Houston

The Obama office is an abandoned strip mall in the urban sprawl that is Houston. It consists of about three storage rooms and a storefront, which has been converted into a conference room, with desks around the walls, and a welcome area by the door. One of the storage rooms is packed with people entering data and calling supporters.

I'm convinced that very few people in this back room have any idea of what goes on around them. It's a bit odd, as I've been here for two days, and I still don't know who is in charge. The people at the desks in the front room all give off an air of trying to seem important, and there are a couple of young brown nosers running around in suits. But no one really seems to command authority, and no one has shown any leadership.

This is ground level politics in the states. Obama's campaign actually has a reputation of a very strong ground operation. Despite the chaos, the reputation is unsurprising, as amongst all this mayhem, things actually seem to get done.

For example, yesterday, I met a couple of Kennedys. Today, I see remarkable progress in our effort to get canvassing volunteers organised for this weekend.

The truth is that politics is the art of building and managing a mob. Steinbeck got it right when he described this organized mob as "the beast," with a personality and clear distinct actions. What I never realised was that the beast manages itself. Instead of taming it, we coerce it through creating a similar, controlled beast. The same chaos that one sees at a political rally is evident in the back office. The same volunteers that hold hand painted signs show up with pastries at the campaign office, ready to call unsuspecting sheep to be swept into the herd. We call this coercive friend "our base."

So where does our leadership come from? Do we look for the strongest sheep and call him our shepherd? That, I believe, is the question facing every politician.

I'm re-thinking my strategy a bit. The local offices focus mainly on coordinating ground level organization. There's none of the exposure that I need for meeting the right people. It seems that most, if not all, the main decisions are made in the head office in Chicago. I'm thinking of going there a bit earlier than expected. That way, I can crash at my sister's, see my nephew, rely on public transportation. If I act now, I can probably get a good airfare, too.