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Beginning an unaverage life

12-year-old stumps for Obama

By Jim Sheeler, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 5, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Neal Kornreich, 12, left, helps make calls to prospective voters at campaign headquarters in Boulder. Neal is a precinct captain for the Obama campaign.

Photo by Judy DeHaas / The Rocky

Neal Kornreich, 12, left, helps make calls to prospective voters at campaign headquarters in Boulder. Neal is a precinct captain for the Obama campaign.

Neal goes door to door in his Boulder neighborhood to encourage people to attend their caucus on Tuesday.

Photo by Judy DeHaas / The Rocky

Neal goes door to door in his Boulder neighborhood to encourage people to attend their caucus on Tuesday.

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Two days before Super Tuesday, the precinct captain sat in the Barack Obama campaign headquarters, furiously dialing prospective voters and waiting for his mother to come pick him up.

For the past few months, Neal Kornreich has spent countless hours preparing for today. In that time, he's recovered from a serious bicycle accident that left him confined to a wheelchair and has received a personal letter of inspiration from the man he hopes will be the next president.

"I'm pretty wiped out," the 12- year-old said between phone calls - but added that it's not because of the constant campaigning or the months of therapy.

"I was at a sleepover at a friend's house last night, and we stayed up pretty late," he said. With a shock of curly brown hair and jeans that are a bit too short for his still-sprouting runner's legs, Neal stood out in the call center. He was the only one whose voice has yet to change.

When asked by voters about his age, he has an answer ready.

"I can't vote," he'll say, "so I hope you'll do it for me."

Report was an eye opener

Neal's room is populated with cross-country running trophies - he recently placed first in the Bolder Boulder in his age group - and Dungeons and Dragons paraphernalia. On his door is a large Christian cross and a plaque acknowledging his achievements in Boy Scouts, where he's earned the rank of First Class. In what little spare time he has, he volunteers with Special Olympics.

Neal's parents say they haven't pushed politics on their son - they say they're not even outwardly political. But when Neal did a report on presidential candidates for a class at Southern Hills Middle School - where he's in the gifted-and-talented program - he found his views meshed with those of the Illinois senator.

George W. Bush has occupied the White House since Neal was in preschool, so he says "Barack Obama is the politician I've been looking for for the past eight years."

Without prompting, he wrote a three-page letter to Obama, mentioning the issues that mean the most to him - the environment, the United States' reputation in the world and stem-cell research. He didn't expect a reply.

Shortly afterward, a terrible bicycle accident left him in a wheelchair. As he struggled to learn to walk again, his mother, Jeanette, remembered one of his therapists asking him about his greatest fear.

"That I'll live an average life," he said. "I want to make a difference."

Within days of that conversation, a personal letter arrived with Barack Obama's signature - a letter that read, in part, "I leave you with three bits of advice that will make your life more fulfilling: Look out for other people, even when it does not directly benefit you; strive to make a difference everwhere you go; and get back up every time you are knocked down."

"Whenever I felt bad, I would read it," Neal said. "And those lines were always inspirational."

When the Obama headquarters opened in Boulder, Neal saw that his precinct had no captain, and volunteered. Since then, he's been a staple in the place where campaign managers say "we wish we had more adults like him."

On Neal's iPod, he has downloaded Obama speeches to keep him on message - his candidate's words are sandwiched among songs by The Fray, All- American Rejects, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles - and stay on message he does.

"He's the symbol of a new generation. He believes in ending the war in Iraq responsibly - we need to make sure it doesn't end up in mass domestic chaos," Neal said. "I'm kind of nervous about what's going to happen in my lifetime. But I think that if we elect the right people and we help the president, we can turn this country around." Campaign trail skylarking

Despite his eloquence on the issues, Neal is also a typical 12- year-old. While canvassing homes in his neighborhood with his mother, he still walked through the snow instead of around it, and slid across every ice patch he could find. When he needed a hand, he asked, "Could I have one of those door hangers please, Mommy?"

At each door, he launched into his speech: "Hi, my name is Neal Kornreich - I'm a neighbor of yours. I'm here in support of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Do you have any questions?"

Because Neal is too young to act as an official delegate at the Democratic National Convention, the campaign has assigned an adult "co-captain," but Neal still takes the lead role. Neal said he hasn't thought past Super Tuesday, when he'll lead his supporters at the caucus and already has his speech prepared.

"There's a party that starts at 9 p.m. for all the precinct captains, but I don't know how long I'll be able to stay," he said. "My bedtime is 10 o'clock."

After all, Super Tuesday is not just one of the most important dates on this year's political calendar. It's also a school night.

This story has corrected the name of Neal Kornreich’s middle school, changed the description of his accident to serious instead of near-fatal and removed an incorrect reference to partial paralysis.

sheelerj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2561

Comments

  • November 1, 2008

    10:27 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    ryanator14 writes:

    Yeah Neal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rock on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You Rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- Ryan