Obama campaign plants roots in Utah

Small as Utah is, presidential candidate Barack Obama wants it.

The Illinois Democratic senator's campaign said Wednesday that the state is important to its strategy and that Obama has hired a volunteer coordinator to help boost the candidate's chances of taking Utah's Feb. 5 presidential primary... and volunteers have already started making calls from there to solicit support for Obama.

"This is not opening up an office that will be like the Maytag repairman situation," campaign manager David Plouffe said in a conference call with Utah reporters. "We're going to have
a lot of activity. We've got a lot of people who are hungry to help spread Barack Obama's message."

He says about 3,000 people have signaled interest in working for the campaign. Utah has 23 delegates up for grabs in its Democratic primary, a small number compared with more populous states. But Plouffe said the campaign is opening offices in every state having a primary on Feb. 5 to help coordinate the grass-roots efforts...The office, officially opening Saturday, has already been crawling with volunteers.

"He's inspirational and that's why I'm supporting him and it's good to see I'm not alone in that," says Misty Fowler, who founded a grassroots group, Utah for Obama.