Meet The Man Who Delivered North Carolina For Obama

At an election night boiler room at Cary's upscale Umstead Hotel, dozens of operatives of Barack Obama's presidential campaign watched as North Carolina went blue for the first time in nearly a third of a century.

Watching with special satisfaction was Marc Farinella, 50, who cut his teeth on Chicago politics. Farinella was the chief architect of Obama's victory in the state.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[Topfeeder]

Congrats on a great job Marc! So many unsung heroes of this election. Steve Schale also did a great job here in Florida.

[functor]

And meet the person who brought some fun to 2008 elections.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

[pjburns11]

And meet the man who delivered Iowa so long ago, way back in the primaries..

http://thetruthburns.wordpress.com/2008/08/31/the-man-who-delivered-iowa/

[topkatnc]

Thank you for all the work that you did here in NC. I am so proud that we went Obama. kellygrrrl why don't you go to a mirror and stick your tongue out !!!!!!!!!!!

[VAVet4Obama]

Thank you Marc!

[Myshkin57]

He may not have needed North Carolina for the win, but North Carolina and Indiana are the mandate states for Obama. Ohio was big, but North Carolina and Indiana are the ones that are going to force Republicans to work with him.

I'm still really excited about how well election turned out. Even if we don't wind up with 60 in the senate, we could really see things move in the right direction.

[topkatnc]

I live in Montgomery Co. in N.C. and we went Dem for the first in I don't know when. I am so proud of the whole state for voting for CHANGE ! Thank you Marc for all the work that you did here. kellygrrrl why don't you go to a mirror and stick your tongue out !

[MamaBird62]

Way to go tar heels!
My son's AP World History teacher had the class (10th grade) take the literacy poll test that black Alabama voters were required to pass in the 50's and early 60's. None of the kids could pass the test, which contained dozens of questions on very obscure grammar rules.
We were just reviewing the US Constitution with our boys and they were surprised at how many amendments have to do with correcting racial injustices. I'm so glad they live in a brighter world, and with President-elect Obama I'm feeling better about the future.

[luvobama]

You will never know how good it felt to send a thank you note to my racist relatives in NC. They sent back a note saying they would pray for all of us. I wanted to respond by saying you should have started praying about 8 years ago

[NoWMDs]

I tell some of the right wing religious extremists that the reason Obama was elected is because Democrats like me prayed more than the loser Republicans. They're usually speechless after that.

[MASHON]

Right on! I tell them that my Higher Power wanted Obama to win.

[Myshkin57]

hehehe. Yeah... the Democrats are just better prayers and holier than the holier-than-thou Republicans.

[RachelMc]

Remember Sarah said, "God will do the right thing on Nov 4." That should tell the religious freaks something...

[bwilder]

I live in a North Carolina county that is still 'red' but many of us here voted for
Obama and are thrilled about his win. Surprisingly many voters under the age of
35 voted for him. While this county has a large elderly population and is still
living in the past when it comes to race issues, it does my heart good to see
the progress. Ironically, the county will be served well under an Obama-Biden
administration as poverty and job loss is off the charts here.

Time...it takes time and as long as the trend keeps moving in a new
and positive direction, we'll eventually get there.

FYI- I hesitated for a long time before putting out a yard sign. Fearing
vandals or violence, I was unsure about displaying my Obama campaign
materials. I did in the end, put my sign out and was pleasantly surprised
by the good words from neighbors and others out taking walks and
passing by the sign. My first day volunteering at our Democratic
Headquarters office was disheartening, (five people) but over the course of the
first month (August) the numbers grew and it soon became apparent
that I was not the only Obama supporter in town!!

I'm a51, white woman, and noticed that older die-hard
Dems showed up, and many younger people. The prejudice in the South
is dying. A slow death and will most likely outlive me- but
it's dying and gives me great hope for our country's future!

[MASHON]

I can totally relate to your story. I'm 50-years-old, white and female. I live in Virginia in the heart of "Vote for The Chick" country. I won't see huge changes here before I die, but you're right, it does give me some hope.

We put our yard sign up when there was one week to go. We feared for our pets and autos. I knew I could do a week of vigilance and all went well. I don't know about your area, but the neocon bigots around here are major cowards so they do their dirty work in the dark and behind closed doors.

Maybe, in my life time, I'll see a lot of those cowards exposed and run out of town.

Here's hoping.

[RJII]

WONDERFUL job done!

[hortonhearsawho]

30 minutes or less, and was it warm?

[qdog112]

Marc did a geart job and more importantly, with the changing demographics in play here - North Carolina is NOT GOING BACK TO RED!

[oscartucker]

Good job in North Carolina. People in small towns, especially Wayne County, cannot come to grips that the election is over and Barack Obama won the presidency, Libby Dole is "out", and some new elected officials are "in". Some are still writing "letters to the editor" complaining about early voting, one-stop voting, signs that were at the polls, "bus loads of people going to the polls"--they were vehicles from assisted living facilities, and those citizens had the right to vote and were registered, the possibilities of voter fraud because no one had to show an id, etc., etc. Some want the "old ways" to continue; it's a NEW DAY!

[mercuryguy]

Thank you!