B E R G E N C O U N T Y F O R B A R A C K O B A M A
"Powered by hope, seeking the change we need." Volume 5 - October 17, 2008==============> 18 DAYS LEFT IN THIS CAMPAIGN - please volunteer today!TONIGHT - FRIDAY 10/17 5:00pm Phone banking at 50 Main Street, Hackensack (BCDO) 6:00pm Phone banking Ramsey http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs54fc SATURDAY 10/18 9:00am Coffee -> Canvassing http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs54kj12:00pm Canvassing http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/canvass/gs5v2j 3:00pm Phone banking Ramsey http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs54fz SUNDAY 10/1912:00pm Canvassing http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/canvass/gs5v2h 3:00pm Phone banking Ramsey http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs54pj MONDAY 10/20 5:00pm Phone banking at 50 Main Street, Hackensack (BCDO) 6:00pm Phone banking Ramsey http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs54m8 7:30pm Students For Obama http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/meeting/gsh5zh TUESDAY 10/21 5:00pm Phone banking at 50 Main Street, Hackensack (BCDO) 6:00pm Phone banking Ramsey http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs5vv9 WEDNESDAY 10/22 6:00pm Pizza/Calling Ramsey http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs5vvgTHURSDAY 10/23 5:00pm Phone banking at 50 Main Street, Hackensack (BCDO) 6:00pm Phone banking CFC check MyBO link below NOTES: BCDO phonebanking runs 5-9pm, arrive whenever you can, Ramsey Grassroots Officephonebanking runs 6-8pm please try to arrive no later than 6:30 and bring your laptop. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Obama Grassroots Office & Obama Store 6 Arrow Rd, Suite 205, Ramsey NJ 07446 Telephone: 724-759-0238HOURS:Monday-Friday 6-8pmSaturday 8-10am, 3-6pmSunday 3-6pm
On Sunday volunteers gathered in Hot Springs for the state's fifth Camp Obama field organizer training. Over the past month over 600 Arkansans have participated in Camp Obama in Texarkana, Hot Springs, Fayetteville, Jonesboro and Little Rock.
Participants learned key organizing skills including voter persuasion, canvassing, phone banking, Get Out the Vote and Neighbor to Neighbor. These newly minted Deputy Field Organizers will join the hundreds of other volunteers working for change in Arkansas and our neighboring battleground state, Missouri.
With less than a month to go before election day, the hard work of volunteers is more important than ever. We need your help to win Arkansas for Obama-- call or visit your local field office today to sign up for phone banking or to join The Big MO.
Grace's Camp Obama Blog - September 27 - San Jose
8:00 - Arrived and registered at the Union Hall at 240 Market Street in San Jose. For the next half hour, the room filled up with about 100 people. Fruit and pastries and juices were served. Our name tags included a number 1 through 11. I was in group #6 and took my seat in the first row. On every seat was a handout of the slides for the day (apparently 60 slides reduced and copied front and back).
Barack has 10 offices all over California with 13 paid staff. We are the feeder group for training volunteers for neighboring states. A couple of weeks ago, Nevada asked for 100 volunteers and 500 volunteers signed up, were trained and deployed! Late today, we were told that Colorado and Missouri have asked also asked for volunteers to help.
Goals of the organization - Win on November 4th and Organize our country so we can win on November 4th and ready to do the work on January 20th (the Jan 20th goal was never discussed today).
Goals of Camp Obama (1) Develop a compelling 'Story of Self" (2) Learned to volunteer in Battleground States (3) Made calls to voters in a Battleground State (4) Learned how to build Neighborhood teams (5) Learned how to Recruit and Retain volunteers.
The "Story of Self" which must be told in 2 minutes with the following elements - Character, Challenge, Choice, Outcome. We had two guest volunteers who told their (Story of Self) stories. AWESOME!!! One was the most gorgeous African American father of two in medical school who told a fantastic story of a near death experience that changed his values and caused him to join the Obama campaign. (He's a better, more emotionally connected speaker than OBAMA!) The second speaker was a 15 year old young lady who showed up at a volunteer meeting out of curiosity and was immediately put to work. She is now so fired up about Obama that she and a girlfriend went to Nevada and knocked on doors for votes. She has started a high school group for Obama. Fantastic young lady who was SO amazing! Tall blond girl who was dressed in shorts and flip flops!
