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.

[Skidmore]

1. Yup, The people will fill in the blanks after being invited to the table.

Those looking for prescriptive pronouncements from on high will be disappointed, as we have seen time and time again on GD:P.

GOBAMA!

[roguevalley]

21. he has always said we and us

[DJ13]

2. Thanks for the follow up on your post about going to see them!

Very interesting.

:yourock:

[Triana]

3. "Sen. Clinton on the ticket would severely conflict with the entire theme of his campaign."

That's been my contention all along. Good call on Obama's part.

[Kittycat]

7. Agreed.

Great siggy :D

[John Q. Citizen]

8. You "Women for Obama " are everywhere.

:)

Betsy also said they are hoping that Obama does well enough in MT, SD and PR that it puts him over the top ie, enough delegates to secure the nomination.

That looks more and more likely.

[JackBeck]

20. Saw three "Women For Obama" bumper stickers over the weekend

at the Pathmark parking lot.

:party:

[gateley]

23. E-mail her and suggest that Obama get MT's very popular Governor,

Brian Schweitzer, on the short list for VP. He would represent the change Obama is talking about.

Okay, that's my plug for Schweitzer.

Thank you for this great story -- how cool that you were able to actually speak to her. And I really like what she had to say!

[SwampG8r]

29. my wife wants a T shirt that says

Midwives for Obama

[yourguide]

26. At this point HRC on the ticket would severely conflict with the entire theme of...

the democratic party.

[AntiFascist]

4. Sen. Clinton has already tried to marginalize the progressive netroots....

this is a great sign that Obama will be paying attention!

[trashcanistanista]

5. I absolutely can't wait for President Obama

to turn the tables in a way we have never seen. He will have the ability to use HIS grassroots supporters to pressure the OTHER branches to do what he wants instead of each of us relying on our deadbeat congresscritters to get the job done. I liked the rationale behind not adding Hil to his ticket. I hope he doesn't cave on that. Great post. :hi:

[SwampG8r]

30. its (preparing myself for flames) reaganesque

putting aside all personal feelings toward the reagan years,anyone will admit that his use of his grassroots base helped him get his way many times in congress
communication with the base is how things get done

[FatDave]

33. I've said for awhile that he's our Reagan.

Though not too often in public for fear of the same flames you're preparing yourself for. And by "our Reagan" I mean the one who we will be remembering fondly in 30 years, who all of the democratic candidates will be fighting to compare themselves to, who will create "Obama republicans", who will start the country on a course toward more liberal policies. All the things reagan did for their ideology, I see Obama doing for ours. Perhaps that makes him an Anti-Reagan...

[musiclawyer]

6. Sounds like O man has good people in important places

and is open to ideas. If he really does things transparently, he can change things much more than we think possible.

[FrenchieCat]

17. "We" can change things much more than we think possible .....yes we can!

[Poll_Blind]

9. Much appreciated! Thank you for posting. n/t

PB

[K Gardner]

10. Thank you for this ! and Congrats :-) You're lucky !

[Thickasabrick]

11. Awesome post - I'm envious of your meeting!! I'm in my fifties too

and this is the most involved I've even been with an election - which isn't enough but still....it's really exciting that I'm able to experience something this groundbreaking in my lifetime.

[sandnsea]

12. OMG, are you in Hamilton?

I used to live in Stevi.

[John Q. Citizen]

13. I live in Florence.

[sandnsea]

16. Well small world

My daughter went to Lone Rock in first grade. We lived out off of Illinois Bench.

[cui bono]

14. That is why I like the way he always says "we" when talking about what will happen

when he's president.

And I believe he means it.

[JimGinPA]

15. Thanks For The Recap...

Very interesting, especially about the VP assessment.

K&R

[H2O Man]

18. Very good.

Nominated.

[ebayfool]

19. ... oh so rec'd!

I'm so pleased to hear her response to your health care reform question - the only hesitation I have had is leaving the door open to the insurance companies. If they're involved, I think they'll squirm around until they find a way to keep their hands in our collective pockets - & costs will continue to rise for their benefit.

Keeping an open line to the grassroots & keeping Hillary from undercutting his policies from the inside ... pure gold!


TY for the update, I'm getting really impatient for the GE & better days to come!

[ms liberty]

22. This agrees with what he said when I saw him in Hickory, NC...

"...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."

Someone in the crowd called out, "why not single payer?" when he was talking about his health care plan, and he essentially said what I clipped from your post.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. "Women for Obama"? How can that be? I thought the Goddess of Peace represented ALL WOMEN.

Hmmmm. They must be blinded by Patriarchal male gaze semantic flimhatzwoodle.

[SwampG8r]

31. my wife says

once you go barack
you never go back

[Barack_America]

25. She's awesome, isn't she? I had the chance to talk to her before the PA primary.

She actually worked on Hillary's healthcare plan and had some, um, *interesting* insights into Hill's leadership style.

She was by far the coolest and most interesting campaign person that I met.

For those not familiar with Betsy, she's the campaign's Chief Operating Officer, and yes, she's Dee Dee's sister.

[truedelphi]

28. Oh No Don't tease. Can you mention

The "um" interesting insights into Hill's leadership style??

[rucky]

27. Carnahan, eh?

didn't even think of her.

[autorank]

32. John Q - thanks for the report & your work k*r

That's a great event. Hope he takes that primary.

Jean Carnahan has one terrific blog. DUer Galloglas pointed me to it a while ago.

Jean kicks some serious ass -

http://www.firedupmissouri.com/blog/5

Fired Up Missouri

The Clock is Ticking
http://www.firedupmissouri.com/node/7221

by Jean Carnahan

Every time I hear Terry MacAulliff on national television, I think of “Bagdad” Bob, the Iraqi spokesman who gave the cheery pep talks to the Iraqis even as the city was being encircled by American tanks.

Most reasonable Democrats know the primary is over and that a Clinton exit strategy should be in the works—and soon. Rachel Maddow, the savvy political analyst for Air America and MSNBC says the Dems have until early June. That’s it.

If Democrats don’t get their act together by then, start learning to splutter the words President McCain. We have no hope of re-gaining the White House if we stumble through the summer and into the Convention still hankering for a fight.

History has a lesson for us when it comes to fierce and protracted battles. After defeating the Romans, King Pyrrhus declared that the cost was so great that “one more such victory would utterly undo him.”