On the Campaign Trail | From Iowa to Texas, spreading Obama's word

Jordan Grossman is willing to put himself into pretty much any situation if it will benefit the Barack Obama campaign.

In South Carolina, the College senior went door-to-door in an impoverished neighborhood. When a car full of young men stopped next to him, glared at him and asked, "Who are you with?" Grossman enthusiastically offered that he was with Obama, going on to convince them to vote in the state's primary the next day.

In New Jersey, he traded his brother's phone number for a promise from a woman more interested in matchmaking than politics to look over the pamphlet he gave her and consider voting for Obama in the primary.

Grossman has now traveled to five states - Iowa, South Carolina, New Jersey, Virginia and Texas - to volunteer with the campaign, for a total of over four weeks since December.

And he doesn't plan to stop there. Now he's looking to Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and if Obama gets the nomination, then Grossman plans to defer the start of law school, where he has already been accepted, in order to continue with the campaign.

Grossman has followed Obama politically since 2003, when he was still a state senator, at the start of his campaign for the Senate. This year, when it came time to commit himself to a candidate for the Democratic nomination, Grossman knew Obama was his choice, and he started volunteering with the campaign in October by making phone calls from school.

"It's very easy to volunteer," he said. "You can just log online, and you have a list and a script, and you can call people. They put a lot of trust in the volunteers."

Grossman spent two weeks of winter break in Iowa City, knocking on doors and educating people about the caucus process. Emily Jakobsen, who worked as a field organizer while Grossman was in Iowa and now works as a political assistant on the campaign, said she was impressed with his commitment, especially in the "freezing cold."

"People like Jordan coming in really help to keep things running smoothly," Jakobsen said.

She added that volunteers are having a true, noticeable impact on the Obama campaign.

"At this point, it's so competitive that the higher volume of phone-calling and door-knocking will help."

On all of his campaign stops, Grossman has learned an important lesson about the power of politics to bring people together.

"It was really eye-opening for [my friend and I], as two kids who are pretty well-off and just really inspired to participate in this guy's campaign, to come down and talk to people who come from a very different background but are touched by the same thing," he said.

In order to help out, volunteers like Grossman must pay for their own travels and sacrifice time usually spent at work or school. But Grossman said it has been worth letting it "take over [his] life."

"It's a good feeling to work for someone you really believe in," he said.

On two occasions in Iowa, Grossman, along with a group of about 15 other volunteers, was able to spend some time with Obama after working at speeches he was giving.

"You could tell he really does believe in the value of volunteers," Grossman said.

Now that the campaigns are looking to the Pennsylvania primary, Grossman and other members of Penn for Obama are vamping up efforts around campus.

For example, he recently went to a high school in Philadelphia and registered over 100 students to vote.

Grossman is happy with the involvement he has seen on campus and among young people across the country.

"Young voters are involved and care, and people who are political elites are respecting the fact that they are part of the political conversation that matters."

And to get more young people involved, Grossman walks around campus with an "Ask me about Obama" pin on his shirt at all times, ready to respond to questions.

"I've always wished someone like this could be a candidate, and I just never thought it was really possible. . [He is] the type of person who will campaign and convince the country that bridging the divide between people is a good thing," he said.

"He is the kind of candidate that I think a lot of people wait their whole lives for."

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