On Sunday, August 14th, the “Coordinated Campaign” which is the joint effort of the Hillary for American campaign, the Michigan Democratic Party, the Michigan House Democrats, the Washtenaw County Democratic Party, the Ann Arbor Democratic Party, and the Western Washtenaw Democrats, opened the first office in Washtenaw County. Located at 5060 Jackson Road, it’s a sweet location that has ample parking, easy access from the highway, and is on a bus route.
How sweet is it? This sweet:
The Office Opening Party was promoted by the local Democratic organizations, by HFA emails, calls by volunteers in the 12th Congressional District, and most importantly by phone calls from Coordinated Campaign staff and volunteers. By show time, over 400 people had RSVPed and, by the looks of the crowd, nearly all of them showed up. We ran out of parking. We ran out of overflow parking. We ran out of overflow overflow parking. And still people kept coming.
Washtenaw County turned out big for Sen. Sanders in the primary where he got just over 55% of the vote. However, there is clearly no issue with enthusiasm among Democrats in this area for Sec. Clinton and there appears to be, in fact, pent up energy to hit the doors and hit the phones to start talking to voters about the choice before them.
This sort of energy and enthusiasm will pay dividends down ticket, as well, of course. Michigan Democrats need to pick up only nine seats to take back control of the House. The 52nd House District here is one that is considered leaning Republican but Democrat Gretchen Driskell has held it for two cycles. Donna Lasinski won the primary there to replace Driskell who has a real shot at sending the odious tea partier Tim Walberg into permanent retirement in the 7th Congressional District. There is also a closely-watched County Commission seat that is being challenged by the local organizer for the Sanders campaign, Michelle Deatrick. Most of these campaigns will be working out of this office over the next couple of months.
In 2008, the Obama campaign got a huge shot in the arm when John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. The following weekend, our canvasses were filled with outraged women who were offended that someone that unqualified was chosen in a crass attempt to pander for their vote. This cycle, it’s clear that Trump’s offensive, bigoted, inappropriate rhetoric is having a similar but much more amplified impact.
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell addresses the crowd, photo by Anne C. Savage
Photo by Anne C. Savage
As I walked around the crowded room listening to the speeches, I came across this young lady in the back, making a beautifully elaborate sign for the office. Perhaps she’ll run for president one day. Now that Hillary Clinton has shattered that glass ceiling with her historic candidacy, that has become just as possible for her as it would be for any boy.
