Recognizing Obstacles, Feeling Optimistic

Florida delegate Joyce Cusack can name her life’s highlights: welcoming the births of her children and grandchildren, taking the oath of office to be a state lawmaker, receiving the hood symbolizing her doctorate degree. Now Cusack has another entry on that select list: seeing fellow African American Barack Obama make history by becoming a presidential nominee.

“Only in America,” Cusack says, her voice cracking as she recounts the dramatic moment when the convention approved Obama by acclamation Wednesday night.

A political pro like Cusack knows how heavily conventions are scripted, yet she still sweated out the roll call of states that preceded Obama’s nomination. Her main concern: How many Hillary Clinton delegates would put the hard-fought primary behind them and switch their loyalty to Obama?

Cusack had felt the tension in Florida delegation meetings and other convention events all week.

“Have you ever walked into a room and it’s kind of cold? It’s not the warm, loving feeling you get from a united family,” she says.

But when Clinton herself ended the roll call of states to move that Obama be nominated by acclamation, it touched Cusack’s heart and eased her anxiety.

Cusack leaves the convention optimistic about Obama’s chances despite his challenges in her home state and even her backyard. She lives in a Central-Florida corridor that is key to carrying the state, which in turn is one of the battleground states that could determine the presidency.

Republican John McCain, a Vietnam vet and former POW, benefits from the heavy military affiliations of Florida voters. And Obama will have to win over some Floridians who resist his appeal, whether due to skin color or his brief four years in national-level politics.

But even as Cusack ticks off these obstacles, her phone rings with news from back home: Obama might come to her county to campaign in September. Such a visit could make a difference, she says.

Obama declined to campaign in Florida during the primary season because the state’s early election violated party rules. That means many Floridians haven’t had a chance to get to know him yet.

“If he comes often enough and talks to people enough who fear him,” Cusack says, “then I think they’ll be willing to accept him and vote for him.”

At one convention lunch, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois told the Florida delegates that if they merely stuff campaign signs into their luggage and head home, they will “blow it.” Durbin urged them to wake up Saturday morning thinking about all they can do to help Obama. 

Cusack is ready. She’s finishing the last of the eight years in the state legislature that Florida law allows. So all her phone banking, door-to-door appeals and public speaking this fall will be for Obama and local Democrats.

“I’ll be as active in his campaigns as I’ve been in mine,” she vows.

Cusack ran the first of those campaigns without any elected experience, winning in a district with only 10 percent minorities. It’s a lesson in how far her country has come and, she hopes, where it’s going.