In the lobby of the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel on Monday evening, Scranton, throngs of middle-aged women preen in smart black cocktail dresses, emboldened here and there with an emerald shrug or a chartreuse taffeta wrap - “wearin’’ o’ the green” in a post-Project Runway world. Some drink whiskey sours and discuss the latest Ken Follett novel as possible fodder for their book clubs. In the air hangs festivity, frivolity and not a little bemusement; for the one subject largely undiscussed is the unprecedented and still slightly unbelievable presence of Senator Barack Obama, who will be addressing the five hundred-odd dinner guests—the only one of the three major Presidential candidates who responded to the hopeful invitation issued by this social and charitable organization only a decade old.
“This is our tenth anniversary dinner,” said member Jennifer Lynett. “We decided to get together as women to take this as our time to network, but we’re open to all people. We have men in the organization, as well as people of Italian, Jewish, any descent...we stand for the betterment of women. We don’t put our weight behind anyone politically, but by getting together like this we empower our members both politically and socially.”
This event marks the official beginning of Senator Obama’s campaigning in Northeastern Pennsylvania; his official headquarters opened on Wyoming Avenue just this afternoon. One of the main campaign organizers was Honesdale resident Wes Tudor, who canvassed for the politician during the St. Patrick’s Day parade and was in front of the hotel with supporters all night.
“I’ve been campaigning in my local area for a few months already,” said Tudor. “It’s great to have the communication with the national organization. It really feels like things are getting going now.”
Though no one at the event was able to speak about the possibility of future events, this could be the first of many visits in a campaign which a few days ago seemed poised to leave the Keystone State to Senator Hillary Clinton, who according to a Quinnipiac University phone poll has a twelve-point lead over the Illinois senator. Yet, speaking to the assembled men and women, some of whom carried green and white “O’Bama” signs (and a few of whom wore Hillary ‘08) buttons, his choice of venue starts to make a canny kind of sense.
“If you think about it, Barack is speaking to a crowd who are pretty much everything he’s not,” says Maryann Harrington, a teacher and speech coach at Pocono Mountain School District who attended the dinner. And she had a point. According to Quinnipiac, Senator Obama trails Senator Clinton among women, among whites, and among those over 45. In other words, the Senator was speaking to a group of voters completely outside his most popular demographic.
