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Surrounded by campaign materials and holed up with his laptop and overactive cell phone in a corner of the Starbucks on 181st Street in Washington Heights, Gregg Ross carefully coordinated volunteers for Barack Obama Tuesday morning.
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New Yorkers at polling sites around the city weren’t satisfied to just let their votes do the talking for them on Super Tuesday. Many had lots to say about the candidates, the campaign, the country – and themselves. Here’s a sampling:
In 2004, Janet Pommells, a Coney Island resident since 1990, crossed party lines to vote for George W. Bush because she believed his rhetoric about Saddam Hussein and the war in Iraq.
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Between classes and on the way to work, Super Tuesday brought young people out to vote in huge numbers. And among them, supporters of Barack Obama were easiest to find. Voters 18 to 33 were drawn to Obama because they thought he could unite a divided America — and for that matter, the world.
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Vote aquí!
Blue and red diamond-shaped signs in Korean, Spanish, English and Chinese urged residents to vote at the Saint Sebastian Parish polling station in Woodside, Queens.
The posters also were outside the Charles O. Dewey School in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, as well as hundred of other polling sites throughout the five boroughs – signs of the changing city.
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Local students, energized by the presidential race, signed up as campaign volunteers – passing out flyers, making phone calls and flocking to rallies leading up to Super Tuesday.
Whether they’re working for Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton, the political newcomers said they’re driven by a desire for change – and a hope they can help shape the country’s future.
“People want a renewed faith in politics,” said Anna Durret, leader of Students for Hillary Clinton at Columbia University.
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This year’s unusually competitive presidential primary has led some of Brooklyn’s own media elite to an unusual decision: for the first time, some local news outlets made endorsements in the national race.
“I don’t know how much difference it makes,” said Ed Weintrob, who publishes The Brooklyn Paper, a weekly. “But we felt collectively we should let people know what our thinking is. Hopefully they’ll consider our points.” More »
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The Rev. Calvin Butts, the politically influential leader of Harlem’s famed Abyssinian Baptist church, endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton last month. But that didn’t stop volunteers from Harlem For Obama from distributing flyers outside the W. 138th Street church, trying to sway voters.
Djenny Passe-Rodriguez spoke with Harlem churchgoers about the appropriateness of religious leaders endorsing candidates from the pulpit.
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Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential bid has drawn the interest of African immigrants – including those from Kenya, where the candidate’s father was born.
Some are planning to vote for Obama, while others say he has no chance of winning because of thee color of his skin.
Adeola Oladele spoke with African immigrants in Brooklyn.
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Annemarie Martinez, the poll coordinator for the city Board of Elections in Jamaica Estates, Queens, walked from table to table in P.S. 178’s gym, checking on her staff of poll officers – a group of 13 middle aged men and women who sat ready for a giant stream of voters to pour in.
“Maybe they’ll come after work,” poll official Jay Dean said.
But maybe there weren’t many voters because P.S. 178 is off the beaten path – and there weren’t any signs to help those unfamiliar with the Radnor Road school.
On Saturday afternoon, Barack Obama supporters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge shouting the senator’s slogan “Yes We Can.” A short subway ride away on the No. 6 train, Hillary Clinton backers put on a rally in Manhattan’s Union Square where “Madame President” echoed throughout the park.
In a city where the Giants and their Super Bowl heroics loomed large, there seemed to be as much conversation - and action - generated by the pre-election hoopla for Super Tuesday.
