By Susan Shinn
Salisbury Post
The campaign for Barack Obama is organizing in Rowan County.
A standing-room-only crowd gathered Monday evening at Port City Java for the inaugural meeting of “Rowan for Obama.”
Thierry Wernaers, who heads a similar group in Cabarrus County, filled in the attendees on the basics of the Obama campaign ó and what must be done now to assure the candidate’s victory for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The big push, Wernaers said, is for the March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio.
The latest polls have Obama and Hillary Clinton in a virtual tie. Obama has gained momentum by winning 11 consecutive primaries. Obama organizers are hoping he’ll sweep next week’s contests as well.
Wernaers said that Obama has a larger base of individual donors than Clinton, and therefore better finances. He also said that while people are voting for Obama, a large percentage of them are also volunteering for his campaign.
Wernaers said that while field offices won’t be in place in North Carolina until mid-March, “that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything now.”
He said that about 60,000 people a day are volunteering to make phone calls to voters in Ohio and Texas. Even spending a half-hour or an hour a day on the phones, Wernaers said, makes a big difference.
Wernaers noted that the registration deadline to vote in the May 6 North Carolina primary is April 11. If you turn 18 by the November election, you can vote in the primary.
While participation by both Democrats and Republicans is encouraged, “we don’t want to do the work for the Republican party” in registering voters, Wernaers said.
The present need is for neighborhood team leaders, and for volunteers to register students and local colleges and high schools.
Karen Puckett, who lives in the Gold Knob precinct, suggested getting involved at the precinct level.
A lifelong Democrat, Puckett said that the party has always stood for the common man.
“I don’t know why the Republican party has hijacked the South, but it has,” she said.
On Monday, Amanda Ford and Christal McRae, both of Salisbury, volunteered to co-chair the Rowan for Obama effort.
“I feel like Obama is interested in the people,” McRae said. “It’s not a black-and-white issue. It’s a people issue. We need to make some changes and he is the person to make changes.”
Ford said she was excited about bringing people into the political process who have never participated.
Those included four students from Salisbury High School, seniors Paul Grant and Arielle Wright and juniors Seth Morris and Anthony Girelli.
“I’ve been looking forward to this since middle school,” Wright said.
Although Morris and Girelli won’t be able to vote this time around, both said they wanted to help with voter registration.
Ironically, Wernaers can’t vote. A native of Belgium, he’s in the process of getting his American citizenship.
The next meeting of Rowan for Obama is tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. March 17 at Rowan Public Library. For more information, contact Ford at Rowan4Obama@yahoo.com or visit www.barackobama.com.
Contact Susan Shinn at 704-797-4289 or sshinn@salisburypost.com.