Wellstone Action!

posted by Jeff Blodgett

MAY 16, 2008

At Wellstone Action! we're always looking for examples of candidates who have tried to bring community organizing tactics to their campaigns. Nowadays, the Obama Presidential Campaign is perhaps the best example. Obama has made an unprecedented investment in on-the-ground organization, and has in the process cultivated well-trained and highly motivated volunteers. A number of articles have recently examined this, and we've compiled several excerpts for your convenience.

". . . [Obama] worked closely with community groups (though not as ardently as another community organizer turned politician, the late Senator Paul Wellstone). As a presidential candidate, he frequently refers to his community organizing, asking supporters to treat his campaign as a social movement in which he is just ‘an imperfect vessel of your hopes and dreams'" (David Moberg, The Nation).

"Inside the Obama campaign, an eclectic team of field organizers is attempting something that has long been considered impossible: building a precinct-level field organization large enough to affect the outcome of Super Tuesday (now February 5, or ‘Super Duper Tuesday'). If successful -- aided by email lists, web tools and old school organizing techniques long missing in electoral politics -- these organizers could rewrite the rules of presidential politics, dramatically raise the profile of field organizing in the campaign world and help rebuild Democratic party structure in states, such as California, that have been long forgotten to electoral field organizing" (Zack Exley, The Huffington Post).

"What gave Obama an edge, his strategists say, was a heavy investment in grass-roots organizing . . . All campaigns try to build grass-roots organizations, especially those of charismatic challengers like Obama. But those efforts, which often rely on neophyte volunteers whose enthusiasm exceeds their political skills, often fade in the stretch. Obama sought to avoid that problem by organizing intensive regional training camps designed to help his volunteers function with near-professional proficiency . . . The precinct-level operations were to employ theories of community organizing Obama practiced in Chicago before getting into electoral politics . . . The purpose, Figueroa wrote, is to provide supporters with the tools to create ‘self-sufficient, interdependent teams that take responsibility for all aspects of a campaign within their congressional district.' Trainers encourage volunteers to set up quasi-independent local offices that tailor a personalized door-to-door pitch based on local circumstances or the latest campaign development" (Tom Hamburger, Los Angeles Times).

"And that's just how [Marshall] Ganz is helping get Obama elected. ‘We're training a whole bunch of new leaders,' Ganz says. One of them is Jeremy Bird, a former Divinity School student and course assistant for Ganz's class on organizing, who became the field director for Obama's South Carolina campaign. He and other activists eschewed the usual model of gaining votes by targeting the existing community leadership. They used Ganz's approach, organizing house parties to allow potential voters to tell their story, and moving from those stories to encouraging people to get involved in the campaign" (Karim Bardeesy, The Harvard Citizen).