Marina Chukayeff McCarthy '68, Voice for
the Obama for America Campaign
Marina (Chukayeff)
McCarthy '68 has been active in the Obama for America
Campaign since February '07. Marina first heard
Sen. Barack Obama speak at
the
New Hampshire Democratic Party Victory
Celebration in Manchester, NH early in December of 2006.
It was the Senator's first visit to the Granite State.
It was a memorable speech—25 minutes, no notes. It was
then that she decided to support his candidacy should he
decide to announce. And several months later, he did.
As a member of both the Northeast Finance Steering
Committee and the National Finance Committee, Marina has
been primarily fundraising, mostly tied to events held
in the Boston area: receptions, lunches, rallies, etc.
Some have been in private homes; one was even held at the EMC
Club at historic Fenway Park. Because of Boston's
proximity to
New
Hampshire, Senator
Obama is always able to attend. She also
travels occasionally, either to D.C. or to the Obama for America
headquarters in Chicago.
Living so close to
New Hampshire (the first in
the nation's primaries) probably accounts for Marina's
early involvement in Presidential elections. She can be
in
Manchester—Obama's New
Hampshire headquarters—in just over an hour. Obama's
campaign is also a family affair for the McCarthy family. Son Kevin, a sophomore
at Harvard College, commuted to
New Hampshire last summer helping to
advance speaking engagements, rallies, parades, and
doing door to door canvassing and phone banking. Husband
Joe accompanied Marina to
New
Hampshire a few Sunday evenings ago to see
Oprah Winfrey endorse
Sen.
Obama. Marina also helped with a garden
party/fundraiser last June in
Cambridge, MA for the Senator's wife,
Michelle
Obama, their two
daughters, Malia and Sasha, and Michelle's mother and
brother.
Growing up in the D.C. area and attending Stone Ridge in
the mid and late '60s also accounts for Marina's
interest. She remembers when Stone Ridge was the home
to numerous political families: daughters of Senator's
Phillip Hart,
Eugene
McCarthy,
Robert
Kennedy, and Congressman William Miller,
just to name a few, all attended Stone Ridge. And of the
four, three ran for President or Vice President while
she was a student there.
Marina wrote her doctoral dissertation on Sacred Heart
education at
Harvard,
so she keeps in touch with a lot of Sacred Heart
educators. She was excited to learn how many Sacred
Heart nuns had worked with
Barack Obama
in Chicago during the last two decades. Perhaps there is
a Stone Ridge education in Malia and Sasha's future? |
