Race to the DNC
By
On Super Tuesday, as DFL caucus goers at Brooklyn Center High School filled out Post-it notes instead of ballots for presidential polling, record Democratic turnout caught state party organizers off guard.
I spoke with both Buck Humphrey, state director of the Hillary Clinton campaign in Minnesota and Michael Donovan, one of Barak Obama's top Chicago interns. I asked each why he thought this election was drawing so much attention and why voters should choose one candidate over another to represent the DFL.
“People want change and Republicans are in trouble,” said Humphrey.
These record caucus and primary turnout numbers may be reflective of the approximately 30 percent approval rating President George W. Bush is seeing at the end of his eight-year-reign in the White House, he said.
As the historic struggle pitting both the first African American and the first woman to ever have a real shot at operating the Oval Office rages on, senators Obama and Clinton are in a close race.
Although Obama won 13 of the Super Tuesday states and Hillary Clinton took just eight, Clinton remained ahead by roughly 80 delegates. With about 20 states to go before the end of primary season, no real frontrunner could be declared for the Democratic Party.
“We’ll only begin to see a leader emerge as we get closer to the end of the primary season,” said Michael Donovan, one of Obama’s top interns in Chicago. “For these candidates to keep pushing forward, they are going to need a continual supply of funding to stay on the air.”
“Senator Obama is the person for the job because he represents the kind of change that America needs and wants,” said Donovan. “He’s a breath of fresh air from current and past ideas and is uniting people across the country, including quite a few moderate Republicans.”
Humphrey agreed that America needs a shift from the “disastrous policies of the Bush administration,” but he also said he believes that the responsibility of leading that shift should be left up to a candidate with more experience than Obama.
“It all comes down to who could step in and run this show on both domestic and foreign levels, right from day one,” Humphrey said. “Hillary has visited the leaders of 82 countries during her long political career and has faced off against Republicans and won all her life.”
In late January, Clinton saw a need to cut a $5 million personal check to her own campaign, showing that funding is going to remain a key piece in how the rest of the race for the Democratic nomination plays out.
“I loaned the campaign $5 million from my money,” Clinton said in a press conference. “I did it because I believe very strongly in this campaign… We intended to be competitive – and we were.”
When asked how just one dollar could make any difference to a campaign, Donovan chuckled and responded, “We know the value of low dollar-amount donations. It’s the foundation that this campaign is built on, and moreover is the theme of the entire campaign: a grassroots organization run by the normal people that make up America.”
“Compare that to the Clinton campaign, which has received more money from D.C. lobbyists than all the Republican nominees combined,” he added.
Tiffany Orth, co-chair of the University of St. Thomas chapter of the College Democrats and a Clinton supporter, said that even if someone donates just one dollar, that money can be combined with other donations and used for things like office supplies and air time. “What’s more,” she added, “a donation at any level, pennies or thousands of dollars, really amounts to a strong showing of support and commitment to a candidate that transcends monetary value.”
Donovan believes that Clinton is a respectable candidate, but that she does not send the message of hope and change the Democratic Party needs in order to take the 2008 elections.
Both Orth and Humphrey said they feel there is substance behind Clinton’s words. They each said in their own ways that her plans are well formulated and laid out, whereas Obama’s seem to be less substantive and more “dreamy” as Humphrey put it.
“Obama has a rock star appeal that is sweeping the nation right now,” Humphrey said. “He is the best orator in the entire election and Republicans are scared because they don’t know what to do with him.”
Humphrey said that at the end of the day Obama voters are being swayed by the message of hope, voting with their hearts and forgetting the substance of the issues. He added that Clinton supporters are voting with their heads as well as their hearts with America’s best interest in mind.
Donovan refuted that claim, but made no further statement.