Meet The Man Who Delivered North Carolina For Obama

The News & Observer:

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: The News & Observer

Comments

[gladys46]

Thank you people of NC for making your way through those lines and making the greatest choice for POTUS ! And thank you Marc for getting P.E.Obama'­s message out across that wonderful state ! My nervous system could ill afford another republican by any name !

[histryteacher]

The point here is well taken - his hard work is greatly appreciated -

but we, the voters of NC, delivered this state for Obama.

We, the people.

And don't forget it.

[VOTER]

This article highlights one person's work but in no way takes away from every
single voter's ballot for Obama.

Kudos to him! Kudos to ALL!

I know a young man who worked tirelessly for over 20 months for Obama as a volunteer.
With a job, wife and two children, he managed to do the work of 10, 6 days a week
for such a long time.
He is a hero as are all of the volunteers and paid staffers.
Kudos to them all.

[lisakaz2]

I know a volunteer who was proud to get a good number of newly registered voters. She was just one of a number from Knoxville, TN, who worked in NC because of a better chance to turn NC blue than their home state. All these volunteers deserve kudos.

[dwright]

I can't believe that they are giving this guy credit for NC. I live in Durham County, NC, which is right next door to Orange County. We were told that if we could turn the red counties a bit bluer and Durham and Orange show up in historic numbers we will take the state. We in Durham worked and we ended up with the highest % turnout in the state with Orange close behind. We turned out 76% of the registered voters and 103,000 or more voted for Obama, while only 30,000 or so for McCain. By that margin of over 70,000 it made obsolete and Orange's 72% turnout highly Obama we made over 23 red counties obsolete.

This guy should have been partying somewhere in Downtown Durham with the rest of us wet and freezing people and then taken a trip over to Franklin Street - Raleigh did not win the state for Obama. Give credit where credit is down next time. By the way the local Durham newspaper didn't even carry the great party we had downtown either!!

[lmnop13]

That's right. And kudos to you for it. If only my state could turn blue (not likely, TN is my home). You guys were and are an inspiration, along with Virginia, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, and Iowa. Of course, and all other blue states as well. The county where I live was all red, but the news reported that my city, Knoxville, voted Obama.
So, yes we can.

[bbridges1962]

I live in Greensboro, North Carolina..­.actually a little town called Kernersville. My wife and I voted early on Nov. 4th, and when we left from the house, McCain was in the lead. As the day progressed, it stayed close, but our nerves were raw. We were especially watching a few of the races...Li­ddy Dole, Pat McCrory...­and of course, the presidential race. At approx 11:00 pm we heard the news...bot­h of the state REPUB's had lost, and Obama had won. WE turned the state BLUE, and we were riding on pure happiness and hope since that day. Make no mistake, Elmer Dodd, Natzi Pelosi, and a couple more in the senate have tried to take the icing off the cake, but we still believe that Obama is going to make changes for the better. I also hope that he will investigate and remove the cancer from the Bush system. There is no end to the corruption that is escalating as we go into the final 2 months.

[Mooretone]

I think I'd like to thank the Citizens of North Carolina--thank you.

Yes, many had a hand in Obama's victory in most places--Virginia, Pennsylvannia, Ohio, etc, etc.......­. Many of us, have been actively involved in Politics for far more years, than just recent times and although some recently jumped aboard the "Change America" bus, we need not forget those who have been riding it for a lot longer than January 2008 to present. Personally, I'd like to thank Senator Kennedy, Senator Hagle (the real Republican Maverick) and Representative Kucinich--whom I think was truly the "voice" of Ohio--actually I'd like to Kucinich become "Speaker of the House" as I care not, in thanking Pelosi. Anyway....­........th­ank you America for finally getting it right!

[SEQUOIABISON]

Obama won NC for Obama.

[sunzen]

exactly and Bush

[JiminNC]

We appreciate him coming and agree he got us over the top but an awful lot of hard work got done here prior to July, the work that made his trip possible.

[dwright]

Agreed. We started working here in Durham in Feb. 2007 and even before that when Obama came to NCCU on Nov. 1st 2007 the fire was lit.

[NotMcCain]

He's a great organizer, but it was the wisdom of voters seeing through the lies and smears that brought North Carolina into a terrific win.

("Delivered" has an unfortunate connotation, btw. Like the old Chicago machine "delivering" Illinois for Kennedy through cheating.)

[socratiskiss]

Thank you!

[just4shiggles]

Ditto to that and you are now added to my new list of heroes Marc Farinella. This country was in bad need of heroes and you are going down in history for what you have achieved for us in this important election.

[GingerB]

Marc Farinella, you rock!

HIP HIP HOORAY!!!

[GASGUZZLEINC]

Check out www.obamaformamas.com

[GingerB]

I like it!

[neesy08]

Great job!

[GASGUZZLEINC]

Hey check out this new upcoming website which is still under construction but it is congrads to Obama! Check it out at WWW.OBAMAF­ORMAMAS.CO­M

[chewie2008]

You`re the man.

[chronic]

Laugh at all the drivers with McCain/Palin stickers on thier bumpers and windows here in Raleigh.



It feels so so so good!!!

[obamasandiego]

You are much appreciated, Mr. Farinella!

[ricitizen]

From the article: "Farinella grew up in New York and Chicago, the son of a social worker and an interior decorator. When he entered Chicago politics, he had a reputation as something of an egghead, in part because he held two master's degrees."

I love it. The combination. NY + Chicago + hard work + creativity = super smart people who get thinks done. Obama, Obama!

[iwantpie]

Thank you Sir.