Obama Opens Ohio Campaign: Web Site Up, State Director Named

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Obama Web site is already beginning to list events around the state. And the presser reprinted below is being distributed. It emphasizes the grassroots nature of the campaign in the days ahead:

CHICAGO, IL -- The Obama for America campaign today announced that it will begin to dispatch resources and staff to Ohio in preparation for the primary on March 4th. Paul Tewes, the Obama campaign’s Iowa State Director, will serve as the campaign’s Ohio State Director, and field staff is expected to begin work in the state in the coming days.

“While Senator Clinton begins her Ohio campaign with support from much of the political establishment, we are confident that the strength of our longstanding grassroots support in the state will translate into a formidable organization,” said Tewes. “As has proven true across the Midwest, Ohioans are looking for a candidate who is able to work with people of all parties and all viewpoints to get things done, and a candidate who will stand up to special interests on behalf of working families who know too well how poorly our economy is performing. Barack Obama began his career by working to bring hope and opportunity to a community devastated by a steel plant closing, and as he travels the state, Ohioans will recognize that he is the candidate who can bring change we can believe in."

Last weekend, Senator Dick Durbin and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman kicked off a statewide organizational meeting that attracted over 500 activists. Grassroots chapters from Toledo to Marietta and Ashtabula to Cincinnati have been organizing for months to lay the groundwork for a field operation. Key elected officials supporting Obama throughout the state have helped spur the grassroots organization, including Mayor Coleman, Legislative Black Caucus Chair Tyrone Yates, Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan, Cincinnati Senator Eric Kearney, Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, Cuyahoga County Commissioner President Peter Lawson Jones, Warren Representative Tom Letson, Akron Representative Vernon Sykes and Dayton State Senator Tom Roberts. Senator Obama has visited Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati twice each since the beginning of his presidential campaign, as well as Boardman. Michelle Obama also visited Cincinnati in 2007.