Clinton and Obama Duel in Mount Pleasant, DC

The Democratic presidential contest finally landed in DC over the last couple of weeks, with the Clinton and Obama campaigns gunning for a share of the rich lode of Democratic voters in the diverse neighborhoods of Mount Pleasant and Adams Morgan. Obama struck first and hard last Saturday morning, with a parade down Mount Pleasant Street complete with a Latin band in an open-back work truck (stand-up bass, vocals, guitar, percussion) and a few cars along for company (note: only one Volvo visible, in this case a fairly battered 240 wagon). Good targeting: at 11 on a cold Saturday morning, the Mount Pleasant yup/hipsters haven’t even slipped on their skinny jeans yet, and the sidewalk traffic is largely Salvodoran.

Since then, the campaigns’ supporters have hung out on local street corners at various high-traffic times, waving signs and soliciting honks from supportive drivers — Clintonistas retook Mount Pleasant Street with a powerful infantry contingent a week after the Obama raid, while a ton of Obamans were out on U Street Friday evening, targeting partiers heading to Adams Morgan. In my neighborhood at least, the bulk of the public Clinton supporters have been Latin women, while the Obamamans tend tend to be younger and more nonprofity. Of course, we’re looking at an online component here, since the small sample of volunteers I talked with had organized via email, getting a neighborhood rendezvous time from the campaign and then dividing up the area in person once they met.

The TV people tell me that DC’s going to go for Obama, a not unexpected result — while this may not quite be Chocolate City any more, it sure as hell ain’t vanilla either — but Clinton’s folks aren’t giving up on on Latin voters, who’ve held strong for her in other areas. Tuesday’s gonna be fun.

– cpd