It Takes Only One to Get the Grassroots Growing

APWU member John Windle has been hard at work, boosting Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign as the important May 6 Indiana primary approaches.

Noting that his state has never been so crucial to a modern nomination battle, the Indianapolis Area Local member said, “I just didn’t want to let this opportunity pass without trying to amplify my voice.”

Windle, a Bulk Mail Technician, said he began his volunteer work for Obama in early February, after Super Tuesday results indicated that a protracted nomination battle was likely, and that Indiana voters like him could make a real difference in selecting the Democratic nominee.

“A candidate with a message I believe in was running in my state,” he said, “and I figured that if I could register even one voter who wouldn’t have voted, then I’ve doubled my vote. That’s the essence of grassroots action.”

Long before the Obama campaign began field operations, Windle hit the streets, talking about his favorite candidate to hundreds of people at colleges and churches, and while going-door-to-door. He registered more than 150 new voters — and persuaded others to volunteer.

Since the April 7 voter-registration deadline, Windle has joined a crew of Obama volunteers canvassing his community, and has taken part in campaign rallies and other get-out-the-vote activities.

Windle reports that he finds the Obama campaign empowering. “It’s a ground-up, rather than a top-down operation,” he said. “A volunteer campaign we organized ourselves was registering voters and talking to people for many weeks before the national campaign arrived here. They were thrilled with what we already had in place.”

“It’s been great to meet all the national staffers from around the country, especially the young kids that are going from state to state,” Windle said.

The political activist has been selected as a delegate to Indiana’s state Democratic Convention in June, and he hopes to be elected as an Obama delegate to the party’s national convention in August.