From a quarter of admonishment and people commenting "What are you doing working for Kerry?" to emails that continue to congradulate me for being part of the Kerry team - unbelieveable.
As we were watching the polls prior to the Iowa caucus - we were amazed at the growth of the stats - showing JK's increasing popularity in Iowa. My biggest concern was the vaunted "labor support" and 3,500 volunteers that Team Dean had brought out. But even as the entrance polls said we had a lead, I still wondered what would actually happen. When we came out with a 20 point lead above HD - it was unbelieveable. We were astounded and excited.
After CNN announced their choice of JK as the winner, a group of us came back to the National HQ to watch the post-caucus analysis and get ready for the outbound site issues. What was the most amazing thing was when JK, in the midst of his speech, said "JohnKerry.com" -- our entire team bounced up and cheered -- finally, on national television, he had fit in the website into a speech. We did not hear the next three minutes of the speech, we were so excited. What happened next was amazing -- as the load on our contribution engine ballooned through the roof -- which caused us to engage the backup server and capture our donations with both systems. It was unbeliveable -- after four months of building -- the system worked incredible well -- and we had the most successful night of the campaign.
The rest has been something of public record -- we hit $250,000 with online donations as of noon the next day -- a short 12 hours after the announcement. We hit $500,000 after more than 24 hours -- and the numbers keep rolling. Emails generate tremendous response -- and people that would not reply to emails are now excited to communicate and offer their support.
I wonder if the Edwards campaign feels a similar way - with their hard work finally being recognized as well. And one thing that was incredibly touching -- when Congressman Gephardt spoke on national television and announced his decision, this hardened team of people in our office went incredibly quiet and was almost reverant. He is a terrific person and an incredible congressman -- and a terrific competitor. We are better people for his involvement in this campaign.
Myself -- I find that I am up at 2am working on the next volunteer email -- prepping for New Hampshire. This is going to be an incredible race -- one in which we are making a difference. Only casualty I have had recently is the fact I could not be at Decom in London this evening -- whcih sounded wonderful. I so look forward to the photos that someone took.
