PORT TOWNSEND — Tom Chambers has been waiting for this day for a little bit longer than most.
He’s been thinking about the inauguration of Barack Obama since 2006, when he first read Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope.
And now, after a year of working for the Obama campaign, he will see Obama sworn in as president, with his vice president Joe Biden, on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20.
He is among the seven people listed by the Jefferson County Democratic Party as planning to attend the inauguration in the nation’s capitol.
Chambers will go with his wife, Dorothy Hollenbeck, also a campaign worker.
Others attending from Jefferson County, said county party treasurer Teri Nomura, are Lori Macklin, Mark Saran, John Collins, Kate Franco and Claire Roney. Franco and Roney were not available for interviews at the end of last week.
Said Chambers: “I thought to myself back then that if he ever ran, I would step out of my usual row and help him out.”
Getting involved
Although he had never done much in the way of political activism, Obama’s book changed him.
“I decided that it was time to put my money where my mouth was,” he said.
So Chambers and his wife, Hollenbeck, did just that.
“We worked at caucuses and canvassing neighborhoods,” he said.
“We went to Pennsylvania and worked in the primary there; we organized people and spent the days canvassing.”
Chambers and Hollenbeck knocked on doors in Pittsburgh neighborhoods for hours in the 10 days leading up to the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania.
Chambers said it was an eye-opening experience.
“It was a very different cross-section of people there,” Chambers said.
“We met staunch Republicans, staunch Hillary supporters, some racism and also some supporters of Obama.
“But really, the most shocking thing was the amount of poverty in the area.”
The April 22, 2008, primary ended in a victory for Hillary Clinton, but Chambers feels that the work for Obama helped down the road.
Pennsylvania was considered a battleground state in the general election in November. Obama won it.
From Pennsylvania, Chambers and Hollenbeck traveled to Milwaukee to help shore up support before the general election in Wisconsin.
“It was one of the states that the Obama campaign wanted to be very sure of,” Chambers said. “So again, we went out and did the canvassing.”
Hollenbeck
Hollenbeck said the task was difficult, but she loved meeting the people.
“We rang a lot of doorbells, and I liked that,” she said.
“I really enjoyed the face-to-face stuff, the talking with the real people.”
Hollenbeck tells a story about how they met an elderly man in Milwaukee, an Obama supporter. They discovered it was his birthday.
“He said his kids would stop by, but they weren’t having a party,” Hollenbeck said. “So we went out and got him a cake.”
Chambers and Hollenbeck agree that volunteering was a rewarding experience. And now, the reward has grown. They have tickets to the inauguration.
“It’s very exciting,” said Hollenbeck, “the whole thing, all of it.”
An invitation to the party is just the icing on the cake.
“I got to shake his hand in Milwaukee,” Hollenbeck said. “I doubt I will get to do that at the inauguration.”
Macklin
For Macklin, who served as a delegate for Obama at the Democratic National Convention, “it has come full circle.
“I started canvassing in January 2008, and now here we are, watching it be fulfilled in January 2009. It really is a dream come true.”
Macklin is the first Jefferson County delegate to go to the national convention since 1996, when Carol Grondahl went as a delegate for Bill Clinton.
Before that, the late Bonzo DeLeo served as a national delegate for John F. Kennedy in 1960.
Macklin said she was thrilled to be seeing Obama take office, but she thinks the most excitement will be raised by the final act of his predecessor, George W. Bush.
“The biggest cheer will probably be as that helicopter takes off with him in it,” Macklin said. “It means a lot to see that era come to an end.
“It is exciting to see Obama take office, but it’s going to be just as exciting to see Bush leave.”
Saran
Mark Saran, a Port Townsend photographer, said he also is happy to see the Bush administration end.
“Eight years ago, I was in an artist loft, a block and a half off the parade route,” he said. “The atmosphere in the room changed drastically the moment Bush 2 was sworn in.
“I’m going to be there when the spell that started eight years ago ends.”
Saran, who worked as a communications director in several organized protests against Bush, said he is returning to Washington, D.C., “to be there for something good that’s happening.”
Saran doesn’t have a pass to the inauguration, but he will be there with his camera, capturing all the activities taking place.
On his Web site, http://www.saranrap.com, he has posted images he took in Seattle on election night.
“I’m going to take pictures [in Washington, D.C.,] as well. I will be up all night until the celebration stops.”
Collins
Port of Port Townsend Commissioner John Collins also is heading to Washington, D.C., without a pass.
He wants to witness history.
“I will head over to the mall, but I’m not going inside,” he said. “I just want to be there for the event. I want to be there for something historic.”
Although Collins has visited D.C. many times, he has never been there for an inauguration.
“I just don’t recall being this excited about any other election,” he said.
“Not since the first time I voted in 1960 did I want to be a part of something so much.”
Planning to attend from Clallam County are LeRoy and Lorraine Martin of Port Angeles, Julie and Ron Johnson of Neah Bay and Marcia Farrell of Port Angeles, according to the Clallam County Democratic Party.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
