The Denton for Obama office looks a lot like a dorm room. Half consumed, forgotten coffee cups perch perilously on table corners and empty water bottles, newspapers and crumbled fast food bags litter the brown-carpeted floor. A brown leather couch is barely recognizable, hidden under yellow sticky notes and documents with an official looking “Obama” header.
Group leader Ashley Baia, 23, lays sprawled out on the floor. Wrapped in a brown and blue flower embroidered blanket, her bare feet peek out under the corners and a laptop is propped on her stomach. Gathered up in a lopsided ponytail, her long brown hair props up her head as she types data onto an excel spreadsheet.
Baia is a paid staff member for the Obama campaign, after working primaries in South Carolina and Alabama, she has spent three weeks in Denton and is unsure of her next destination.
“It depends on the voters, really,” she says smiling broadly. “I could either be heading home or I could be heading to Mississippi or Pennsylvania. I hope the voters send me home.”
Five other out of state volunteers click quietly on laptops, their faces shadowed by the glow of their screens. Chris Homer, 23, thinks he’s been in Denton for a week, but he can’t be sure. He spontaneously left Washington to volunteer in Texas and survives on a 50 dollar per day stipend from the Obama Campaign.
“I just really do logistical things,” he says, glancing up from his laptop screen. “Like yesterday I called over 320 precinct captains for Denton County. It sounds boring but it’s actually been really fun. The people make it fun.”
It’s the day before Election Day and local volunteers pour in, grabbing yard signs and Obama literature for neighborhood canvassing. Outside the temperature is dropping and snowflakes begin to fall.
“I hope it’s not like this tomorrow,” worries Baia.
“Don’t worry,” jokes one local volunteer. “They say, if you don’t like the weather in Texas, just wait a minute!” Baia smiles and shrugs her shoulders. She doesn’t get the joke.
David Niberta, 22, is a full time volunteer from Carrolton. He boasts that he’s getting less than three hours of sleep, lives off of candy and granola bars and has never felt more alive in his life. Yesterday he drove CSI actor Alex Rodriguez and One Tree Hill actress Sophia Bush to Get Out the Vote rallies at almost every college campus in North Texas.
“I’ve driven over 800 miles on three hours of sleep in two days,” he crows, pumping his fist in the air. He breaks out into a soft shoe dance, his tall lanky body swaying while serenading the office with a David Bowie song. A few minutes later he is found curled up in a brown leather chair, eyes closed and mouth open.
Baia says there won’t be any time to watch the election results tomorrow.
“Yeah, no time for fun,” says Homer. “We’ll probably hear them on the radio.”
After going to bed at 3am and waking up at 5am, Baia and the out of state volunteers spend Election Day traveling around Denton County, making sure various staging locations are set up properly for volunteers to prepare for the Texas caucuses.
Baia is concerned about the caucuses and has held two training sessions so Obama volunteers know what to expect.
“Bring extra copies of sign in sheets,” she warns. She says that in South Carolina her assigned polling location ran out and they resorted to paper towels for ballots.
The Denton caucuses turn out even more chaotic than Baia anticipated. Thousands showed up to caucus at Denton County polling locations, stretching the process until after 10pm for many and as late as midnight for some. The local volunteers are forced to cancel their results watching party and receive election updates from their cell phones.
Late in the evening Hillary Clinton is the projected winner of Texas. Within minutes Baia sends out a reassuring email. Barack Obama won Denton County 56 percent to Hillary Clinton’s 44 percent.
“I don’t think anyone was prepared for the bridges we had to cross last night, but like they say, everything is bigger in TEXAS,” she writes. “Our numbers out of Denton County are proof of your hard work. You have changed the face of politics in Denton County. “
Baia writes that she has already packed up the office and is currently in route to her new assignment, Mississippi.
“Don’t let it stop here,” she writes.