Clinton Draws Huge Enthusiastic Crowd in Oakland; Obama Opens Headquarters

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Palpable Enthusiasm for Democrats as Clinton Closes Doubleheader

By Frank D. Russo

You will read in today's papers bits and pieces of what Hillary Clinton said to a crowd of 10,000 to 14,000 in Oakland. There will be stories comparing the size of the crowd to the one that Barack Obama drew in February. There will be more written about the fundraisers that Clinton had in the Napa Valley, Atherton, and Diane Feinstein's home in San Francisco.

We'll tell a bit of that story, along with Clinton's schedule today where she will be appearing at Laney College, also in Oakland, to unveil her urban policy agenda with an emphasis on education and crime.

But there is another story out there in the streets that needs to be told--the excitement that Democrats here in Northern California have about the Presidential race and the opportunity to take back the White House. I arrived early to see the opening of the Barrack Obama headquarters in Oakland--only two or so blocks from where Hillary Clinton spoke a few hours later. I wandered through the crowd there and then over to the Clinton side of the street.

At the dividing line--the heart of Oakland's downtown, at 14th and Broadway, as Josh Richman, the political reporter for the Oakland Tribune crossed the street, there were Clinton and Obama supporters with signs and campaign regalia standing next to each other peacefully shouting out to those who were already arriving for the Clinton rally. Richman interviewed them, and they began debating each other with great passion. He later joked that he had done what the press is good at--taking a peaceful situation and turning it into a battle.

I talked with these kids--college kids--and they articulated solid reasons why they were supporting different candidates. For Stuart Balmel, Campus Director of the Stanford Democrats, Hillary Clinton "can hit the ground running and get things done." The young woman standing beside him, a student from the University of California at Berkeley with clipboard in hand, gave him a ribbing for being from Stanford and described Clinton as "the most experienced and realistic of all the candidates."