Downtown Obama & Garden

By Thursday night, the imperative “Make History” on the Obama campaign banner could have well been changed to the past tense “Made.” But along with a second banner reading “Hope,” it made a nice backdrop for a party pitched for the folks who worked on the Obama campaign at the First and Liberty headquarters.

The post-election celebration was held just down the block from Obama headquarters in the courtyard area of Downtown Home & Garden, which owner Mark Hodesh had made available.

One take-away from the event for The Chronicle was that the campaign brought together people who previously did not know each other – hardly surprising, but still interesting when that fact emerges accidentally. When we gathered three women for a group photo, we didn’t chase down the one who left almost immediately after the flash faded in order to record her name – we figured we’d just ask the other two: Barbara Hilbert, who helped organize the event and was there with her husband Stu, and Martha Burnstein. But Barbara and Martha were stumped. They said they just knew their colleague on the campaign as Janice. They didn’t know her last name [c.f. first comment below].

Burnstein gave a bit of insight into what exactly is entailed by “working on the campaign.” It apparently did not consist of a bunch of folks sitting in a circle down at headquarters talking about how much they liked Barack Obama. She said that she was out in student neighborhoods placing door hangers with information about where to vote. She’d worked the Anne, Catherine, Thayer, and State street area, so the voting location was Community High School. Burnstein said that she was working from a list, targeting citizens who were likely to vote Democratic, so in some cases with multiple apartments in a single building, it was a bit of a challenge to make sure the hangers went on the right door knobs.

The celebration Thursday night was also a time for some Ann Arborites to reconnect who hadn’t even worked on the campaign together. John Roos (RoosRoast Coffee) donated the coffee for the event, and when he cycled back around later to pick up his urn (which he carried away on his bicycle), he ran into Chris Fraleigh, who greeting Roos with, “Now, I know you, you’re a townie, right?” Roos confirmed that Fraleigh and Roos’ sister went to high school together.

Fraleigh worked the phones during the campaign. The volunteer coordinator for Ann Arbor Township, Abby Aasbo, confirmed that Fraleigh had drawn the tough assignment of making “persuasion calls” to voters who were unlikely to vote for Obama. She said that if someone said, “I’m voting for McCain,” they would simply say thank you and move on, but if there was any sign of doubt or hesitancy, they would try to engage the person on the other end of the line. Fraleigh said it’s worth noting that “it gets rural pretty quick” outside Ann Arbor. Also, he said, the contact rate (not everybody picks up the phone) was around 10%. Still, he felt like he made at least a half-dozen calls that resulted in a really good conversation and a good exchange of ideas.

Also attending the gathering was Sonia Gill, who was there with her friend and Realtor® Karen Moorhead through whom she’d bought a house last year. Given her paternal grandfather’s military background (he was a colonel in the army in India), it would not be a stretch to imagine that she and her family might be McCain supporters. Nope. Gill, who works in development at UM, said she did not donate a huge dollar amount every time, but that she responded to the Obama campaign’s appeals for donations every time she was asked – which amounted to 15 to 20 times.

Obama’s story of pulling himself up by his bootstraps and realizing the American Dream likely resonated with Gill’s family, whose father emigrated to the U.S. from India, with just $7 in his pocket – he had exchanged Indian rupees for the American currency on the QE2 coming over. For Chronicle readers familiar with the modern history of Ford Motor Company and how the head of quality worldwide at the company used to stop the production line and hand out hugs, asking “Are we having fun, yet?” – yes, that’s the same Gill.

The party wound down, and the Hilberts began clearing away the clutter. The night air had cooled to the point that it was time for The Chronicle to go home or else find somebody to hug to stay warm. Sonia’s dad wasn’t around. So we opted for home.