Friday, February 29, 2008

Barack Obama: "You've done a great job"

Greetings Tarrant Obama Team,

How exciting! Last night Barack Obama paid his first visit to my lifelong home of Fort Worth and received a warm Texas greeting from more than 11,000 cheering supporters. I tell you truthfully that, with the exception of the births of my two wonderful children, I don't recall a more exciting and rewarding experience in my entire life. Thank you so much!

The list of folks who deserve kudos is far too extensive for me to try and cover, but I do want to make a few special mentions.

First, to the more than 250 of you who served as volunteer staff for the event - thank you! We signed up hundreds of new volunteers, Precinct Captains, etc., and distributed thousands of pieces of literature and information that will help us win here in Tarrant and surrounding counties. You will note that the most recent polls show Obama now in a narrow lead but trending strongly, and my analysts tell me that we are doing very well in Tarrant County thanks to all your wonderful efforts.

Secondly, I want to give a special thanks to Terry Ryan, Jimmy DeFoor, Annissa Hubbard and Rebekah Franki, who in a heroic effort managed to create, print, deliver and distribute the 15,000 Texas Two Step push cards in an incredible turn-around time of 36 hours. Wow!

Of course I can't say enough about Hallie Schneir and the incredible team of staffers she has led to such incredible results in just a couple of weeks on the ground. I know that you are all as impressed with these talented, energetic and dedicated young folks as I have been, and I sincerely hope that their introduction to Texas via the greater Fort Worth area is an experience they will always treasure.

There are too many more of you to mention, and we still have a tremendous amount of work to do between now and the close of our precinct conventions Tuesday evening. I am unbelievably sad that I will be out of the country on election night and not be able to be with you at our victory party. Please know that while I will be thousands of miles away, my heart will be with you here in Fort Worth.

In closing, I want you all to recognize that when Barack gave me the unexpected "Shout-Out" last night, it wasn't just for me, but for all of you. And when he shook my hand coming off the stage, looked into my eyes and said, "You've done a great job," that message was for all of you. My role in this has always been small and insignificant. It is you who have done the work that has taken us this far, and it is you who are going to spend the next five days on the phones, walking your neighborhoods, turning out the votes and dominating the precinct conventions to help bring Texas home for Barack.

Now, let's get to it!

Mark Greene/Organizer
Tarrant for Obama
www.tarrantobama.org

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