TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Obama's Got Game In Florida

ADVERTISEMENT

By CAROL E. LEE, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: January 21, 2008

TAMPA - Barack Obama has not made it easy for his Florida supporters.

Like other leading Democratic presidential candidates, Obama has refused to campaign here. His staff ignores the grass-roots Florida organizations backing him. And his campaign recently declared that Florida's voters "have no bearing on the Democratic nomination contest."

Yet, less than two weeks before the primary, Obama boasts one of the largest and most passionate grass-roots organizations in the state.

Across Florida, independent Obama groups have staged primary parties, where they gather to watch the candidate on TV.

And if Obama will not come to them, they will pile into their cars and drive to him.

At a recent gathering in Tampa, calls for donations were doubled up with pleas for volunteers to make trips to South Carolina and canvass for votes.

Chuck Greene, a computer programmer and member of the Tampa Bay O-Train, as the group is called, enlisted his 2001 Ford Taurus for the cause. It bears the Florida license plate OBAMA 08.

About 45 volunteers in the Tampa Bay area alone signed up for pilgrimages to South Carolina to link up with the official Obama campaign in Columbia and Charleston, and to wave signs and knock on doors.

"We're not in the position to do much here other than raise money and get his name out," Greene, 51, said of Obama. "It's a way for us to make a difference in one of the early states."

All of the Democratic candidates have grass-roots groups of Florida supporters holding vigil in their absence over the state's primary date dispute.

But the Obama effort stands out. Its sophisticated Internet network makes it easy for local supporters to form communities apart from the national campaign.

The independent Tampa group claims 800 members.

"We would campaign to win Florida if he were here," organization chairman Terry Watson said of Obama.

Instead, they work to raise money for the Illinois senator's national campaign, to help him win in other states and to educate Floridians about him in preparation for the general election. One reason Obama supporters are downplaying Florida is that Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York is far ahead in the polls.

But many Obama backers say it goes well beyond that. They see themselves as part of a national effort.

About 100 of them showed up at Tampa's HipHopSodaShop to watch the New Hampshire primary results. Homemade pamphlets describing Obama's positions were spread on tables. T-shirts, bumper stickers and buttons were on sale.

Similar events for Florida supporters of Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards can be harder to find.

Clinton supporter Andre Robinson, who came with a friend to the Obama party in Tampa, spent the evening wondering whether there was a similar gathering for Clinton.

"These guys are really energized," Robinson, 44, said of the Obama fans surrounding him.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT