by Bobbi Lee Hitchon
CNN declared Barack Obama the 44th president of America al little after 11 p.m. on election night. Some democrats may have thought it wouldn’t be that easy after being tarnished by long ballot counting in 2000. But after picking up key swing states such as Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, Obama was declared winner with 349 electoral votes.
What brought out the vote in Pennsylvania and what does Obama’s grass-roots win mean for the future of politics? According to Mark Berkey-Gerard, an online journalism professor at Rowan University, it means a permanent place for the internet in campaigns and the beginning of a “new era” in politics.
“The Internet is no longer a “new” media,” said Berkey-Gerard. “Trying to run a campaign without making use of the internet would be like trying to run a campaign without making use of TV. It’s a new era. The Republican campaign strategies that worked for the last eight years have ended and Barack Obama did not run his campaign with a traditional Democratic strategy. He created a new way of campaigning and it worked. It is now the new standard.”
In Pennsylvania over 3.1 million people came out to vote for Obama and over 2.5 million voted for John McCain. Altogether, 400,000 more voted in this election and than in 2004. Such a raise in voters may not have been possible without campaign organizations such as Generation Obama.
“We had Generation Obama folks knocking on doors and directing people to the polling location,” said Jocelyn Gabrynowicz Hill, a Generation Obama coordinator. “But everyone in the community knew there was a very important election and did everything they could to bring their friends and family to the polls. Many people said they didn’t care whether it was raining or how long the lines were. They were going to vote come hell or high water.”
Hill, also an attorney at McCarter & English, LLP in Philadelphia, was a part of Voter Protection, a group of people familiar with voter’s rights recruited to monitor the polls. While some may have anticipated pandemonium, Hill said her voting booth was very enjoyable.
“My polling place was so much fun,” said Hill. “There was a drill team marching around the block. The drill team coach told me they had just won nationals. There were people barbecuing, people hanging out their windows, people playing music all day long.”
Julie Crudele, a 24-year-old graduate student at University of Pennsylvania, said she didn’t encounter any problems when she voted around 4 p.m. at St. Anthony’s senior residence in Philadelphia.
“It was not busy at all,” said Crudele. “I had to wait in line for about a minute. It was a good experience. I already knew who I was voting for. Everything so it was quick and easy. Nothing really interesting happened.”
That is until Crudele’s candidate was named winner that night.
To check out Bobbi Lee Hitchon’s election preview story click on this link here.
