Obama's incredible organization

When the history of this campaign is written, the amazing organization that Obama has built is going to be at the very center of the story. And, if he can harness that organization during his presidency, it will change America forever and for the better. Obama has made it clear, time and again, that this was ultimately his plan. His aim in building this organization was not just to get elected, but--more importantly--to help him to govern, by calling upon this grass-roots army recruited and trained by his campaign. The Obama campaign website has, from its inception, run this quote as the heading: "I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington.... I’m asking you to believe in yours." He has made a beliver out of me.

Obama made the decision to build his campaign based on the model he learned as a community organizer. That key decision--and relentless follow-through--has led to the singular best Democratic ground campaign in modern history. I saw first hand the growing pains of his approach with my work with Obama Santa Cruz during 2007, but I am now awed by the incredible success of his method.

Please read this (rather long) article by blogger Zack Exley that describes the campaign's team-building work. Teams have been created in the so-called battleground states to register voters, identify supporters and get out the vote, and also in the other states to support the effort where it is needed. In addition, new teams are still being formed, just weeks before the election. (Zack's article fully explains that how this all works.)

In safe states like California, and in we-are-going-to-lose-it states like Utah, all the volunteer energy is now going to the so-called battleground states. For instance, all travel and phone banks from Obama Santa Cruz are directed to a specific area in Nevada (the Reno area). Every weekend, from tens to hundreds of Santa Cruz residents drive to Reno to canvass. Every week, Santa Cruz hosts dozens of phone banks, all calling into the same area. The calls are not random, but use sophisticated models of who to call and whether the call is for “persuasion” or just “ID.” The same thing is happening all over California and all over the nation. Folks from Illinois flood Ohio; folks from Utah stream over to Colorado. Nothing like this has ever happened before.

Yes, people have traveled to battleground states before. For the Kerry campaign, for instance, I worked in both Ohio and Florida. But it was not at all like this effort--neither in organization, size, scope, sophistication nor, most importantly, inspiration. All these grass-roots teams will still exist after November 4th and, believe me, they are still going to be working for Obama and the nation.

From the inside, the Obama campaign is truly awe-inspiring. Obama and his campaign have taken a gaggle of gloomy and depressed cynics and turned us into a happy, peppy band full of hope and determination! With our nation in this miserable mess, I am so happy that we have an army of inspired optimists--including me--to help Obama change the nation for the better.

As the nation will see on November 4th and beyond, Palin’s obnoxious dismissal of Obama’s community organizing background was seriously, and ironically, erroneous.