Last weekend I had the opportunity to speak at “Camp Obama,” which was held at Sacramento High School. At Camp Obama, volunteers have the opportunity to learn campaign organizing principles and become Deputy Field Organizers in a neighboring battleground state (Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Arizona). It's a fantastic opportunity to take a leadership role in this campaign, and I was encouraged to see an impressive turnout of both young and old. Now that the polls show the presidential race tightening up, there was no problem when the volunteers were called on to chant “Fired Up! Ready to Go!.” I’m sure the McCain/Palin ticket is similarly excited, and I am hopeful that turnout lives up to expectations.
Here at our campaign, we have similar training for our volunteers that hit the streets (and phones). It’s heartwarming to see the energy, particularly among young people, about this election. Our volunteers make about 20 calls an hour, and we’re knocking on hundreds of doors each day. They too are “fired up.”
Earlier this week, I was canvassing Land Park with a crew of campaign volunteers. Many of them never had done this kind of work before, and were a little surprised to see me go from door to door. They told me that they didn’t think candidates did this kind of thing any more – that everything was on tv and mail. I explained to them our campaign expects to personally reach more than 25,000 voters at their doors. The old-fashioned way still works!