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Alex Cabrero reportingWe've been hearing a lot lately about presidential candidate Mitt Romney, especially here in Utah. But another candidate set up a campaign office here today, hoping to convince Utahns he's the better choice.
Barack Obama's camp has to know it's in for a big challenge. If there's one state in which you'd think Obama would have a tough time, it's Utah, especially with Republican candidate Mitt Romney, his LDS faith, and Utah being his top money contributor.
However, the Obama team feels not everyone in Utah is a Romney supporter.
Jeremy Brassard seems to be the type of guy who, once he sets his mind on something, he has to get it done.
"I couldn't just sit there and not do anything anymore. I had to get involved," he said. "Well, I guess after the last election I was really upset the way the country was going."
When he first heard presidential candidate Barack Obama speak, Brassard knew he had a new focus. "We've just got to change the way things are going," Brassard said.
He hopes the change begins today with the opening of Barack Obama's campaign office in Salt Lake City, Utah. That's right, Utah -- a state that seemingly has already voted for Mitt Romney by raising more money for him than any other candidate.
Obama volunteer Gail Turpin said, "I think an uphill battle is not a bad thing. I think when you're fighting for something you believe in and you have somebody with the caliber of Senator Obama, how tough the fight is doesn't matter."
Obama has already visited Utah, holding a rally in Park City last month. Now, he has a paid staff member in charge of his Utah operations.
"It's really exciting," Turpin said.
We wanted to interview that staff member and ask him why Utah is so important to this campaign, but he said he couldn't answer that particular question for fear of being misquoted. So we spoke to volunteers, who say they're excited to be here.
"We understand the difficulty, but once again, the difficulty doesn't matter," Turpin said. "I don't care how hard it is, it's worth doing."
Brassard says he's already noticing a difference when he talks to others about Obama.
"It's not like people are upset we're here or upset that we're supporting Democrats or anything like that," he said. "I thought it would be a lot of negativity, but actually it's been pretty cool."
Obama spent today campaigning in Iowa with Oprah Winfrey, who has been giving him a big hand and lots of support. Polls there show he is now ahead of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic vote.
