It’s 8:43 a.m. on Saturday,
April 19 and Patty Fennell
should be exhausted. She has
just flown into to
Philadelphia from San
Antonio the night before, and
she has not had sufficient
time to sit down and recuperate
since her arrival.
But as she enters the
Boilermaker’s Union Hall in
Newportville on this morning,
she is as jubilant as can
be. Sporting a smile that
would make Tom Cruise
stand up and take notice,
Fennell greets every single
person in her vicinity. Most
of these folks display about
half the energy she does.
But Fennell did not fly all
the way to Philadelphia just
to say “hi” to some people in
a union hall. She still has to
walk to the doors of 80
Levittown ranch homes and
convince the people within
these homes that Barack
Obama is worthy of their vote
in the Pennsylvania primary
the following Tuesday.
Fennell and several others
arrive in Pennsylvania on this
particular weekend to lend all
they can to Obama’s cause.
Here at the Boilermaker’s
Union Hall, dozens of Obama
supporters convene to make
calls and canvass the surrounding
area. The targeted
areas are Bensalem and
Levittown, two municipalities
brimming with the bluecollar
voters that both Obama
and Hillary Clinton covet.
Fennell has been teamed up
with Brian Moore, a well
dressed 29-year-old real
estate agent from Princeton.
The pair has been assigned 80
homes in the Cobalt Ridge
section of Levittown. Moore
grabs the keys to his girlfriend’s
white Honda Accord,
and prepares to brave the 85-
degree heat for the next several
hours.
The car, while not very old,
shows signs of heavy use in
the recent campaign. Obama
lawn signs, buttons and pamphlets,
along with a slew of
empty Deer Park bottles, are
strewn about the interior.
Moore admits that he has
practically been living out of
the car in recent weeks.
Moore chuckles as he navigates
his way to the area
Fennell and he must patrol.
“Yea, we just felt like we
needed to pitch in,” Moore
explained with a bemused
look as he turns left onto
Route 413. “[My girlfriend]
and I went to the campaign
office, and we started out in
Doylestown. Then they set
up a Lower Bucks office, and
we volunteered to be coordinators
for that office. So it’s
been pretty crazy.”
Surprisingly, this has been
the University of Maryland
graduate’s first foray into
politics. “My friends have
been really surprised,
because they all think of me
as some kind of jokester or
something. But I really
believe in what Obama says.”
Fennell, on the other hand,
is no stranger to the political
scene. She has been heavily
involved in the public process
for more than 20 years, cutting
her teeth on Jesse
Jackson’s failed presidential
bid. She currently acts as the
Democratic precinct chairperson
for her community. This
is, however, the first time that
Fennell has traveled such a
great distance for the sole
purpose of campaigning.
“After I saw so many people
coming to help in San
Antonio, I thought that I
could surely do the same,”
she said. “I think the
exchange of support is very
important, especially this
year.”
As Moore pulled up to the
curb of Candle Road, the first
street of the day, he handed
Fennell a clipboard with a list
of homes to hit. The campaign
has already zeroed in
on potential supporters, so it
was slightly easier than going
to each door. The two then
split up.
Moore, with his caramel
complexion and lime-green
Burberry polo shirt, looks
slightly uncomfortable
approaching some of the
homeowners on his list, who
would only be caught in lime
green if the Eagles incorporated
the color into their next
jersey. The Levittown residents,
many of whom boasted
large tattoos and Harley tshirts,
knew immediately the
Burgdoff realtor was not one
of them.
Fennell sticks out in her
own way. Clad in a black tshirt
emblazoned with an
image of Barack Obama in
front of the White House, she
has made no attempt to disguise
her purpose in this
neighborhood.
It came as a bit of a shock to
both Moore and Fennell that
the people on their lists were
so willing to debate. The
Cobalt Ridge residents did
not shy away from speaking
about politics in a very personal
way. Moore claims that
this is the first time people
have been so frank with him
since he has been canvassing.
“Most of the people I spoke
to in Newtown or
Doylestown, the more affluent
areas, just agreed with
whatever I was saying,”
Moore claimed. “These people
are willing to debate. It’s
a nice surprise.”
Some issues that many of
these homeowners find
important are gun control,
health care and, not surprisingly,
the economy.
“I’m no policy genius, but
this guy’s promising a whole
lot for the economy, and I
don’t know if I can believe it
all,” one homeowner said.
“I’m a construction foreman.
I know that I can say all I
want to my guys, but if I
don’t get it done, I lose their
respect. I worry about something
like that with Obama.”
Of course, many of the
homeowners had heard all
about Obama’s notorious
“bitter” comment regarding
the working class. Many
were left feeling, well, bitter
about this statement that
seemed to be a shot aimed
directly at their beloved community.
One elderly woman takes
particular exception to his
remarks. “Everyone makes
choices with religion and
other things for very personal
reasons,” she said in an exasperated
tone. “I don’t think
anyone’s holding on to their
beliefs in vain, as he seems to
think.”
Moore and Fennell do an
admirable job of fielding the
questions, and while they are
certainly pressed to clarify
certain issues, the pair does
not experience any real hostility
all morning.
As the heat from the sun
becomes unbearable, lunch
time is a welcome notion.
As she chows down on a
chicken sandwich, Fennell
begins to describe her career.
She began as a music teacher,
and in 1998, was able to open
a charter school, aptly named
the Fennell Center for Arts
and Education. This was one
of the first charter schools in
all of Texas, and opening it
was no easy task.
“The San Antonio city government
makes it tough to
open a charter school,” she
said in between sips of Dr.
Pepper. “With all the taxes, it
wasn’t easy. Luckily, since I
had worked in politics, I
knew people that were able to
pull strings for me. So my
dream came true eventually.”
Moore listens closely, and
the topic then shifts between
the current president and the
FLDS, the Texas polygamist
group garnering all the headlines.
After a brief pause,
Fennell said, “This is why I
like being involved in politics.
I love just getting to talk
to different people and meeting
people I’d never normally
get to meet.”
The pair soon climbed into
the Accord and headed back
to Cobalt Ridge. As it is a
beautiful day by this point,
few homeowners are present.
An on-foot Postal Worker
tells Moore, “Oh, they must
all be down at the Oxford
Valley Mall or something.”
Wherever they may be,
Moore and Fennell leave literature
in many screen doors,
and head back to the
Boilermaker’s Union.
The seemingly indefatigable
Fennell offers to make
phone calls for a few hours,
but Boris Medzhibovsky, the
23-year-old site leader,
laughs. He tells her she’s
done enough for today as he
takes a drag off his
Parliament. After all, she and
Moore have been walking for
nine hours.
Moore reconvenes with his
girlfriend, and for an odd
moment, all is surprisingly
serene.