Something Just Clicked

Linnie Frank Bailey, an Obama delegate from California's 44th District, strolls the grounds of the state capitol in Sacramento with husband Greg Bailey. (Michael Rondou - For The Washington Post)

"Everyone looks at black voters who've supported Obama and says, 'Oh, they're voting for him because he's black.' Well, yeah, we're proud. But there are a lot of black politicians that black people don't support," she says.

When Bailey saw that Obama had a profile on Eons.com, a MySpace for baby boomers, she "friended" him. (She's one of his 290 friends on the site.) To help fight the false online rumors that Obama is a Muslim, she signed up on FaithBase.com, a Facebook for Christians, and created a group called Mustard Seeds. Even a mustard seed, the popular parable goes, can move mountains. The group has 97 members.

And months ago, when pundits declared Sen. Hillary Clinton the front-runner and she was dismayed that her black friends preferred Clinton to Obama because they believed she had a better chance of winning, she fired off an e-mail with this subject line: "If not now . . . when?"

"Maybe you think he can't win, or that the race is already decided," she wrote. "But the real question is -- does Barack Obama deserve our support?"

On June 25, around the time of the month when money is tight, she decided to give $10 to Obama online. Five months later, she gave $5.20; she made $520 that month and donated 1 percent of it. Then came another $10 donation. Ten, she says, is a reasonable figure -- not too little, not too much -- and all she could afford. In total, she's given $55.20.

"I'm not rich. I'm just a working mom. I knew from the beginning that my contribution wouldn't be financial."

Into the 'Whirlwind'

One Saturday morning in early November, she drove 30 minutes north to attend a Camp Obama meeting at a storefront church. She had read about the event online. Organized by Obama staffers, Camp Obama is Politics 101 for volunteers, where they learn the value of phone-banking, the goals of precinct captains and how to register new voters. About 25 people attended -- young and old, black, white and Latino. When she introduced herself to the group, "Hi, I'm Linnie," a few recognized her name.

She left the meeting tasked by Obama staffers as the "area coordinator" in charge of Corona. Working with Jose Medina, 55, the area coordinator in nearby Riverside, she scheduled an informal meeting of those from the two cities at a Barnes & Noble the following Wednesday. She posted it on BarackObama.com. They expected 10 people. About 20 showed up.

After the meeting, Medina, a fixture in the local political scene who teaches Chicano studies at Riverside Polytechnic High School, suggested they run as Obama delegates for the convention. She agreed. Outside the bookstore, they shook hands on it.

The period between December and February was, in Bailey's words, "a complete whirlwind." She was so effective in organizing meetings, attending rallies and networking that Jocelyn Anderson, an Obama staffer overseeing southern California, asked Bailey to be a "regional field organizer." "Here's the thing about Linnie," Anderson says. "She was always on overdrive and she never said no."

Suddenly, Bailey wasn't just responsible for Corona but for all of Congressional District 44, which stretches from San Clemente to Riverside. And, at the urging of the campaign, Medina and Bailey started looking for office space in Riverside.

Medina spotted a site: a small, drab, 500-square-foot building in downtown Riverside with working phones but no bathroom. The price: $500 for about a month. But with Medina leaving for Iowa to volunteer for Obama, Bailey was left to raise the money. She worked the phones, which led to a call on New Year's Day to Louis Davis, a regional manager for an electrical company. Davis gave her $500. When Bailey met the building's landlord, Ian Davidson, an Obama supporter who is part of a prominent Republican family in town, he ended up donating the use of a larger but long-unused 10,000-square-foot building on the same lot. A few days later, Obama Riverside, as the office was called, opened its doors.