Washingtonpost news updates: Obama’s backers put out calls for support

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Obama’s backers put out calls for support

- The Washington Post Print SubscriptionConversationsToday's PaperGoing Out GuideJobsCarsReal EstateRentalsClassifiedsHomePoliticsCampaign 2012CongressCourts &LawThe Fed PageHealth CarePollingWhite HouseBlogs & ColumnsIssues: EnergyTop Blogs

Election 2012 | Felicia SonmezThe Fix | Chris CillizzaFederal Eye | Ed O’KeefeFact Checker | Glenn KesslerOpinionsAll OpinionsPostPartisanLeft-LeaningRight-LeaningTolesCartoonsTelnaesAnimationsLocalColumnist IndexLocalDC: Politics| NewsMD: Politics| CommunitiesVA: Politics| CommunitiesCrimeEducationOn Faith/LocalObituariesTraffic & CommutingWeatherBlogs & ColumnsThe Root DCTop Blogs

State of NoVa | Loudoun supervisor’s anti-gay campaignThe Buzz | Post’s Air Florida coverage from 1982Where We Live | A $3.19M home with 67 windowsGoing Out Gurus | Plan your weekendSportsRedskins/NFLCapitals/NHLWizards/NBANationals/MLBDC United/SoccerCollegesAllMetSportsOther SportsBlogs & ColumnsTop Blogs

The Insider| Mike JonesCapitals Insider| Katie CarreraWizards Insider | Michael LeeNationals Journal| Adam KilgoreNationalCorrectionsEnergy & EnvironmentHealth & ScienceHigher EducationNational SecurityOn FaithOn LeadershipInnovationsOn GivingBlogs & ColumnsTop Blogs

Ideas@InnovationsPost LeadershipUnder GodCheckpoint WashingtonWorldAfricaTheAmericasAsia &PacificEuropeMiddle EastNational SecurityWar ZonesSpecial ReportsCheckpoint WashingtonBusinessEconomyIndustriesLocal BusinessMarketsPolicy&RegulationTechnologyWorldBusinessBlogs & ColumnsInnovationsOn Small BusinessTop Blogs

Wonkblog | Ezra KleinPost Tech | Cecilia KangFaster ForwardPolitical EconomyInvestigationsLifestyleAdviceCarolyn HaxFoodHome & GardenStyleTravelWeddingsWellnessMagazineKidsPostTop Blogs

Arts PostAll We Can EatReliable Source | Roxanne Roberts & Amy ArgetsingerOn Parenting | Janice D’ArcyEntertainmentBooksCelebritiesComicsGoing Out GuideHoroscopesMoviesMuseumsPuzzlesTheater & DanceTVTop Blogs

TV Column | Lisa de MoraesCelebritology | Jen ChaneyClick Track | Chris Richards & David MalitzComic Riffs | Michael CavnaMultimediaInnovationsPhotosVideosThe Washington PostThe Washington PostCorrectionsEnergy & EnvironmentHealth & ScienceHigher EducationNational SecurityOn FaithOn LeadershipInnovationsOn GivingBlogs & ColumnsIn the NewsMLK memorial NFL playoffs Italian cruise ship iPad 3 Michelle Obama Krauthammer ???initialComments:true! pubdate:01/13/2012 21:20 EST! commentPeriod:14! commentEndDate:1/27/12 9:20 EST! currentDate:1/14/12 6:0 EST! allowComments:true! displayComments:true!

Romney and the ‘Bain way’

Correcting the King Memorial mistake

JoePa’s first interview since scandal

Your beautiful sunset photos

Obama’s backers put out calls for support

View Photo Gallery — ?President Obama gears up for his reelection campaign.

Text SizePrintE-mailReprints By Stephanie McCrummen,

In a suburban Virginia living room, Earline Coe, solid Democrat and Obama loyalist, dials again.

“Hello, may I speak with Ellen?” she says, tapping a pen on a long list of names.

Comments

Weigh InCorrections?

Video

In a sort of power lunch for the not-so-powerful, President Obama broke bread Friday with four winners of a contest for people who give to his campaign in small amounts. (Jan. 6)

Campaign Finance Explorer

More on this Story

The Take | Social conservatives have embraced Santorum. Is it too late?Romney gains traction in South CarolinaObama seeks power to streamline governmentShe the People: Michelle Obama shouldn’t be unhappyView all Items in this Story

Perry, Gingrich lose suit to get on Va. ballotWhite House was warned about Solyndra layoffsObama’s backers put out calls for supportAgency revamp raises trade-policy questionsDHS monitoring of social media concerns civil liberties advocatesJon Huntsman, rejected by GOP masses, seeks a boost from his elite base

It is supposed to be a good list, one generated by the Obama campaign’s data wonks in Chicago, who have sorted their files of millions of voters and identified these as likely recruits in a renewed version of the vaunted grass-roots operation that propelled Obama’s 2008 victory.

All that’s needed now are yeses, which is what five women are trying to get at a phone bank on this Wednesday evening, especially Coe, who now has Ellen on the line.

“Hi, Ellen,” she says. “My name is Earline, and I’m calling from Obama for America? We’re calling strong Obama supporters like yourself, and —?”

“Oh. I understand that. Yes. Would you be interested in doing any volunteer work? Because we’re holding voter registration this weekend, and —?”

Pause. “Okay. I understand that. Right. .?.?. And I hope your mother gets better.”

Under the column labeled “I’m in!” Coe circles “maybe” and dials again.

As the Republican nominating contests churn on, President Obama’s campaign is more quietly unfolding in living rooms such as this one in Prince William, a swing county in a swing state where reactivating old volunteers and finding new ones will be crucial to his reelection chances.

While the campaign is putting together one of the most expensive and technically sophisticated operations in the history of American politics, it is also relying again on old- fashioned, grass-roots organizing to make the whole thing fly.

In particular, the campaign is staking success on the “snowflake” theory, in which volunteers become “empowered team leaders” who are supposed to recruit more volunteers, who are supposed to become empowered team leaders themselves, and so on, expanding exponentially into a phone-bank canvassing machine as Election Day approaches.

While the campaign deployed the model in some states during the 2008 campaign, it is being used in all 50 this time, campaign officials say. They predict that their ground army will dwarf that of the eventual Republican nominee.

Others, though, wonder whether Obama — faced with a flailing economy and job approval ratings hovering around 47 percent — will be able to generate the kind of enthusiasm that so energized his last campaign.

Marshall Ganz, a Harvard University professor whose thinking was behind the grass-roots efforts in 2008, said the campaign runs the risk of confusing the technical means of fancy databases and lists with the more important end of finding a compelling vision in bleak times.

“One of the biggest mistakes they can make is to use the tactics they used before without understanding the context that allowed those tactics to work,” said Ganz, who is not currently involved with the campaign. “The question is whether they can rekindle that sense of moral urgency.”

It is the question in the living room on this Wednesday evening, where the volunteers are all women in their 40s or older.

Continued123Next Page

EmailTumblrRedditStumbleuponDiggDeliciousWeigh InDiscussion PolicyAbout Discussions, Badges Newest firstOldest firstMost Recommended first SuperFan Badge

SuperFan badge holders consistently post smart, timely comments about Washington area sports and teams.