I had an Obama volunteer knock on my door this weekend as well, and after a brief conversation we figured out that I had just the week before met his son’s fiancee, a new employee at the Indiana State Library. One of those wierd coinkydinks.

I heard an interesting discussion on NOW on PBS this past Friday in which Willie Brown, African American politico extraordinaire from California, talked about “expanding the pool” as a necessary response to the reality that there are some voters who just never will vote for a woman or person of color. His view was that, although the number of such people is not large, they exist, and their numbers are sufficient to influence close elections.

He argued that it’s not worthwhile to convert such people within the framework of a political campaign; rather, it’s better to find some other people–in particular, younger people who might be less prone to prejudice. Sounded smart to me and certainly consistent w/ what we’ve been seeing in the exit polls for the Democratic primaries.

I find it a little sad, actually, that Hillary is basing her claim to the White House on the support of people who are (1) older, (2) less well-educated, and (3) low-income. If I were a superdelegate, I’d want to make sure that my party addressed the needs of those people, but I think I’d pay more attention to the views of people who were likely to be around longer and able to contribute more–both to the party and to the country.

I’ve read elsewhere and some weeks ago about an example of Obama’s grass-roots organizing ability. The guy knows what he’s doing.

edit - forgot to mention that we (the early folks who stood in line at 1:30) also got to shake hands with Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona. An entourage showed up headed by former mayor Graham Richard, and they worked the line from back to front, shaking every hand and making small talk.

It was sort of comical, as Mayor Richard would grandly announce “This is Governor Napolitano, of Arizona” as they advanced - maybe every ten people or so.

This ‘nationally consequential election’ stuff is pretty cool!

The Post has a nice article about Bill Clinton visiting small towns in NC, and here’s one that has him coming up w/ a good line when a member of the audience in Lenoir, NC fainted.