Dems set up offices, prepare for battle

With one candidate’s Pittsburgh office up and running and another’s on the verge of opening,… With one candidate’s Pittsburgh office up and running and another’s on the verge of opening, the Democratic presidential campaigns are out of the gates in Pittsburgh.

Though both Democratic candidates’ state headquarters are located in Philadelphia, both Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have campaign offices in Pittsburgh.

Obama’s office opened March 11 and is located at 208 N. Highland Ave. in East Liberty, while Clinton’s campaign will launch its official opening as early as next week and is already operating phone banks out of its headquarters at 213 Smithfield St.

Both offices will depend heavily on volunteers, and Pitt students have already been actively working with the candidates’ Pittsburgh offices.

Pitt student Lissa Geiger, who began Students for Hillary Clinton and is president of the College Democrats, started working with other Pitt students Downtown before the Ohio and Texas primaries two weeks ago and has gotten buttons and stickers and other campaign materials from there.

“We’re definitely planning on doing more phone banking there,” Geiger said.

But for now, all of the Clinton campaign efforts, as well as the efforts of the Pittsburgh Obama campaign, are focused on getting voters registered before the deadline on Monday.

“We’re putting a lot of focus out on voter registration,” Kristen Lee, spokesperson for Clinton’s Pittsburgh campaign, said.

“We’re encouraging independents and Republicans who support Hillary to re-register in this historic campaign.”

Lee also said the campaign has seen a lot of momentum in Pittsburgh so far through grassroots campaigns and that students have been a big part of that here as well as in other states.

“I think that college students recognize that Hillary has the experience to bring about the change students want to see, making college affordable, improving student loans, curbing global warming or improving the economy,” she said.

She added the most important way students can get involved is by going door to door, by telling people they know why they support Clinton and by making phone calls.

In the Obama camp, Pittsburgh spokeswoman Allison Price also said the office is actively welcoming young people, as well as independents and Republicans, to work with the staff.

“The unifying factor [of the Obama campaign] has been a desire to bring the country together and achieve a real change in Washington together,” she said.

Pitt Students for Obama has also been working closely with the city office.

“I know the headquarters is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and they’re always welcoming volunteers to work in the phone banks,” said Pitt student Sarah Posner, the group’s organizer.

“We’ll definitely be sending people into the office so they can volunteer alongside official Obama staff and help the senator get elected.”

So far, all of the three leading candidates have campaigned in Pennsylvania, but Clinton has been the only one to visit Pittsburgh.

In total, Clinton has 10 regional campaign offices statewide. Obama has 25.

Republican candidate Sen. John McCain’s schedule is booked with events in California, Nevada and other western states until early April, and his office could not be reached about what efforts, if any, the campaign is focusing on Pittsburgh.