by Ronna Sweeney, KUAM NewsSunday, May 04, 2008 Subscribe to Ronna's newsfeed
And now that the results for the Guam Democratic Caucus are in, it's naturally time for feedback from both the Obama and Clinton camps about how the island's historic caucus played out. Despite the loss, for the Hillary Clinton camp locally all is not lost. Clinton campaign director Rena Borja told KUAM News that after pounding the pavement and making calls to get new people registered as Democrats, she says this experience has only improved the entire Democratic Party on island."We now have a base and it makes us want to call and get the momentum going," Borja said. "If 50% of those who came out to vote that are new voters do vote, it does make a difference. And I think it's well worth it."Josh Tenorio, the Guam campaign director for Barack Obama, says volunteers connecting with voters along with the Illinois senator's numerous methods of interacting with local media over the past week appears to have made an impact. "Guam is Clinton Country, quite frankly," Tenorio remarked, "And so they should be. I have fond feelings for the Clintons. It was a difficult campaign to undertake, especially introducing someone new to the island."With Obama just edging out Clinton for the win on Guam (Obama received 50.1% of the vote with Clinton getting 49.9%), both Borja and Tenorio agree the attention both have paid to our island recently can only produce positive results in the future. "The big victory," stated Tenorio, "Is that we have two seasoned candidates, that one of them is likely to be the president of the United States that have been very specific and concerned about the things that we need to prepare the island for the military buildup and to improve the quality of life for all of the people of Guam."As for how Tenorio and Borja feel about spoiled ballots, both say they have confidence in the nominating committee.