Obama Alaska campaign kick-off

At the opening of the Obama campaign headquarters this evening, there was plenty of humor and lots of (who'd of guessed?) Obama buzz.

I think there's something really funny going on in my district. At the caucus, when all five million or so of us showed up, we were the dead last district to be able to actually divvy up and vote. We watched several other districts "fan out", and when we finally went up there to vote, it was still chaos (albeit, very fun chaos!) One of the "regular Joes" in the district finally took charge and sorted us all out. Using some very fine charting sensibilities, we were finally organized and all accounted for. More than a few commented, "Man, I'm voting for that guy!"

Tonight, another take-charge organizational situation. Although I'm not sure it was neccessary this time, one of our group (no, not any official capacity) took charge once we were (again) the last group to be gathered together, and split us off into volunteering sections.

We seem to be both slow and control freaks. But really fun!

Other than that, it was nice to hear what the campaign has planned, and why they are focusing on Alaska. They are really making it a battleground state, and judging from those at the event, McCain is really going to have do some fighting if he wants to have a "red" Alaska.

One thing lacking? Native representation!

Where were my Indigenous peeps?! (I promise if you show up, I'll never say that again.)

There really was a noticeable lack of Native people at the event, and I sure hope to see more in the coming months. With over 40,000 right here in Anchorage, we can really be a force in this election. But we need to show up!

I was able to talk to Alaska campaign director Kat Pustay a little bit about the Native turnout. She talked about the rural outreach they're doing, and was pretty encouraging about just what they could do.

I also talked to Liz from OurTime 2008. They're a non-partisan organization really focused on getting people involved, getting registered voters. She was also pretty encouraging to talk to, and mentioned a big effort - as well as Native participants - on their part toward Native Alaska.

In both cases though, there was a cultural gap mentioned, one I hope we can reduce well before election time.


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