Through Strep and Snow for Obama in Hagerstown

There are a few times in life when your community has the chance to influence our nation’s future course. Here in Maryland, in the District to the east and Virginia to the South, we had such a chance yesterday. A week ago, I was standing on a street corner waving a sign and guzzling cough drops to sooth my strep throat. A dozen people I had never met before heard about our event on the internet, and stood there with me. As we stood there, two more people joined us out of the blue. Something became apparent that day: Barack Obama had support in Washington County, Maryland.

Last weekend, we knocked on doors in the central portion of Hagerstown. We left literature for everyone and encouraged people to vote. We knew we wouldn’t win Washington County, but we also knew we could build support in what should be a 2-1 Clinton County.

On Monday, a friend who attends the University of Maryland wanted to go to Obama’s rally with me. So we went. Twenty thousand people filled the University’s basketball arena. The crowd was not mostly students. It was a crowd of old, young, and in between people of all races. The Senator gave a good speech, and we quickly filed out of the arena intent on voting and volunteering the next day.

Yesterday, dawn brought a bitterly cold and snowy election day. Four volunteers met us at the party headquarters at 5:45 in the morning. We spread Obama literature throughout the City of Hagerstown. The rough conditions slowed us down. It was mid-morning before all the literature was up.

One volunteer had to leave to work, and another joined us for the afternoon. The snow gave way to heavy sleet, which pelted us as we knocked on doors in central Hagerstown. We moved from house to house, knocked on doors, and reminded people to vote. One volunteer had to leave, and another volunteer and I finished up in the evening. We made sure that any voter who needed to get to the polls in the snow could get there. Then, two hours late, the polls closed.

The final results were within our goals for Washington County—Clinton won 53 to 37 with 10% going to Edwards/Uncommitted. Some idiots, like Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, would spin this as evidence that areas like Hagerstown are not ready to elect a black president. The Governor, who has long had a loose cannon for a mouth and who has evidenced poor judgment throughout his tenure in politics, is wrong.

Immediately to the east of Washington County, is Frederick County. I lived in Frederick for 15 years, and my political roots go back to a relative’s successful campaign for Frederick County Commissioner in 1990. Frederick County is a largely white, exurban community. Thurmont, in northern Frederick County, is a known Klan hot spot.

Frederick is the epicenter of Republican politics in Maryland. In 2004, Frederick County cast 60% of its votes for George W. Bush. The State Senate Republican leader hails from Frederick County. And Frederick County continually re-elects right-wing fringe Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-Middletown). Clearly, Frederick County should not be friendly territory for the Democratic Party.

But yesterday, in the sleet and the snow, something amazing happened. 23,267 Democrats showed up to cast a ballot for President in Frederick County; only 20,536 Republicans did the same. For the first time in my memory, more Democrats than Republicans showed up in Maryland’s epicenter of Republicanism.

Still, some Clinton supporters would say, “So.” Governor Rendell’s spin could still be correct—Frederick County surely backed the more conservative Hillary Clinton for President. But they would be wrong. With 98.5% of Frederick County precincts reporting. Barack Obama has 11,389 votes or 49% in Frederick County and Hillary Clinton has 10,366 votes or 46% in Frederick County. Barack Obama won in Maryland’s epicenter of Republicanism; Barack Obama won in a county with a significant Klan presence. Clearly, Ed Rendell is an off-base idiot.

Still, Hillary’s minions would try to say that the results in Frederick really don’t matter. They justified not campaigning in western Maryland by saying, “There’s no way this area is going to vote for a Democrat anyway.” But the fact remains that more Democrats than Republicans showed up to vote yesterday. The last I checked, that makes victory in Frederick a possibility in November.

When all else fails, Hillary’s minions take to calling Obama’s remarkable support in unusual places “a cult of personality,” in the words of Clinton water carrier Paul Krugman. One of Hillary’s strongest supporters told me as much yesterday at the party office (the county party was letting people from both campaigns warm up in its office and feeding all of us; we’ll just say this made for an interesting lunch-time conversation).

But those volunteers who showed up in the snow at 5:45 in the morning were not there because of a cult of personality. Two (including myself) preferred Obama’s health care plan and were deeply suspicious of Hillary’s mandates. Another was an adamant opponent of the war in Iraq who admires Obama’s clear, outspoken opposition to the war at the time it was being debated.

Late in the afternoon, one of our volunteers knocked on a door. She started talking with the person who lived in the house. I went up to see what they were talking about. The gentleman who owned the house—an elderly black man in his 80s—immediately asked, “What are you, a middle aged white woman doing here supporting a black candidate?” He explained that he still felt chills when he went to a family reunion and stayed in a motel because at one time he could only work there. You could tell that there was a lifetime of injustice and thwarted ambitions behind his smile. And our volunteer answered, “because I like what Obama has to say.” That is being an American. And that is what this election is about.

Yesterday’s landslides in my Maryland home, the District of Columbia, and in Virginia (where Obama also won exurban communities—like Prince William County) give us hope. Hope that we haven’t forgotten what it means to be an American. And hope that the era of cynical politics is at dusk.