East Rockers Summon Hillary Power

by Allan Appel | January 21, 2008 8:46 AM | | Comments (8)

nhi-hillary%20004.JPGThe seated Hillary Clinton supporter, Ernestine Kirkland, wanted to know if the New Haven campaign for her candidate is planning events or renting space “over there” — as she motioned south and east towards Dixwell, Newhallville, and the Hill.

The Obama people, she said, were working diligently in those communities of color in the lead-up to Connecticut’s Feb. 5 Democratic presidential primary. “What are we planning to do?”

nhi-hillary%20001.JPGThe answer to that question, and others, were offered — or not — at what was billed as the first Hillary House Party in the state Sunday. It attracted more than 50 supporters to the spacious East Rock home of Debra Hauser (pictured in the middle).

Hauser is one of 60 members of the campaign’s statewide steering committee. (Click here for the list.) While the list is headed by many of the state’s big-city pols, including Stamford’s Mayor Dan Malloy and Mayor Bill Finch of Bridgeport, there appear to be only a handful of New Haven pols. They include State Reps. Juan Candelaria and Bill Dyson, neither of whom was present Sunday.

The only local New Haven official noticed at the Hauser party was Ward 13 Alderman Alex Rhodeen (front and center in the photo). But there were grassroots Democratic activists at the shindig and pep rally from the immediate area, including endorser Deb Heinrich (on the left in the photo), the state representative from the Madison; and Branford area, and Anne Ramsey (on the far right, pictorially, not politically), from Hamden’s Democratic Town Committee.

With only 16 days to go to the primary, the Clinton campaign has apparently deployed to Connecticut four or five paid staff, including its director of constituency outreach, John Williams, and Bryan DeAngelis, the director of communications (both, at their urging, not pictured).

Rolling into the state after having worked in what they described as the exciting victory in New Hampshire, the small staff is relying on activists and longtime Clinton admirers like Hauser to enlist their friends, to run phone banks, to initiate spontaneous, entrepreneurial actions. One house party guest testified she leafleted for Clinton at the recent UConn men’s basketball game, but as there were three entrances, she needed two more people. She suggested other people do the same at the upcoming UConn women’s game. When 15,000 people gather, she said, that presents an opportunity.

Lawn signs, pins, bumper stickers, talking points, and other campaign tools were available and passed out, and names taken. Could you write a check? Oh, absolutely.

Much of the gathering was given over to testimony on the part of several speakers as to why they love Hillary Clinton and how the activists in the room might respond to the ripples of Obamania, including the New Haven mayoral endorsement of the Illinois senator.

nhi-hillary%20002.JPGPenn Rhodeen, a local lawyer, political activist (and father of the above mentioned alder), knew Hillary Rodham back when,he said. She was fresh out of Yale Law School, he said, and the star of the moot court — lest anyone think her smarts were second to anyone’s or that she has ridden a husband’s coattails. “She could have gone on to a prestigious Wall Street firm,” he said, “but she chose to work at the Yale Child Care Study Center to learn about kids’ issues, and then worked with me on children’s legal defense issues.”

“Those are her values,” he said, “then and since. She’s smart, tough, warm, the real thing.”

Rhodeen, the younger, for the above reasons said he considered Hillary Clinton a kind of “local girl.” Other, older supporters, such as Hauser and Lindy Gold (pictured above with Kirkland), said they are rooting for her to be the first woman president, but surely not only because she’s a woman.

“This is a time,” said Gold, “for more than hope. I think Obama is not ready to lead, but to help to lead.”

Hauser, a clinical psychologist who is also the chair of the National Center of Women Exposed to Violence, was visibly moved by pride in Clinton for having talked about women’s rights as human rights.

“I’ve followed her closely. Even when she was First Lady, she did that differently. She was my kind of First Lady. But look, Obama is not a gimmick. He’s the real thing, certainly no gimmick. Yes, he’s visionary, but he’s also green. Hillary is ready, and most of us in this house support her not only because she’s a woman, but because she’s the one, she’s the best for the job. This is the most important presidential contest of our lifetimes, and Hillary Clinton has the best combination of heart and mind to do the job.”

nhi-hillary%20005.JPGThe view from the city’s college campuses, as expressed by Ben Stango (on the left) of Yale and Nicole Colomonico and Mark Bouchard of the Quinnipiac University Democrats, was a little uphill. “The kids at Quinnipiac,” said Colomonico, the secretary of the group, “say things like they like Obama because he’s got good looks, or he has the JFK mystique. When we ask them if they know any of his policies, they go blank.”

She, like Stango from Yale, intend to counter with lots of phone-banking, especially given the short amount of time before the Feb. 5 day of electoral reckoning. The statewide campaign has created a Clinton College Caravan. It will pass through Yale and Quinnipiac, and culminate, they said, at the University of Connecticut.

Before Ernestine Kirkland left the house party, host Hauser pow-wowed with her about what she thought might be done in the city’s African-American community. Williams, the coordinator, had told her that, yes, the campaign wants to diversify its venues, time is too short to actually rent space, and, frankly, money is a concern too.

The New Haven operation, he said, is actually being run out of the apartments of Yale Law School students. He also said other physical sites for the statewide campaign’s 16-day duration included union halls in Hamden and up in Hartford.

Kirkland listened patiently and then suggested the Elks Lodge up on Dixwell as a good location for an event. Hauser said she would help with the follow up.

To find out about that, and everything else the campaign can put together against what seemed to be an accepted sense of an Obama-leaning New Haven, click here on the Clinton campaign website and go to the Connecticut page. Apparently, first up, is a South Carolina Democrats’ debate-watch party at Archie Moore’s Monday at 8 p.m.







