Obama supporter turns talents to grass-roots politics

Obama delegate Kim Whittaker, with her family, from left, son Nick, 12, husband Greg Papazian, and son Mitchell, 9, found that her business talents converted to useful political skills.

WINCHESTER - From her experience founding and running a successful consumer exposition business, Kim Whittaker came to realize her abilities as a marketer.

"I feel I have a kind of natural skill to convey my enthusiasm to other people," said the mother of two.

In recent years, Whittaker, who sold her business in 1999, has transferred those marketing smarts to politics as a volunteer for Democratic candidates and causes. It's a path that led her this week to the Democratic National Convention as a Seventh Congressional District delegate pledged to Barack Obama.

Whittaker, who earned her delegate seat by outpacing six other Obama backers at a caucus last April, said she is thrilled to be attending her first national political conclave.

"After I was elected, I started to realize what an incredible honor this was," she said before leaving for Denver last week. "Out of all the interested and engaged Democrats who are Obama supporters, I was going to be one of the several thousand to go to Denver and cast my vote for the man who will be the next president of the United States and the first African-American [president]. It gives me the chills."

The Democrats end their convention today; the Republicans begin theirs in Minneapolis-St. Paul Monday.

Sharing Whittaker's excitement this week is her husband, Greg Papazian, and their sons Mitchell, 9, and Nick, 12, who like her friends and political cohorts have been following her convention experiences through a delegate blog she is maintaining (barackdelegate.com).

"I'm really glad she's a delegate because she works very hard at this kind of stuff," said Nick. "She's doing something to help the country and make it a better place."

A trip with her sons to an ice-cream shop in Lexington several weeks ago brought home to Whittaker the importance of the cause she is promoting. Noticing that their teenage server sported an Obama T-shirt, she told him she was an Obama delegate, and he "literally dropped the ice-cream scoop and said, 'No way! That's awesome!' " she said.

Both the server and another boy who overheard them treated her like a celebrity.

"As I was walking out, I said to my boys, 'This is a candidate that is getting people engaged, and that's one of the reasons I'm so supportive of him,' " said Whittaker. "He's inspiring people."

Just 10 years ago, Whittaker could hardly have imagined she might one day attend a national convention. During much of the 1980s and 1990s, the South Shore native focused on her career, giving little thought to politics.

Working at Boston's World Trade Center starting in 1984, she managed a private club for businesses and helped produce events. In 1991, she left to start her own company. Initially a home-office business with an investment of less than $2,000, it grew to a $2 million-a-year enterprise with annual expositions in six major cities, including Boston.

Since selling the business, Whittaker has done consulting work, including assisting the Lesley Ellis School in Arlington with its fund-raising efforts.

She first thought about politics during the 2000 presidential race.

"Once you are a parent, you start focusing a little more on decisions being made and how they affect your family and your children," she said.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, deepened her interest.

"I realized there was a lot I didn't know, a lot I didn't understand" about the world, she said. "I felt I had been remiss; I wasn't paying attention."

But it was not until she listened to then-presidential candidate Howard Dean in 2003 that she was motivated to get involved. Whittaker found Dean's arguments against the Iraq war compelling, prompting her to drop her previous support of the invasion. That led to her involvement in his campaign, whetting her appetite for grass-roots politics.

"I realized how important it was for me to be with people who shared my core beliefs and values," she said.

In addition to helping Dean's and later John Kerry's presidential bids, Whittaker became active with Winchester Area Democracy in Action, a group opposed to the reelection of President George W. Bush. She organized a successful WADA fund-raiser for a national progressive group, America Coming Together.

"I was starting to realize how . . . the skills that I have can really make a difference in politics," she said.

Whittaker became a volunteer in Deval Patrick's 2006 gubernatorial campaign, doing field organizing and advance work for his community meetings. Last fall, she signed on as a volunteer for Obama.

"I saw him as being someone who could unify, inspire, and bring out the best in everybody," said Whittaker, who is on Obama's New England steering committee.

Gloria Legvold, a fellow Winchester Democratic activist, said Whittaker has taken well to politics.

"She's one of those persons who just reads a million things on the Internet, in newspapers," Legvold said. "She's incredibly well-informed and very articulate. . . . She has a fine sense of politics for a person who really is very new to it. I think she's surprised by the passion she feels for this."

Whittaker, whose other interests include overseeing family building projects and traveling with her family, said she has come to see the importance of political action.

"There was a time I didn't understand the relevance of politics," she said. "Now I do everything I can to make sure people are registered, informed, and get to the polls. I just want people to be engaged and make smart decisions."