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Obama's Loudoun office up and running
It's 5:30 p.m. and the Loudoun County Obama Headquarters is teeming with people and chatter.About 10 volunteers work the newly installed telephones, many extolling the political virtues of Barack Obama to someone who had probably just sat down to dinner.
“Yes! She said yes!” 18-year-old Andrew Freidah, of Fairfax County, announces, sounding as if the most popular girl in school had just accepted his invitation to prom.
Someone had indeed just made a commitment to the recent high school graduate, but the promise was to attend a rally of Obama supporters later this month.
In a none-too-subtle sign of Virginia’s rare status as a state up for grabs this presidential-election year, Obama’s campaign opened 20 offices across Virginia this summer, including one in a narrow building on East Market Street in Leesburg.
John McCain has six offices in the state, according to his campaign's Web site, but none in Loudoun.
More than four decades ago, Lyndon Johnson was the last Democrat to carry Loudoun and Virginia during a presidential election -- something that hasn't gone unnoticed at Obama's Leesburg office.
"That old guard is dying out," says Ashburn's Bernard Hill, 70, of Republicans' dominance in Loudoun over the past several decades. Hill will be a delegate at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Nearby, fellow delegate Juan Perez, 38, is explaining that Loudoun's growth spurt over the past few years has drastically altered the county's demographics. New residents brought to Loudoun by technology jobs, like those at AOL, he says, will probably vote for Obama, not John McCain.
"Loudoun County has changed a lot," he proclaims, before backing up as a young volunteer zips by.
One woman, who appears to be in charge of the office but who wishes to remain anonymous, explains that volunteers are calling residents to see who they intend to vote for in the fall. They also are trying to recruit people to become "precinct chiefs" to rally Obama supporters in their parts of the county.
Some calls are successful. Some are not.
"He just asked me to take him off our call list," one dejected woman says to another volunteer.
Across the room, Jeanne Jeong sits with her back to a large poster of Obama's face. Like many in the office, she is young, at 18, and local, having recently graduated from Broad Run High School.
"I've read a couple items about [Obama] on Wikipedia," she says with a giggle. "I think he is really intelligent and brings a lot to the table. I'm also a fan of his health care plan."
One of Jeong's jobs at the office is to hand out canvassing assignments.
"You're going to Ashburn Village," she tells two men who are collecting their personal items.
"Oh, they're probably all Republicans there," responds one of the college-age-looking canvassers (or door knockers).
His partner, half-way out the door and entering the lowering sunlight, sounds a more positive note.
"That's all right," he says. "We'll get 'em."
Contact the reporter at jjacks@timespapers.com
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