"Truth. It will set you free. But first it will piss you off." Bumper strip in Berkeley.
We've been in Oakland and Berkeley for a series of fundraisers this past week. For fundraising, this is low hanging fruit country. The average zip code in America gives $41,000 total to all political candidates. The three zip codes that gave most of the money to an event with Gary Hart last weekend give an average of over $1.5 million each -- about 30 to 1 for Obama. So while it was pleasant, it wasn't totally a surprise when 300 people showed up to hear Senator Hart and gave over $125,000. Not bad for a Sunday garden party. It looks like a debate party with Alice Waters and a cast of gustatory all stars will net another $150,000 tonight.
This all happened after the economy went to hell. You know that's happened in Berkeley when the proprietors of high-end restaurants say their weekday business collapsed on precisely the day of the first big fall in the market and has not recovered. That is what we were told by Christopher Lee, owner of Eccolo and former Chez Panisse chef. On the other hand, Sam was told today that an Obama volunteer is walking around a legal conference in Silicon Valley asking for $5000 checks from participants -- and getting them. It's harvest time.
Here are some campaign updates that you aren't hearing on Letterman, Jon Stewart, and the Colbert Report. In Colorado, there are 190 full-time staff members in 32 offices around the state. Additionally, as of this week, there are 225 full-time volunteers from out of state. Last weekend, there was a competition with the Virginia Obama campaign to see which state could do more canvassing. In Colorado, some 4,000 volunteers knocked on over 107,000 doors. That is an all time record for the state! But the field team in Virginia, headed by the brilliant Matt Robinson, did even better with hundreds of additional staff and volunteers imported from DC and Maryland.
I have a great feeling about tonight, but not just because McCain and Palin are imploding and not because people are sick of what my friend Verne Newton refers to as McCain's coquettish southern belle half-grin and fluttering eyes. No, I have a great feeling because our daughter Teal got rid of all my scary bad feelings by destroying them in the Crested Butte Grump Festival. That's right. Once a year for the past twenty, the good people of Crested Butte, Colorado, make a huge cloth and metal grump, stuff it full of papers on which their greatest complaints from the past year are written and then set it aflame while screaming "Burn the grump!". It's working for me . . . sort of.
Another bumper strip seen in Berkeley: "I can't believe I'm still protesting the same old crap."
Send me your thoughts on the debate tonight, particularly your funny ones. alisonteal@tealdesigns.com