We broke into groups to work on our own stories. Turns out Group 6 is Palo Alto and Menlo Park. There were 6-7 of us. (One VC, one Apple SW engineer, one Palo Alto mom, 2 retirees, didn't know what others did). We worked on our stories for one hour. After practicing, we had to choose the best one to be told in the larger group. My story was chosen. Each group's representative shared their stories and the group cheered each of our stories WILDLY!!! Lots of inspiration and emotion at this point. One woman told the story of her daughter's suicide due to lack of ability to obtain medication because of no insurance. Many were in tears. She got a standing ovation.
GOING TO NEVADA - We had all committed to at least one weekend in Nevada. Nevada strategy: Look at the numbers - tells you why.
2004
Total Registered Voters: 854,822
Registered Democrats: 343,679
Registered Republicans: 355,116
Democratic Deficit: -11,437
George Bush: 50.47%
John Kerry: 47.88%
Difference: -2.59%
2008
Total Registered Voters: 1,059,613
Registered Democrats: 458,877
Registered Republicans: 397,172
Democratic Advantage: 61,705
(as of today, the number is closer to 80,00)
Statewide Goal - 52% of the vote for Barack (2 more congressional seats)
We broke for lunch at 12:30 or so. Pizza and Salad for lunch. During lunch we were encouraged to sign up for the Nevada trip. Our team was told that we would probably go to Carson City. It turns out that most people get together and drive to Nevada and share the gas cost. They get up at 3:30 and arrive in Nevada by the 9:00 am orientation and training. The travel assistance group does everything via the database. A bank of laptops were available for our sign ups. The technology of the Obama Campaign was impressive. Our team would like to go together and targeted the second weekend in October. I was the coordinator of the contact information.
After lunch we had a guest speaker - Kamala Harris. She was warmly welcomed. She did the cheerleading stuff for our candidate. We almost got Al Gore (he was at the San Jose Fairmont) but was dragged away by his handlers for another event.
Next - Phone CALLS to New Mexico - we were all asked to bring at least one cell phone and charger to this event. Many of us dreaded this part. Fear of getting into a debate, fear of rejection, fear of getting an angry McCain voter! That's because most of us didn't understand the role of the phone bank. The real purpose of the phone bank is to IDENTIFY the voter, NOT to CONVINCE the voter. ALWAYS be respectful, keep it brief (30 seconds) and document every call. The training included role playing which was very helpful. We were all given call sheets with 40 people and sent off for an hour with a script. Just as we were told, most people were not home. In these cases, we circled "NH". I reached 10 people out of my 40. One told me she was having a party and hung up on me. All the rest were already OBAMA voters!! I was calling the Santa Fe area code and that's obviously a BLUE area code. My entire group had the same experience. The best answer was for us to get an UNDECIDED VOTER but I didn't get any. I had one call when the answer was an abrupt Yes. I suspected the person said Yes, he was voting for Obama just to get me off the phone. All the rest were enthusiastic OBAMA voters and one thanked me for working for the campaign.
We tabulated all the statistics at the end of the hour - 2,845 calls were made, 784 actual connections and 590 Obama voters. This information will be carefuly inputted into the database. All undecided voters are put on a list for the travelers to Nevada who will go door to door and make every attempt to talk to this person in person. That's what our group will be doing the second weekend in October. We are warned this is very tiring and to wear comfortable shoes.
Our next speaker was another new volunteer. In three weeks she had created a new neighborhood organization in her tiny town in the Santa Cruz area of 70 volunteers - two phone bank events every week. Her story is SUPER inspiring. She said that everything is at stake in this election and believes she is saving America for her children. This attitude was echoed over and over throughout the day. Another amazing, inspired, motivated, passionate person.
