I just met with Betsy Myers, Chief Operating Officer of the Obama Campaign. She and

[John Q. Citizen]

Former US Senator Jean Carnahan were in Hamilton Montana at the Rising River Bistro.

About 30 to 35 people were in attendance, mostly women affiliated with Women for Obama, but there were some men there also.

I was amazed, because I'm in my 50s, and I have never had the opportunity to actually chat with one of the top three people involved with a national presidential primary campaign.

The event started with the local Ravalli County, MT organizers making a pitch for volunteers for GOTV at the end of this week and for Monday and Tues.

Then Sen Carnahan spoke about why she is working to elect Obama.

Betsy Myers spoke about the campaign, how it was organized, and what were it's guiding philosophy.

Then the crowd asked questions. Most were about issues such as education, energy (aka gas and diesel prices) the war, etc. And most of the answers were basic policy propositions that can be found at the Obama web site.

I asked if, given the grassroots nature of the campaign, if she (Betsy Myers) thought that the grass roots would have a strong say and involvement in a Barack Obama administration. Specifically I mentioned that I had worked in the push in the early 90s for health care reform, and was disappointed that Sen. Clinton had shut out the grass roots involvement in coming up with a plan. I asked, if the grass roots were to push for a plan say that took private insurers out of the picture, would Obama be amenable to changing his plan to reflect that.

She said, "Absolutely." His plan, is just an outline, and that it would undergo revision, and part of that revision would be public input. She also said, that due to the symbiotic nature of his reliance on the grass roots, that when a plan was finalized and sent to congress that he is planning on calling on the grass roots to educate our Congress critters and Senators on the importance of passing a bill.

Betsy said that she too had worked on the reform campaign of the early 90s and that Obama would do reform in a very open and transparent way. No secret meetings!

Later, after most people had left, I mentioned the VP question. She made it very clear that Sen Clinton wasn't possible as a choice because Obama had run on a message of change, of a new politics, of turning the page, and that putting Sen. Clinton on the ticket would severely conflict with the entire theme of his campaign.

Anyway, I was very glad to have the opportunity to actually discuss issues and politics with a national campaign honcho. That's quite a change from the other campaigns I've volunteered on.