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Comments

Posted by: TrueBlueCT | January 21, 2008 2:52 PM

Interesting to note that in the fall of 2006, Bill Dyson and Juan Candelaria both backed Lieberman against the Dem Senate nominee. Now they're solidly in the Hillary camp? (and Candelaria voted against CT's historic Civil Union legislation, fwiw.)

Posted by: eastrockrocker | January 21, 2008 5:32 PM

The idea that Hillary has some sort of experience advantage over Obama is laughable -- he's spent 11 years in elective office, she's spent 7. Fine, you want to cut off 2 of his years because they were at the state level and give her 2 extra years for being First Lady? OK, so they're tied. Read John Judis in TNR or Kristof's recent column - there are plenty of reasons to vote for Hillary, but experience is not one of them. Frankly these naive Hillary supporters who keep fibbing about her vast experience are going to be their own worst enemies in the general election if Hillary wins -- she'll be crushed by the vastly more experienced McCain.

Posted by: Dem Voter | January 21, 2008 8:24 PM

House and bar parties are nice, but two weeks before Super Tuesday, this is time for hard work. At www.mybarackobama.com supporters can find a phone bank near them or learn more about next weekend's canvassing in Hartford and elsewhere.

A week ago Saturday, Clinton had "dozens" of supporters at the Wallingford union hall on the same day Connecticut's Barack Obama operation had 250 or more first rally, then organize its the statewide effort-- talking ward, town, Congressional District and statewide activities including canvassing and phone banking. Seven days later, last Saturday, Obama had 100 or so canvass several New Haven Wards. Tonight and tomorrow in the New Haven area alone, Obama's grassroots Connecticut supporters are running phone banks in Milford, New Haven, Hamden and Guilford (2 or 3 actually). I am sure there is similar energy and GOTV activity for Obama throughout Connecticut.

At www.mybarackobama.com you can find out how a little of your own spare time can help so much. Yes, I support Barack Obama!

50 for first Clinton house party in the State? Has the Clinton operation in Connecticut progressed so little over this month?

We would like to have four paid staff. Our staff is smaller, but busy and efficient. I can assure you, if we desire, Connecticut for Obama can cover each of four doors of the Hartford Civic (XL) Center with volunteers for a UConn game. We could have put six at each door in December and we could put a dozen at each now and mobilizing will be only easier in February.

Most voters don't make their Primary decision on who hands out more handbills at a basketball game. I chose to support Barack Obama because of his thoughtful approach to governing, to restoring America's Constitutional Democracy, and as President, to leading all Americans. www.barackobama.com

Posted by: Dem Voter | January 21, 2008 8:36 PM

Don't be fooled but the media hype and the Clinton spin. Hillary Clinton's "Victory" in Nevada was 5355 to 4773, 582 votes. Five Hundred Eighty Two Vote Margin, statewide in Nevada. Come February 5, any major city in Connecticut could have a larger margin than this.

Surprisingly, from Nevada's rules for allocating delegates, Barack Obama was awarded more Nevada Delegates than Hillary Clinton, 13 to 12. Also, his "Loss" in New Hampshire was a 9-9 Tie in Delegates awarded. So long as the Democratic nomination is based on Delegate count, I say keep these "Losses" coming, add a few wins, and Barack Obama will be the nominee!

Posted by: robn | January 22, 2008 9:10 AM

VOTE FOR WHO THE PERSON IS...NOT WHO THE PERSON WAS.

Hillary may have been a person of the people in the past, but the trouncing she recieved from Republicans in 1993 on her involvement in health care reform bounced her positions, along with her husband's, just to the right of the middle. This country doesn't need a president who is willing to compromise with the insistantly greedy and destructive policies of the new Republican party. A comprimiser is just what Hillary is.

Posted by: I support New Haven | January 22, 2008 10:10 AM

Chris Rock has a great joke, which goes something like this:

Hillary Clinton keeps talking about all of her experience. Well I have been married to my wife for a long time, and if she came up here right now, none of you would find her funny.

Oh and to Dem Voter, while your point is a good one, your numbers are inaccurate, which was not explained well by the press. The Republican count was of actual voters in Nevada. The Democratic count was roughly equivalent to something like the number of delegates to a state convention. While Hillary won this count, because Obama won in rural counties, he will almost certainly (as you note) win one more delegate to the national convention.

Two points:

1. This is important because despite the way the media presented it, many more people voted in the DEMOCRATIC caucus in Nevada, which means the state may actually trend DEMOCRATIC in the national election. This high voter turnout is similar to other Democratic primaries and caucuses already held -- again good news come November.

2. There was a media spin that Clinton had the organization and Obama had the emotion which was focused on the endorsement of the Culinary workers in Las Vegas. Actually Obama had the organization which led to rural victories. Clinton ran very well among Latinos in the state, including in Las Vegas, which almost certainly led to her victory.

But no need to expect that pundits or the press will be helpful in understanding how these things actually work.

Posted by: gabbygirl | January 22, 2008 7:22 PM

What's with the INDEPENDENT? You followed around a not-yet-convinced Obama supporter when there are over 2000 of us in the New Haven area alone. Couldn't you have talked to one of us?

And then you give the glitterati of New Haven a full article in support of Hillary Clinton?

Sounds to me as if you have fallen into the Hillary trap. Why not rename your paper?

Posted by: Dem Voter | January 22, 2008 8:42 PM

Thank you, NH Supporter, for politely correcting me. I verified the numbers at CNN but did not realize I was looking at caucus votes -- to the state convention, right? Thanks for the Chris Rock quote, I used it today!

To CNN CBS NBC ABC GOP HRC NYT and on, let me be the first (?) to say: "It's the Delegates, Stupid!"

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