Obama camp opens Bozeman office

By Daniel Person Chronicle Staff Writer

The Obama campaign announced Tuesday that it is opening an office in Bozeman in the Baxter Hotel, one of five in the state that will be a hub for volunteers and staffers leading up to the state primary June 3.

AP Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., speaks at the Communication Workers of America legislative conference in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. Last week, the Obama campaign announced it was opening offices in Missoula and Helena. Along with the Bozeman office, offices in Billings and Great Falls have also been opened.

Volunteers said work began Friday to make a place where they could make phone calls, organize canvassing campaigns and otherwise prepare for the Democratic primary race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in Montana.

“The key is to get the neighborhood involved,” said Nathan Schulfer, who is directing the campaign’s canvassing n going door-to-door to talk to voters about Obama - in southwestern Montana. “Neighbors talking neighbors into getting involved in the campaign.”

In recent weeks, both campaigns have turned their attention to Montana. Former President Bill Clinton made four stops in the state last week, followed by appearances by his wife and Obama over the weekend.

With neither candidate able to lock down enough delegates to secure the party’s nomination, late-primary states like Montana are enjoying influence unmatched in recent history. And Montana’s primary keeps getting later, relatively.

The National Democratic Party said in March that Puerto Rico’s June 7 primary was a typo and should have read June 1. That makes Montana, along with South Dakota, the last primary of the year.

Montana Democratic spokesman Kevin O’Brien said the switch is good for Montana Democrats, arguing that this year, earlier is not better.

“A lot of years, that logic works. But that doesn’t work this year,” he said. “The later you go, the bigger role you are going to play.

Matt Chandler, a spokesman for the Obama Campaign, said they decided soon after arriving in Montana that they would open an office in Bozeman, given that “there was a lot of support coming out of the Bozeman area.”

Chandler said offices like Bozeman’s have been a major part of Obama’s campaign thus far, focusing on drumming up grassroots support for the Illinois Senator.

“While this campaign is based on many, many diverse people in many, many different locations, these local offices offer an opportunity for local people to learn about the senator,” Chandler said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton supporters are hinting that the New York Senator might be making another visit to Montana, with Bozeman on her itinerary.

State Sen. and Clinton supporter Carol Williams, D-Missoula, said those working for the campaign in Montana are hoping for another visit and preparing recommendations for where Clinton should go n including Bozeman.

Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna, who is working on Clinton’s Montana campaign, said only that he and others “hope they both (Hillary and Bill Clinton) return before the June primary.”

McKenna said local offices are forthcoming from the campaign, but could not say when or where those offices will be.

He noted, though, that the Clintons’ visits last week should indicate that they will fight for Montana’s 17 delegates.

“I think the fact that the campaign has gone to places like Havre shows a statewide commitment,” he said.

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