Our Party Blog

Can any Democrat attend that celebration tonight at the Choo Choo or do you have to have an official invitation? Linda
grzwlds@ excite.com

What happened Hamdems, you blew it with Obama. Here are his numbers

Obama and Biden 43.39%
McCain and Palin 55.20%

Now look at the Harold Ford numbers two years ago:

Harold Ford Jr. 45.95%
Bob Corker 52.86%

With Obama the numbers should have been better, who is leading the get out the vote effort? We need Ford back on the scene, he beat Obama in the votes he got two years ago.

Actually, I wish we could have seen our Hamilton County numbers higher than 50% for Obama. But that was always going to be a monumental task because of several difficult conditions.

For Obama locally we had competing interests. To start with, the Obama campaign pushed its Hamilton County supporters to North Carolina in October and November. And I supported them, sending 80 students on vans to NC. I am proud of our support for the Obama campaign in NC.

Of course unlike Ford and Bredesen two years ago, Obama never visited Chattanooga nor spent money in Chattanooga. For a candidate not to come to a region and not spend money here makes getting out the vote that much harder. And let's not miss the very obvious point of identity. In other words, unlike Ford and Bredesen, Obama is not from Tennessee or the South, a fact not lost on our rural "red state" county voters.

Despite these difficult conditions, we did very well. We broke voting records for early voting with 67,515 casting their votes. We won the early vote as a result. And then we prepared for Election Day.

On Election Day, we had over 200 poll watchers working. We had over 50 poll workers at polls. We had over 50 drivers taking voters to the polls.

So I am actually pleased with the Obama numbers overall. And I am so proud to be part of a winning national ticket and a winning state ticket that included Berke, Favors, and Brown.