Obama’s Go-To Woman in Humboldt
As the primary campaign heated up, the locals swung into action. “We got groups together during the primaries for call parties. We called them ‘Cell Phone Saturdays,’ because you can usually use your phones for free Saturdays. We called all over the country, wherever they were targeting.”
Once Obama had the nomination clinched, the Humboldt Democratic Central Committee stepped forward. “All across the country, including here, it took quite a process to bring the Obama campaign and the Democratic Central Committees together,” said Lyons. “In the end they were awesome. Milt Boyd, the head of the local Central Committee, was really helpful with advice. I had never worked with a group that was so close to the center.”
Then there was “Camp Obama,” a day-long event held at a Eureka union hall. “That was a grassroots training to train others to become grassroots activists. It’s all about finding your passion, finding your story — why are you looking for this change? And figuring out what you can do. Now we have little cells, so to speak, down in southern Humboldt, up in McKinleyville, in Del Norte, Arcata, Eureka. It might be one person, like I was — just me and my sign — or a group of people who get together.”
Since they’re assuming that Humboldt County is firmly Obama country (he took the primary here) and there’s no worry that California might go Republican, the local campaign hasn’t put a lot of money and effort into what Lyons describes as “visibility items” — billboards, lawn signs, bumper stickers and the like.
“The local focus at this point is voter registration,” said Lyons. “Every vote counts, because not only do we want to have a progressive agenda in the White House, we want a progressive agenda locally. Linda Atkins, who was working with me on the local Obama campaign, decided to run for Eureka City Council. That falls in line with the Obama agenda, to move toward progressive change across the country.”
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