December 31, 2007
Happy New Year from Obama Headquarters!
It is a bit after 9pm. I am on the phone with an Iowa voter asking him who he plans to caucus for and if he needs any help getting to his caucus location or daycare for his kids. Alexander taps on the glass of the small conference room I am sitting in and flashes me a thumbs up with a huge smile on his face. The Iowa voter answers that this is probably the 13th phone call he has gotten from our campaign; that he is definitely going to caucus; and that he is definitely going to caucus for Barack Obama. His response turns out to be a harbinger of what I am about to learn: the latest and likely most accurate poll has Barack Obama ahead of all other democrats by seven percent points. This is huge.
The Des Moines Register's pre-election poll is considered “the most closely watched and respected measure of public opinion in the state, the poll will likely have significant influence on the media storyline in the final days of campaigning in the first-in-the-nation-caucus state.” (source)
This same poll was the only one to correctly predict the final outcome for the Iowa caucus four years ago: Kerry, Edwards, Dean.
Article: New Iowa Poll: Obama widens lead over Clinton
The office is abuzz with excitement. It is December 31st and the entire New Media team is jumping off the walls. By the time I finished up my phone call with the Iowa caucus-goer the team was going into over-drive.
A staffer announces to everyone: listen to this and puts his cell phone on speaker phone. An automated recorded phone call from Kal Penn (the star from Harold and Kumar, The Namesake, and House) was calling to say he is in Iowa supporting Barack Obama and wants to encourage Iowans to caucus for him.
Moments later almost everyone's cell phones ring as we receive the text message our team sent to supporters: “Breaking News: Des Moines Register poll released tonight has Barack widening leading in Iowa. Obama 32, Hillary 25, & Edwards 24. Have a great New Year!”
Our email team revs up and begins to move like a well-oiled machine.
Our blogger posts the news. We get 192 comments in 10 minutes.
The homepage screams “Latest Des Moines Register Poll: Obama Widens Lead In Iowa”
Screenshot: http://www.barackobama.com/ on December 31st, 2007 at 9:45pm
Never has the office been brimming with this much energy.
One somber note punctuates the air of excitement. Gray, who had worked in the Dean presidential campaign four years ago, sends an email to our team with the subject line: “lest we forget - pride cometh before the fall”.
Perhaps Gray is right but no matter how you look at it: the New Media team is bringing in the New Year with style.
Update 2/2/08: Oh, the poll ended up being pretty darn right. We kick Hillary's ass: 1st place Obama 37.6% to 3rd place Hillary 29.5%