Last Night Was So Exciting

As the day went along yesterday, it was obvious that Barack Obama would have more than enough delegates to put him over the top and that he would be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. I was getting more and more excited as I waited for my wife to get home from work so that we could share the moment together. We decided to just spend the evening with our family…so we headed down to the Palo Alto office of the Silicon Valley for Obama Headquarters!

I always know what kind of crowd to expect when I have to circle the block to find a parking place, but as my wife and I walked toward the office, I could see that people were pressed against the front window. I immediately saw a number of my family members and hugs and kisses were shared as we made our way a little more toward the middle of the room. Two TVs were tuned to CNN in two rooms as the overflow crowd cheered and soaked up this historic moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAvaqLl7L6s

Two Bay Area TV stations and several photographers from other media outlets were present to capture the festivities. The above link is from KTVU Channel 2, and the people that Reporter Lloyd LaCuesta chose to interview were a good cross-section of the diverse and enthusiastic crowd. I knew the vast majority of the people in the office last night, and I wouldn’t have shared this evening with anyone else in the world.

KGO-TV, Channel 7 also was present and filed its own report. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZubkjMDZ64g Interestingly enough, they also covered the San Jose Clinton office, and the handful of people celebrating there set a completely different tone on a night when the rest of the world acknowledged that we had a new nominee. I only wish that those dedicated and passionate Clinton supporters would have been at the Palo Alto office last night to be warmly welcomed by all of us and to witness and feel part of the feeling of change and unity that was present last night in each and every one of us.

I have spent countless hours at the Silicon Valley for Obama office calling half the states in this country, most recently Montana. It was sometimes frustrating, always exhilarating and never dull. I shared laughter, camaraderie and even some anxious moments with my ever-expanding group of friends and colleagues in Palo Alto, and still reminisce as I remember the South San Francisco Obama office that I spent so much time in before that. Those people are spectacular, too.

I have accumulated about ten Obama shirts, numerous buttons for all occasions, and had the privilege of traveling twice to Nevada and once to Texas. I have walked about a dozen neighborhoods and knocked on thousands of doors. I have stood behind or in front of tables registering voters and selling Obama gear too many times to count, and most importantly, I’ve gotten my wife and two daughters to participate in the process and to jump on the Obama bandwagon toward victory.

I have had the pleasure and the thrill of being at three Obama rallies, the last one getting the opportunity to meet Barack and shake his hand. I also had the unique honor to donate the furniture the filled the Oakland Obama headquarters, the first Bay Area Obama office, and I was very humbled when I went there for the first time to see the office humming with people utilizing that furniture.

I will so proudly head to Denver in August to represent my neighbors, my Congressional District and yes, my extended family that I was with last night to support my choice from the beginning, Barack Obama as he officially becomes the Democratic nominee for president. I have been so very blessed since I became involved with the Obama campaign last March, and the friends that I have made from working and hanging out in three Bay Area Obama offices, in addition to two offices in Nevada and two in Texas, will last well beyond the time of this campaign.