MONTPELIER, Vt.—A U.S. Representative from Illinois was in Vermont Saturday stumping for the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama and motivating campaign volunteers for the push to Tuesday's primary election.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Janice Schakowsky, from the Chicago suburb of Evanston, worked with Obama in the Illinois General Assembly before they both went on to serve in Washington.
"Barack Obama, even then I was able to see the kind of magic that he does bringing people together," said Schakowsky, who was first elected to Congress in 1998. "He took on, not the easy issues, in the General Assembly where he was serving as a Democrat in a Republican majority Senate: The tough issues like the death penalty racial profiling, like increasing, more money, for health care for children in Illinois."
Schakowsky's visit came a day after Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, campaigned in the Burlington area. The Clinton campaign in Vermont also had visits in the last few days from Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Carol Browner.
Vermont is one of four states holding a primary election on Tuesday. It's the first time in recent memory that the nomination has still be in question by the time of Vermont's Town Meeting Day vote.
Most of the attention in the Democratic presidential race on Tuesday has been focused on the big states of Ohio and Texas. But the Democratic candidates are also seeking the 15 Vermont delegates at stake.
Both the Obama and Clinton campaigns are launching their get-out-the-vote efforts over the weekend, with volunteers staffing phone banks and knocking on doors.
Schakowsky said that some of the voters she'd met with Saturday had particular policy questions, but most people were making their decision based on which candidate was the most electable.
"I think that that's an easy case for Barack Obama," she said. "If you look at the kind of coalitions that he's built in states around the country, everywhere, including independents and disenchanted Republicans, we feel that it's pretty clear that Barack Obama is the one (who) can win the general election."
Schakowsky said she spent part of the morning Saturday knocking on doors and meeting with voters. She helped motivate a group of about 80 Obama volunteers headed out to do canvassing across the state. Saturday afternoon Schakowsky and Vermont's U.S. Rep. Peter Welch attended a house party in Williston with about 50 people, said Obama Vermont spokesman Ted Brady.
"We've gotten a great response," Schakowsky said. "This is a great day for grass roots organizing."
