I've seen people rap the Clinton campaign for being unprepared for a dogfight in Texas. Well, it doesn't seem that the Obama campaign was very prepared, either. Unfortunately for Hillary, the difference is that Obamamania has become quite organic:
His organization in the Lone Star State, which holds
its potentially decisive presidential primary on Tuesday, has been
"more like a baling wire and duct tape thing," says Mitch Stewart, who
is running the campaign here. Mr. Stewart and the first dozen paid
Obama staffers touched down in this capital city less than three weeks
ago.
The uncharacteristic late start has left the Illinois
senator relying to an unusual degree on the groundwork of volunteers
such as Ian Davis. The 29-year-old Austin community organizer has been
laboring for months with no guidance at all from Obama headquarters.
When Sen. Obama's team finally arrived, Mr. Davis handed over laundry
baskets stuffed with 20,000 handwritten names of potential volunteers,
which Mr. Davis had gathered on his own.
"At the end of the day," Mr. Stewart says, it will be people like Ian Davis "who win this thing."
[Via Burnt Orange Report]
--Michael Crowley