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http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=47053.49

[/quote]1/8/2008 10:24:00 AM
Working For History?
Michigan City natives volunteer for Obama campaign in Iowa, now watching New Hampshire primary.

Dave Hawk
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Brothers Michael and Patrick Bergerson will follow the news from New Hampshire tonight with particular interest.

The brothers, who grew up here and graduated from Marquette High School, are hoping for another Barack Obama victory in today's New Hampshire Democratic primary.

The two had volunteered for him last week in Iowa.

"I'll be really glued to the TV," said Michael Bergerson Jr., 26, a law school student at Loyola University in Chicago. He used part of his Christmas break to work for Obama in Des Moines. "I think it's going to be another really good day for Obama," he said Monday.

Patrick Bergerson, 22, a senior at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., also will be following the results closely, after watching first-hand last week as history was made in Iowa.

"It was an awesome experience," Patrick said. "The most memorable moment was getting to meet Barack Obama. That was definitely awe-inspiring. It was 11:30 at night, and you would have thought he would be too tired to talk to reporters or to us, but we talked about playing basketball and he joked about how he thought we were bodyguards" for their aunt, Mary Ann Ahern.

Ahern is a reporter for NBC5 in Chicago, who brought her nephews along when she interviewed him the night before the caucuses.

"He was looking up at us," Michael said about the candidate, who is 6-feet, 1 1/2 inches tall. The Bergerson brothers, who played basketball at Marquette, are both 6-foot-5. "We talked about having a game of pickup basketball, but he said we were a little too young for him."

The Bergersons said they had talked about working for Obama for several months. When they first got involved, Obama was trailing in the polls. By the time the caucus votes were counted Thursday, he received 38 percent of the vote, besting rivals John Edwards and Hillary Clinton.

The win catapulted Obama to the forefront, with many pundits saying the Illinois senator may be unstoppable in his quest for the party's presidential nomination if he repeats his victory tonight.

Both Bergersons remarked at how genuine and friendly Obama was.

"He couldn't have been nicer. He was talkative, relaxed and he seemed pretty confident," Michael said. "After a rally he would stick around and shake hands for a half hour. He was really nice and was happy to take a picture with us."

Patrick said he felt the growing support for Obama at rallies.

"The level of excitement in the crowd gave you a good feeling."

One of the things that impressed both the brothers was how well organized the Obama campaign was.

"We showed up on Sunday morning (Dec. 30) at the volunteer headquarters and everything was ready for us, a packet of campaign materials. We got our training over the phone," Michael said. "Most of the work was door-to-door, and phone calls after dark. We put up signs, did data entry after we finished each day, helped the staff at rallies at schools. We were really impressed that as soon as we walked in they had something ready for us."

The campaign, which had been working in Iowa since spring, had narrowed its list of targeted voters, identifying potential supporters. The volunteers' job was to make sure those people got to the caucuses, arranging rides and child care if necessary. And at the caucuses, they gathered the numbers and called them in to Obama headquarters.

"You could tell he really appreciated the volunteers," Michael said. At one rally, he made a point of recognizing his field organization, "calling them by name and giving them high fives and hugs. It was pretty impressive," he said.

For Patrick, the pinnacle of the experience was being in the same room as Obama gave his victory speech last Thursday. "It was very inspiring. This was all an awesome experience."

Michael, who has worked for U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky of Merrillville in Washington, D.C., and who has worked on other political campaigns, admitted he didn't feel star struck.

"I see him as a regular person," Michael said. But he also said, "It's always nice to say you met the president."

The Bergerson brothers met President Bill Clinton when he came to Michigan City when their mother, Sheila Brillson, was mayor. Michael was a high school freshman at the time.

"That was pretty special for us," he said. With Hillary Clinton being knocked from her front-runner spot by Obama, he sees Obama a lot like Bill Clinton as one of those people who makes a big impact on others.

"He likes to say that people tell him the same thing they told Bill Clinton, that he's too young, too inexperienced and has no foreign policy experience," Michael said.

While continuing his studies in law school, Michael also will manage the campaign of his father, Michael Bergerson. He is seeking the Democratic nomination for judge of La Porte Superior Court 1 in the May primary.

"They're really great kids and their friends are, too," their father said. The brothers spend time here and with their mother, who now lives in Bellingham, Wash.



Contact Dave Hawk at dhawk@thenewsdispatch.com[quote]