President Obama’s aides have quietly turned the key in the engine of the massive campaign-in-waiting that’s been operating under the name Organizing for America for the last two years, and will begin his re-election with the sort of online and field organizations most presidential campaigns would be glad to have 16 months from now.
The leadership of the field organization – with hundreds of employees, tens of thousands of volunteers and massive online assets (primarily, a giant email list) – is shifting from the Democratic National Committee to the new campaign in Chicago. And in mass emails and in a quiet series of one-on-one meetings with volunteer leaders, the group is resetting its relationship with its supporters.
And while many Democrats have complained that Organizing for America’s vaunted abilities began to sputter once Obama became president, people watching the organization closely say it has succeeded in what may have been its central mission all along: building an unparalleled re-election organization while staying under the political world’s radar.
“Nothing like this has ever happened this early or this big,” said Natalie Foster, a former DNC new media director.
Obama’s re-election campaign may lack the novelty, and the purity, of his first campaign. Aides hope, though, that any enthusiasm gap – which they believe will close as the race begins to take shape – will be made up for by the sheer scale and capacity of the newly re-tuned organization.
Obama’s campaign will “give a little on the enthusiasm, but they gain a lot on the fact that they’re starting with this huge set of resources they didn’t have in 2008 ,” said a Democrat closely watching the ramp-up.
Read More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53941.html
Politico/ Smith/ 04/302011
Florida Latin Connection/ Arnoldo Varona, Editor
Barack Obama’s online army quietly gears up
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