Monday, August 25, 2008

Flight in and campaign buttons

On the second leg of my flight, from Atlanta to Denver the entire plane was filled with delegates. I have never been on happier, (or chattier) flight in my life. Everyone was talking politics and sharing stories about the campaign. The woman next to me was from Northern California and was flying in only to attend the big acceptance speech at Investco Field Thursday night. The woman next to her was a delegate from Georgia, who told me she had never seen such enthusiasm for a Democrat in rural Georgia.

When we arrived at the airport in Denver there was a row of people holding "welcome delegates" signs, and Obama signs. Once at the hotel, I signed in, got my goodie bags (see video below) and went to the welcome reception for the New York Delegation.

One of the things I did in order to have an excuse to meet and talk to people was to create personalized buttons for members of the New York delegation. They each say "Obama '08" with the delegate's name and home town. The first button I got to give away was to Governor Paterson, who it turns out, is staying right down the hall from me. Having seen him in the hall, I got a chance to give him his button before there was a crush of people. [Late update - Gov. Paterson wore the button to the evening's receptions and while he spoke to the delegation.] At the reception I brought all the delegate buttons, and Diana Cihak, my roommate (and elected delegate from Buffalo) helped me spread them all out on the table. Soon there was somewhat of a feeding frenzy as people searched for their names and took their buttons.

Because of time constraints and and the fact that some delegates were added to the list at the last minute, I did not have one for every single one of the 330 person New York delegation. For those who I missed, I traded business cards and promised to mail them their button after next week. While everyone was searching for his or her button on the table, a woman from WNYC radio interviewed me and asked me about the whole thing.

While the button idea took more time and effort than I expected, they were definitely a big hit and I got an excuse to talk with several people whom I wanted to meet. I caught Congressman Arcuri in the hallway and give him his button. He was talking to Congressman Jose Serrano (whom I am embarrassed to say I did not recognize). Congressman Serrano gave me one of his signed Congressional baseball cards. I also found Senator Chuck Schumer and gave him his button as well.

I still have about 100 left to give out as I find people throughout the week. I also created a special set of personalized buttons for non-delegates I am hoping to meet. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is shooting from Denver this week, and I made "honorary delegate" buttons for each of the reporters and for Jon Stewart. I am hoping to get one of them to wear one on the air. Also, I made one for Chris Matthews, Keith Olberman, Chuck Todd and Stephen T. Colbert, DFA. We will see...

1 comment:

Sarah Cowen said...

DIY, I love it! You are really the Delegate ROCK STAR!!!

Did you make one for Willie?