FORMER OBAMA STAFFER BEEFS NATIONAL PROFILE WITH MAGAZINE FEATURE ARTICLE

Poor Anton Gunn. He turned out 80 percent of the black vote for Barack Obama in South Carolina’s Democratic Presidential primary last January, but when he decided to run for the open State House District 79 seat, the Illinois senator was nowhere to be found.

Obama didn’t even send Gunn the customary “I busted my ass for Obama and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” t-shirt. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

So naturally, Gunn did exactly what I would have done — he went to TIME magazine.

At a time when half the Democratic world seemed to be trying to get onto Obama’s not-yet-official campaign, Gunn found that his calls to the Senator’s offices went unreturned. Finally, he placed one more call to Chicago and laid it on the line. “I may not know a whole lot about politics, but I know a lot about South Carolina,” he remembers saying in his message. “If you want to run for President and South Carolina’s going to be an early-primary state, you need to have me involved.”

The next day, a voice-mail message from Obama himself was waiting on his phone. The two met in Washington a few weeks later, and Gunn became his state’s political director. Using his organizing skills and contacts, Gunn set about building a grass-roots movement that empowered volunteers. When they learned that many black voters didn’t realize Obama was African American, the campaign developed a seven-minute dvd about Obama’s life that supporters could play in their living rooms for friends and neighbors. “We told them it belonged to them,” Gunn says, “that Barack’s success would depend on how much ownership they took.”

When primary day arrived in South Carolina, it was a must-win moment for Obama. His strong start in the Iowa caucuses had surprised a lot of people and shown African Americans that his quest just might be possible. But then came the stumble in New Hampshire that allowed Hillary Clinton back into the race. South Carolina was the first contest in a state with a sizable black population–and on that day, African Americans gave him more than 8 in every 10 of their votes. “It all started here,” Gunn said with a smile, leaning back in his chair in the lobby of a downtown Columbia hotel. “The process may have started in Iowa. But if we didn’t do what we did in the exact way that we did it, I daresay we may have had a different outcome.”

Unfortunately for Gunn, he could use the help. Right now he’s in a dogfight with moderate Republican David Herndon in a seat that’s been held by Republican Bill Cotty since 1995.

Working in Gunn’s favor though are Herndon’s rocking frosted blond highlights and the white cotton family photo complete with a matching doggy dress. High five!