The California state headquarters for President Obama’s reelection campaign opened Thursday in Los Angeles.

The kickoff attracted hundreds of supporters, including U.S. Reps. Henry Waxman and Janice Hahn.

Democrats chanted “We will win” and “Four more years” throghout the opening party. Waxman said the stakes were high for Obama's reelection. “He has done so much that many presidents never accomplished it nearly as much as he has already,” Waxman said, “If we don’t win, we might not have affordable care. We might not even have Medicare and Medicaid.”

Obama may be taking some criticism for his leadership thus far, but his supporters Thursday seemed to think the problems lied with the Republicans in Congress. “When I think of this presidency," state Sen. Ted Lieu said, "I think of promises made and promises kept.”

Kristina Fields, 67, came out to show her support and take in the free screening of Davis Guggenheim's documentary, "The Road We've Traveled" — all having recently broken her leg. Because of her injury, she could only walk slowly with a cane, but she still made the trip out, waited in the long line and walked up stairs to see the film. Fields became visibly excited when she saw Obama’s life-size poster. She walked up and asked someone to take a photo, leaving her cane at the corner. “The nice thing about the film," she said of Guggenheim's documentary following Obama's time in the White House, "is it's not point and blame. This is what he has accomplished. It’s just facts, folks.”

Thomas Phifen joined the campaign as a volunteer spring fellow in honor of his mother. Back in 2004, he said, his mother, a life-long Democrat in Illinois, had been mesmerized by the speech Obama gave at the Democratic National Convention. She told her son that speaker was going to become the president. She died before getting the chance to vote for him in 2008. “By supporting the president," Phifen said, "I am keeping my mom’s strength alive."

The campaign office will soon begin making phone calls to the voting public to rally support for the upcoming election. Phifen said there are 70 people in the spring fellowship training. He figured there are hundreds more volunteers out there.

According to Phifen, the challenge of the campaign will be to persuade voters in Orange County, a community that leans heavily Republican, to vote for Obama. “It’s kind of a battle in my area,” Phifen said. “Overall, I think California is not gonna be a problem for Obama at all.”

Joni Burns, a neighborhood team leader who first campaigned for Obama in 2008, said the difference of this year’s campaign will be in how he handles the economy. “I think energy is one of the main things he needs to concentrate on for the 2012 campaign.”

 

 

Reach Shako Liu here.