Obama campaign a ‘labor of love,’ Jackie Norris says

Jackie Norris laughs at the attention she and her husband, John, have been getting lately.

John and Jackie Norris at Invesco Field in Denver during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

“I love the fact that [The Des Moines Register] called us a ‘power couple,’ because at six o’clock in the morning the kids still wake us up and we change poopy diapers,” she said.

For two years Norris worked to elect Barack Obama president, first as a senior adviser during the Iowa Caucuses, then as his state director for the general election. Now she’s heading to Washington to serve as chief of staff to the country’s new First Lady, Michelle Obama.

But this isn’t Norris’ first go round in politics. She served as political director on Vice President Al Gore’s 2000 Iowa Caucus campaign and as finance director of Tom Vilsack’s 1998 gubernatorial bid. She worked in Washington, D.C., for 7 years on Capitol Hill, in the White House as a scheduler for Vice President Gore and at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

While it’s still unclear what her husband’s plans are, he’s no stranger to Democratic politics, either. He is a former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, a one-time Congressional candidate and was chief of staff to Gov. Tom Vilsack. He currently serves as chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board.

In a phone interview with the Iowa Independent conducted before the announcement of her new job, Jackie Norris talked about what it was like to be a part of the historic campaign that elected America’s first black president, what lessons can be learned from the organization and what the future may hold for the political couple who got engaged at the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

IOWA INDEPENDENT: What was it about Sen. Obama that motivated you to get so involved in the campaign?

JACKIE NORRIS: I had worked in politics and government, but in 2000 I decided to go into teaching. So I was teaching government to high school seniors.  I’ll never forget that moment when Sen. Obama had just come around on his book tour and there was a lot of excitement about him and all my students came in and wanted to talk about him and wanted to learn more about him. At that point, as a teacher, I saw interest and optimism that I hadn’t seen in the past in my students.  Young people are cynics, so I was pretty happy that they were getting excited about a presidential candidate.

II: How did you get directly involved in the campaign?

JN: A couple of people I worked with in the Gore campaign approached me to talk about Sen. Obama. At first I was teaching and had three little kids, so I thought it really wasn’t my time to get involved. But as I thought about it, I realized these opportunities only come up once in a lifetime. If I can change the way things are done I’ll be a good role model for my kids to show them that you have to stand up for what you believe in.

II: Sen. Obama’s success was never a foregone conclusion, but was there a time during the campaign where you began to realize that he might actually win?

JN: Well, I have to be honest. I’m one of those people who is an eternal optimist. I think from the get go I always knew that if we had a great field program and a great ground campaign, and orient the campaign differently than presidential campaigns of the past in terms of how we empower people and include people, we could win. I felt we had the plan and it was just a matter of execution.

Early on people saw something in Sen. Obama that they didn’t see in the other candidates. There was this energy in the campaign that was amazing. The field organizers brought Sen. Obama to activists across the state. They deserve a lot of the credit for bringing him and his message to people around Iowa who didn’t know him. That’s what we relied on –- that grassroots structure.

II: How different was the Obama campaign from other presidential campaigns in Iowa?

JN: I think our campaign learned from past candidates that hadn’t won, quite honestly.  Number one, we realized early on that it was really important to bring offices and field organizers to counties that typically didn’t see that activity in the past. It’s sort of that adage “If you build it, they will come.” What we found is that if you have an office there and staff there, there is a way for people to get involved. It’s tangible and it’s easy.

The second thing we did was we really have a policy-based discussion. That’s how we started the caucus campaign. Sen. Obama didn’t have every single plan immediately, so we were able to have conversations with staff and experts from all around the country, to talk to Iowans about the issues, and that helped shape our policy. As a result, when people left the table they walked away feeling invested in the ideas.

The third thing was our outreach organization. Past campaigns have done it, but we did it to a pretty in depth level. Outreach to college campuses. Outreach to African Americans. We went into rural communities.

The last thing is that we had fun. Not that other campaigns haven’t done that, but the nature of our candidate and his spouse, some of the things we did were more fun and light and empowering.

II: How crazy was your life in the days, weeks and months leading up to Election Day?

JN: I am a mother of three, so there already aren’t enough hours in the day. I think it’s safe to say I didn’t sleep as much and the hours were pretty chaotic. But the managerial philosophy I’ve learned over time is that you empower people and delegate to people, and that’s the way they learn how to be better at what they do. So I worked hard, but not harder than people like a precinct captain in Adel who worked to win their precinct for Barack Obama.

II: What effect do you think the Obama campaign will have on future campaigns, especially here in Iowa?

JN: I think Iowa is disappointed that more legislative candidates and candidates like Becky Greenwald didn’t win, that we didn’t see more of a coattail effect for down ballot candidates. The lesson learned is that in the counties where the Democrats weren’t organized before they realized that when they pool their efforts and work together they could actually get something done. I think what we’ve done is come in and be the catalyst for local political organizations. My hope is that once we leave they will still be energized and motivated for the next thing, whether that is a school board, a county auditor or a statehouse candidate.

II: But why weren’t the Obama coattails longer in Iowa?

JN: Iowans are notoriously independent. I also think that a lot of the people who voted were new voters and while we educated them enough to get them out to support the president they need to now be educated about the down ballot races. Not to say we didn’t do that, because I think we did see gains. But I think no one should assume voters would vote straight-ticket Democrat just because they turned out for a Democratic presidential candidate. The state and local parties need to continue to reach out to those voters in the future.

II: The Des Moines Register referred to you and your husband as “Iowa’s new power couple,” and there have been lots of reports mentioning both of you for jobs in the new administration. What’s your reaction to the attention you’re getting from the campaign’s success?

JN: Well, it’s exciting to work on something so hard and be recognized for your work. It’s important to point out that even if my name is on the top of the food chain, so many people worked so hard on this campaign. Sure, seeing your name in the paper is nice, and I love the fact that they called us a “power couple” because at six o’clock in the morning the kids still wake us up and we change poopy diapers.

II: Your husband was a big part of John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign (he served as national field director). Now you’ve played a big role in Obama’s 2008 campaign. Has this become a family tradition for you every four years?

JN: I think it’s safe to say John and I have run our course on presidential campaigns. This was a labor of love for me born out of a lot of passion and energy. So I’m excited about what I did, but to think that we’d do this again, and I can’t speak for John on this, but I have had my fair share of presidential campaigns.

II: You two actually got engaged at a presidential convention, is that right?

JN: Yep, it was at the 2000 convention in Los Angeles.

II: So this really is a political couple.

JN: Yeah, every time we think we’re getting away from it, somehow we get pulled back in. But I think we’re both pretty anxious to step away for a bit. We’ve got kids in public school; we’ve got local issues around our house, like Rice Field, that we’re really passionate about. I hope everybody who was so active in the Obama campaign now turns around and looks for ways to make a difference locally. There is a lot to be done in our communities.