In Des Moines, Gore staff gets ready for caucus night
By Amy Paulson/CNN
January 22, 2000
Web posted at: 4:59 p.m. EST (2159 GMT)
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- Vice President Al Gore's campaign office here is in countdown mode for Monday
night's Iowa caucuses, manning phone banks, providing precinct locations and staying upbeat for what they
claim is a competitive race between the vice president and former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley.
Recent Iowa polls show that Gore leads Bradley by a decisive 20-point margin. But in the last days of
the Iowa campaign, the Gore camp is taking nothing for granted. "We're strong," says Jano Cabrera,
who is on vacation from his regular job as the vice president's deputy press secretary. "But we're
trying to keep pace."
Bradley has poured money into television advertising in the last few days, a move that does
not go unnoticed by the Gore camp. "What we can't make up in resources we make up in people power,"
Cabrera says, echoing what has become a theme of the Iowa campaign.
With two days left, caucus turnout is vitally important. The campaign is now dedicated to making sure that the voters who have pledged to support Gore
actually go to the caucus. The campaign has set up a 24-hour phone center where volunteers explain
how the caucus process works, and can find a supporter's precinct location just by typing in a phone
number.
If the supporter needs a ride, the campaign will set one up with someone who is going and lives
nearby. One of the callers, Billy Rose of Des Moines, is informed that she will need to go to
Howe Middle School on Monday night. But she needs a ride, so the campaign sets one up.
The calls come in waves. Kris Schultz, a volunteer from Kentucky, is working the phones and will be
until 7:30 on Monday night. "That's when the caucus doors close," she explains. Using her vacation
to campaign for Gore is not a problem, she says, "because I love Al Gore."
Approximately 30 to 40 percent of the calls are people asking how the caucuses work. So Schultz,
who has never cast a vote in Iowa, runs callers through the process.
One of the benefits of this system is that new supporters call seeking information. "It's like
reverse phone banking," she notes.
Gore's campaign staff in downtown Des Moines is a mix of campaign veterans and newcomers, paid
professionals and volunteers from the vice president's office, around the country and as far away as
London.
The Londoner would be Isabel Campbell, who works for the British House of Commons. For the past
two weeks, she has volunteered to see how campaigns in the U.S. differ from those in Great Britain.
She chose Gore over Bradley because "Gore's ideas are very much like the Labor Party's."
The group of nearly 50 campaign workers typically starts the day with bagels and a staff meeting -- a
pep rally -- meant to energize the troops and single out those who have had a recent success. And when
the news comes on, everyone gathers in front of the television and cheers whenever there's good news
for Gore.
Jim Fleming is a forty-ish campaign consultant from West Springfield, Massachusetts, and calls himself
a Democrat "with a big D." He supports Gore because of the vice president's environmental
record. Fleming has worked on campaigns at every level since he was five years old and was in New
Hampshire in 1996 and Massachusetts in 1992.
"Presidential races are special because it changes the whole country," he said. But he's drawn to Iowa because the caucus process is unlike any other.
Part of what sets the Hawkeye State apart from other states he's worked in, are the "sheer number
of people who are completely committed to grass roots. Most campaigns are media driven," he says.
"But in Iowa, you can meet enough voters in six months to get out and win. You can't really do
that anywhere else. "
The campaign staff also is busy coordinating the 22 field offices that dot the state -- some of which
are simply a supporter's home. The field officers call in, tell campaign staff how it's going and if
they think they'll have any problems turning out the vote.
Darrell Capwell has taken two weeks away from his job with the American Federation of Teachers in
Washington to campaign for Gore in Iowa and New Hampshire. Capwell says he's a Gore supporter because the vice president has been "right on the mark for education policy" and a "champion for education and
schools."
"We're so full of energy," he says, beaming at his compatriots. "We have great leadership and we have
done our absolute best."
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