‘What Are You Going to Do for Barack?’

It’s time for Ohio delegate Terry Carson to pack up his convention signs, his past as a Clinton supporter and a raft of persuasive techniques to use back home—an area skeptical of Democatic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Carson hails from an exurb of Cleveland where even some union Democrats are considering voting for Republican John McCain. So when labor leader Gerald McEntee spoke at an Ohio delegation breakfast this week, Carson garnered tips for appealing to white voters who can’t get past Obama’s skin color.

McEntee’s take: When white working-class voters understand why it’s in their economic interests to elect Obama, race will cease to matter.

“McEntee spoke right to the heart of the issue,” says Carson, 57.

He’ll use McEntee’s angle when he works for Obama’s election this fall, he says, but at the moment—after Obama’s Thursday-night acceptance speech—he and his wife, Janet, can’t resist lingering in INVESCO Field to soak up the last few minutes of the convention.

“What are you going to do for Barack, honey?” asks Janet Carson, also a delegate as well as the county Democratic chairperson.

“Are you kidding? Everything,” Carson responds.

A third delegate walks by, cell phone pressed to his ear, and shouts “ten calls a day!” in response to Janet Carson’s question.

“When the people who leave here go home, those people are going to make such a difference,” Carson says. “I know I’m a much better ambassador for him than I was when I came here.”

The insurance-agency owner keeps handy a list of 500 volunteers, ready to be tapped on short notice for campaign activities. That’s the kind of help Obama will need in Ohio, a battleground state.

And the Carsons are hoping that Obama will do a bus tour through their area so voters can get to know him.

At an Ohio delegation breakfast earlier in the week, former presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio told the delegates that their work this fall will be key to Obama’s chances.

“This whole election is going to come down to Ohio,” he said. “Destiny calls us to the most extraordinary effort we can make.”

Some of that effort must come from delegates like the Carsons, who supported Hillary Clinton. The Carsons were among only 22 Clinton holdouts who cast their delegate votes for the New York senator at the convention, even though she had released them from their obligation.

The Carsons have been involved in politics for decades, but this was their first national convention. Terry Carson says he has absorbed a year’s worth of sensory input this week. He loved the lesser-known speakers who addressed the floor before prime-time coverage began. He relished the multimedia stage displays, the parties, the camaraderie. He hobknobbed with up-and-coming Ohio politicians, knowing he’ll have a leg up when they call on him for campaign help.

“I can’t believe how much fun these conventions are,” he says. “I don’t think I’ll ever miss another one.”