Kearneys helping Obama in race

The state senator’s wife went to Harvard Law School with the candidate.

CINCINNATI (AP) — On Tuesday, state Sen. Eric Kearney will start early, making the rounds outside dozens of polling stations to campaign, helping with get-out-the-vote efforts, and maybe rounding up some hot chocolate for volunteers.

And whatever else is needed.

The Ohio presidential primary will be the next step in a Kearney’s involvement in a journey that Barack Obama began four years ago, when Kearney read a newspaper story about Obama facing a tough race in Illinois for the U.S. Senate. Kearney and his wife, Jan-Michele, a Harvard Law School classmate of Obama’s, had attended his and Michelle’s wedding.

Kearney told her: “Your buddy needs some help.”

The Cincinnati lawmaker has gone on to become heavily involved in Obama’s presidential bid less than four years after his victory in Illinois. Kearney is on the national finance committee and is a state co-chairman for a campaign that would move close to securing the Democratic nomination by winning Ohio on Tuesday against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

But in 2004, most of the 70 to 80 people who turned out to meet Obama at a Cincinnati fundraiser knew little about him, Kearney said. They raised less than $100,000.

A few weeks later, Obama attracted national attention with a stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention.

“After the speech, people started calling and asking, ’When are you bringing him back?”’ Jan-Michele said, smiling.

When Obama returned to Cincinnati on Feb. 26 last year as a newly announced presidential candidate, he drew an overflow crowd at a downtown hotel. More than 1,000 people paid $100 to $2,300 each, some 300 more people than had been expected. That fundraiser drew at least $350,000.

Jan-Michele recalled having to tell some of the biggest donors: “Sorry, there aren’t any seats left. Your breakfasts are gone.”

The Kearneys campaigned for Obama in Iowa, and Jan-Michele knocked on doors in South Carolina before the primary there. She remembers him in law school as “a super-smart,” thoughtful student who was a good listener and skilled at getting people to work together.

But it never occurred to her that he would rise to such political prominence.

“Had I known he would run for president, I would have followed him around with a notebook,” she said.

Kearney, a lawyer and community newspaper publisher who finished Mark Mallory’s Senate term after Mallory was elected Cincinnati mayor in 2005, won election in 2006 and says his political plans are to seek re-election in 2010. Kearney visited Oprah Winfrey, who has endorsed Obama, at her home, but Jan-Michele said their main reward would be the election of someone they believe would help make a brighter future for their two young children.

“It’s been a lot of fun to be part of,” she said, noting that Obama drew some 13,000 people in Cincinnati last week, in contrast to the 2004 visit. “It’s gotten easier and easier to get volunteers.”