9:12 a.m. CST – Gervais Street, Columbia: It’s a chilly and wet day, but we’re not seeing the kind of rain that will prevent people from going to the polls. I’m at the call center at Fred Thompson’s statewide headquarters, where election-day events are gathering steam.
We’re in a conference room at the hotel. Fox News is on TV in the corner and about 50 volunteers — including folks who flew here expressly from California — are using pre-paid cell phones to call voters and urge them to plump for Fred. The group has made 600 calls already, but has a long way to go to reach its goal of 10,000.
Former Deputy Governor Justin Wilson, Woody Woodruff and Fred’s former law partner Charlie Trost are among those making calls. In front of each volunteer sits a small bell. Every time a voter voices intentions to vote for Fred, a bell rings.
At this point, the calls are producing a slow and steady pace of dings. It reminds me of “It’s a Wonderful Life:” “Every time you hear a bell ring, an angel gets her wings...”
Looking at the bigger picture, the goal of every campaign today is to make sure they don’t finish behind the human broom truck, Ron Paul. I’ll be shadowing Fred’s Tennessee volunteers throughout the day to get a sense of unfolding events. Wilson, a veteran of a number of campaigns, has some interesting ideas for us to check out. Be sure to check in throughout the day.
11:18 a.m. CST – Downtown Columbia: Leaving Thompson’s headquarters, I check on the Huckabee and Romney camps. As I and several other observers suspected yesterday, Romney’s operation here is very much alive and active despite insisting that its candidate has pulled out to concentrate his time and money elsewhere.
In fact, the Romney phone bank and computer operation – while not quite as large as Thompson’s – is the most professional of the bunch. Come to think of it, the group overall is so young and polished, I wonder how many of the staffers are here on their Mormon mission.
On the other hand, Huckabee’s campaign can lay claim to the most disorganized headquarters of the ones I’ve seen, even though his team – like Romney’s people – is calling identified voters. One staffer lets slip that, in the course of those calls, his team is seeing a group of voters who had previously committed to Huckabee migrate to other candidates. Pressed to elaborate, he won’t say who’s benefiting, but this tidbit has to be heartening to the Thompson camp.
I then stop by the South Carolina headquarters of the GOP to chat with Jay Ragley, executive director of the state party. He says it’s been a “spirited” primary and adds that he is expecting a good turnout, with the weather not a factor – even though more snow is expected tonight.
I’m now headed over to check out some polling places and scour some Republican hangouts, where people are already beginning to gather.
P.S.: I don’t quite know how to interpret this, but I’ve gotten several derogatory e-mails from Ron Paul supporters taking exception to my characterization of his campaign as the broom truck. Unfortunately, they didn’t suggest any other automotive metaphors.
12:43 p.m. CST – Gervais Street, Columbia: Before heading back into downtown Columbia, I stop off in Irmo, an upper middle class district. By 11:30 local time, more than 200 people have voted there – without the presence of volunteers – and poll workers say turnout is running ahead of schedule. I plan to check out a more blue-collar area this afternoon.
Back at the Fred Thompson call center, I run into Jeri Thompson, the candidate’s wife, with his daughter Hayden in tow. In good spirits, she says the group has “a great feeling about today.”
“The most important things is that we want people to know how much we appreciate their hard work and their stand for conservative principles,” she says. “We are especially grateful to all the people who came over here from Nashville and Tennessee as a whole.”
We’ve run into more Nashvillians: Waller attorneys Don Moody and Katie Stenberg have made the trip and joined up with their colleagues, as has campaign volunteer and White House resident Mary Ann Parks.
In the meantime, Thompson’s volunteers have been cranking on the phones. They’ve now called almost 5,000 voters.
By Ken Whitehouse Nashville post
Thank you SOOOOOOO much for posting this- I didn’t want to sign up at the paper but I was very interested in what he had to say