Doyle's appearance took place at the local Obama headquarters, which resembles an old garage. Old cans of paint and pieces of wood were pushed aside and a donated podium set up, with Obama signs taped to the walls behind it. Arian Gulick, a 30-year-old Obama supporter and volunteer, said the building is symbolic of the grassroots campaign that got Obama this far. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and his wife served as Peace Corps Volunteers in Tunisia in the 1960's.
Doyle stumps locally for Obama in North Carolina
Wis. governor stumps locally for Obama
By Patrick Gannon,
Staff Writer
Published: Friday, April 4, 2008 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, April 4, 2008 at 11:47 a.m.
It's not too often the governor of a northern state comes to Wilmington to campaign.
But it's also not too often that North Carolina matters this late in presidential primary season.
Presidential politics penetrated the Port City on Thursday, as Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle campaigned for Sen. Barack Obama on the second day of Doyle's two-day swing across the state. Doyle was among the first governors to endorse Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Doyle said he woke up Thursday morning in a Raleigh hotel and found a copy of USA Today, which featured a story about the N.C. presidential primary on May 6. The article referred to the primary as "a pivotal final showdown between Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton."
"You're all going to have a lot of fun the next 30 days, I'll tell ya," Doyle told about 40 Obama supporters gathered at an old art building at 511 N. 3rd St., Obama's Wilmington headquarters. The supporters included Wilmington City Councilman Ron Sparks and New Hanover Board of Education member Nick Rhodes.
With its high-tech and agricultural industries and its coastal and mountain regions, the state is an appropriate place for one of the most important Democratic primaries, Doyle said.
"For North Carolina to move front and center in this historic campaign is your opportunity to do something great, not only for North Carolina, but for the entire United States," he said.
Doyle also took the opportunity to continue his two-day rant against Clinton, whom he said has overstated her record on health care for members of the military.
"Hillary continues to make a claim that National Guard members and reservists didn't have insurance until she gave it to them," Doyle said. "It's an exaggeration trying to make her a champion of something. She just doesn't deserve it."
Clinton's North Carolina campaign office didn't immediately return calls seeking a response to Doyle's comments.
Doyle's appearance took place at the local Obama headquarters, which resembles an old garage. Old cans of paint and pieces of wood were pushed aside and a donated podium set up, with Obama signs taped to the walls behind it. Arian Gulick, a 30-year-old Obama supporter and volunteer, said the building is symbolic of the grassroots campaign that got Obama this far.
"You don't have to have the fanciest place in the world to hear about issues that are important," he said.
But some Obama volunteers and campaign staffers cringed when the Wisconsin governor needed to use the bathroom before he spoke and entered the headquarters' makeshift bathroom.
"This is politics at the basic level," Doyle joked after his speech. "That's definitely the finest campaign restroom I've seen."
Patrick Gannon: 343-2328
patrick.gannon@starnewsonline.com
