It is 4:00 am and I am just getting in from all the activity following the election on Tues.  What a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Okay, I know I predicted 16%, but in our regional office area — NE Philadelphia, which also covered part of Bucks County, our goal was to win big and take some of the huge win away from Philadelphia.  We did it.  Our area won by more than 30% — We were 72% Clinton, 28% Obama which gave Hillary one extra delegate.  In addition, the concern was than Philadelphia would go with Obama 85% and I believe he only got around 70%.  Our area was identified as the most key area for a big win in the entire state.  It was very strategically important in that part of the area was within Philadelphia city limits but also included a small area of the suburbs.  A lot of volunteers were routed over to our office in the last few days.  I think it was very smart and once again the Clinton team moved quickly and re-directed efforts where needed.  Without a doubt, this was a much better managed campaign than Texas.  There were great staff members and regional coordinators, and no ego problems to bring down the operation. 
 
I  believe our office was very well managed and had very well defined priorities.  Every time things started to slide off, they immediately turned us back to our priorities.  I knocked on 320 doors today (my hand is chapped and sore), I participated in a visibility event at 6:30 this morning at the train depot, I drove elderly people to the polls, and at 7:15 pm (45 mins prior to polls closing), I was given a list of addresses and people’s names to go out to their houses directly, ask them to vote now before the polls close.  My list included a family with 6 voters (2 adults, 2 children ages 18 and 20, and one grandparent).  They were huge Hillary supporters but did not have a great record of voting.  I showed up at their house at 7:45 pm, asked if they had voted, the mom was surprised and said they had not had a chance but were eating dinner.  I told them they could leave the dinner on the table, get in my car, and I would take them to the polls at the rec center and bring them back home.  The dinner would still be warm.  They were ready for that and all piled in the car.  They all voted as did several others.  Some voters saw us at their front door three different times on three different days within one week, and some saw us for a second visit on the day of the primary.  It is amazing how it worked.  We went from about 62% of our Hillary-identified voter turnout by 5:30 pm to 91% by 8:00 pm — not bad!  It was a huge team effort and everyone took their job seriously. 
 
One note that I thought the group would find very interesting.  All the talk about how Bill needs to be controlled.  Hmmm, don’t think that is necessarily unplanned talking by Bill.  All of us who contacted voters and identified voters and ushered them to the polls found one common factor — the majority of them mentioned how much they liked Bill Clinton and how much he did for the country.  Doesn’t sound like the talking was a problem here.  They love him.  One group of ladies told me they loved Bill Clinton and believed Hillary was behind every he did, then she said, “Well, not everything, but everything he did for the country.”
 
The entire area I worked was very much a working class area, not like places we often see in Seattle.  I took some photos of some of the tree-lined streets with the row houses with flags out and people working on their porches and repairing their roofs.  In the mornings, there are lots of people leaving these homes with a lunch box and huge thermos.  They have a pretty good life and value hard work.  I also found them to be very interested in talking about the candidates.  When approached at their door, they would say something like, “yeah, I’m voting for her, but let me ask you this…”  I found that just listening and then saying it sounded like we had a different opinion but I respected their views was just fine.  They have no problem at all with someone disagreeing with them.  What they don’t like is when someone tells them they are wrong or how they should think, which leads me to the next point….
 
I have heard on CNN that the “bitter” comment did not hurt Barack at all because Hillary won the same percentage that she did in Ohio.  I disagree.  First of all, Barack was rapidly closing the gap in the polls to within 2-5 percentage points.  Secondly, he spent over $12 million dollars in this state and the gap continued to widen after the comment even with the enormous amount of money dumped into PA.  With that amount of spending and he lost ground, I think the comment and other comments did hurt him.  I also think his campaign will spin this to say they closed the gap.  Barack’s campaign also said they were not worried about gaining ground in Pennsylvania, but that is so untrue — he broke all spending records for any campaign iever with his spending in Pennsylvania.  He never broke her hold on the working class supporters and lost some of the gains he had made with women.   Some of our areas were so pro-Clinton it was just fun being there.  Our biggest challenge, of course, was getting them out to vote.  They work hard and have lots of their plates and are not as apt to vote every single election.  We outright asked for their votes, told them we could not win without them, and they came through. 
 
We have been partying all night and exchanging great stories.  There are so many good ones and how much everyone loved being here.  There was one fellow who told me he got a little nervous when he went to a door where he heard yelling and shouting and could smell alcohol and heard sports on the TV.  He was a little concerned about presenting himself as a Hillary supporter.  It was so funny when he told us the beer-drinking, football-watching macho dudes yelled out and said “Hillary, yeah dude!”  They invited him in for food and game watching and some beer.  Of course, he should have continued on with his canvassing, but he said he couldn’t resist the surreal experience.  They were planning on being there to vote for old Hillary, and they consider Bill Clinton a friend who came through when Pennsylvania needed him.
 
We all agreed most Clinton supporters were definitely less verbal and more likely to quietly cast their vote.  The Barack supporters are more likely to feel proud and loud, but it doesn’t really reflect on the final vote.  So many of our African American volunteers are the targets of terrible slurs from other African Americans.  One woman coped with it by pretending she didn’t speak English or was deaf.  They were by far some of our most informed and devoted volunteers.
 
I’m going to close now because it is 4:41 am here and my husband is arriving at 9:30 am.  We are going to spend Wed driving to a place called Bushkill Falls.  It is at the base of the Poconos and is supposed to be beautiful.  We may end up pulling over and resting.  Or, the excitement of this campaign might just keep me energized through tonight when I can sleep in.  I have been working 12 and 14 hour days every single day since being here and I still feel so fortunate to be here and to be able to contribute on the ground.  It goes without saying that the phone banking has provided a huge boost to this campaign and was a very large contributing factor to Hillary being able to get a double digit win.
 
You guys probably had a great celebration tonight and I was thinking about you.
 
See you soon!  Next time we get together, I’ll share all the new great chants I learned. 
 
Cathy Wittel