with the words "Respect, Empower, Include" scrawled at the bottom reminds the volunteers of as much.)

May boasts a local network of willing button and bumper-sticker pushers statewide, encouraging voters to attend caucus training at the Obama offices Sundays at 1 p.m. and, more important, to show up Feb. 9. "You don't need to know how to caucus," says May. "You just need to know where to go."

We Have No Office

The Hillary Clinton campaign, not surprisingly, spins its lack of a brick-and-mortar headquarters here as a positive. You see, "to put in an office would really diffuse the grassroots nature of the way we're running our campaign," says James Kainber, a former executive director of the state Democratic Party, now working as a Clinton volunteer.

Grassroots or not, the Clinton campaign has the state's political A-list on its side. Gov. Chris Gregoire, former Gov. Gary Locke, Sen. Maria Cantwell, Rep. Jay Inslee, and King County Executive Ron Sims are the state campaign co-chairs. But it's mostly an honorary title. They haven't been taking on much in the way of speaking engagements, says Kainber. "They're ready to go wherever we need them, but we're not getting requests very often."

Kainber says the campaign is hosting continuous trainings to get people ready for Feb. 9. A recent event in Seattle, he says, had more than 100 participants, including Sims.

Other Clinton supporters are organizing on their own. Molly Lerma and Shannon De Rubens say they've never been active in campaigning before, but this year they started a group on Meetup.com called the Hillraisers. Jan. 24 found them gathering with about 20 others at T.S. McHugh's on Queen Anne to discuss efforts for getting people to show up for the caucuses. Lerma says she got into it in part so she could say she'd done everything she could to get her candidate into office, and she'll "have license to bitch for the next four years" if Clinton isn't elected.

De Rubens gets more to the heart of what many pundits say may be the key to Clinton's success. "I'm really proud that the most competent and intelligent candidate also happens to be a woman," she says. "Go Hillary!"

Circus on Its Way?

The face of the John Edwards campaign in Washington is former Democratic Party chair Paul Berendt. This isn't the first time Berendt has backed an underdog; in 2004 he supported Howard Dean, who was losing steam by Washington's Feb. 7 caucuses. Though Dean did well in the Seattle area that year, John Kerry was the big winner statewide. This time Berendt has organized a group of Democratic Party regulars who act as surrogates for the candidate, spreading the message at every potluck, sewing circle, and ladies' luncheon they can. Berendt recently spent a day at Panorama City, an enormous retirement complex in Thurston County, explaining Edwards' health care plan to elderly potential voters.

The candidates themselves could come to town before the caucus, especially if, as seems likely, the 22 Democratic caucuses and primaries on Feb. 5 don't sew up the race. "If Super Tuesday is close, we're the next big thing," says Dwight Pelz, chairman of the Washington State Democrats. "I expect [the candidates] to come out, be on the next plane to campaign."

Pelz himself is thoroughly politic on the race: "I have no idea who people are going to support. As I travel around, I get one-third for Clinton, one-third for Obama, one-third for Edwards," he says.