Everyone felt this was the most important election of our time. This election is a "CAN"T LOSE". The stakes are too high. The future of our country and our children are at stake. You could almost hear the "AMENS" all around the room when the passion and urgency of this campaign is communicated.
This was my first political campaign and it was a great experience! Made some new friends and learned a lot!
October 8, 2008 - Phone Bank Event at Griffin Home - 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Please join if you have time and let me know.
If you want to drop in and make some phone calls yourself, the Palo Alto office on El Camino Real is open from 9 to 9 every week day. 9 to 8 on Saturday and 11-8 on Sunday. Rachi (Rocky) is the volunteer in charge. She is an beautiful Indian women who just received her MD. She was offered a position by Kaiser and told them she had to delay her start date because she has to work full time for Obama until the election.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2008!!!!
About a month ago, I signed up to attend a "Camp Obama" training weekend in Los Angeles. The campaign office's response is making me a little nervous.
I received several phone calls from the campaign since submitting my application. The first came a few days after I applied. The caller said space for the training session was extremely limited, so they could only accept volunteers who were prepared to make a major time commitment. Was I able to spend five weeks in Nevada as an unpaid intern? My answer was, sadly, no. Despite having just been laid off, I still have my girlfriend and kids to look after, and I need to start generating income as soon as possible. The caller hung up, and I assumed I'd been rejected.
A lot has changed in the 32 years since my last campaign experience. When Jimmy Carter ran for President, I worked in his Austin, Texas headquarters making signs, stuffing envelopes, and taking messages. In those days, before voicemail, the internet, (even home computers!) campaigning was one big rah rah barn-raiser, with lots of enthusiasm but a serious lack of professionalism.
Two days at Camp Obama showed me what a difference a few decades make. Direct voter contact is still important, but voter ID is so sophisticated that it's hard to see how a candidate with this kind of organization can lose.
Anything's possible, of course, and it seems the people at the top of this campaign are preparing for that, too, by doing everything in their power to capture a comfortable lead so there will be NO DOUBTS on election day as to who really won.
The campaign's mantra--respect, empower, include--could only have sprung from the conscience of a Democrat (or a little d-democrat), IMHO, and it informs every aspect of this campaign. The volunteer traing, phone banking, social networking, grassroots effort, canvassing, are all imbued with this philosophy and I am honored to be a part of it.
If Barack runs the country the way he has run this campaign....one can only hope. And act, to make sure he has a chance to do so!
The room at the IBEW in North Brunswick yesterday was packed with energized supporters attending Camp Obama. Over 200 volunteers received real world organizing experience that will have a direct impact on this election. “When I signed-up for Camp Obama, I didn’t know what to expect,” said Andrew Hymas from Bridgewater, NJ. “After today’s training, I’m excited to hit the ground running in a battleground state where I’m needed. I want to put my community organizing skills to use and get out the vote for Barack!” This campaign is fueled by passion and enthusiasm of ordinary supporters and relies on leaders who can organize these supporters and turn their vigor into votes on Election Day.
Geoffrey Borshof, NJ statewide deputy field director, trains volunteers to become deputy field organizers.
Graduates of Camp Obama will go on to become Deputy Field Organizers who will lead this campaign to victory in crucial battleground states around the country.
A voluteer signs up for deployment in Pennsylvania.
If you’d like to help ensure that Barack wins in key battleground states, please click here.
Today I attended a training with the Virginia for Obama team. Well it was a long, long day but boy do these Obama staffers have their act together! We got school-ed and ready for the field. So what's in store for this Deputy Field Organizer, you ask? Lots of phone banking, volunteer recruitment, canvassing, staging field offices and of course the final GOTV efforts (Get out the vote!) the week leading up to the election.
After the training was over, I scurried on home to get started...I sent out a few reminder emails to encourage friends and family to volunteer at a local phone bank or help with voter registration in the next week. Then I set up this nifty blog and fundraising page. It was easy - you can do it too!
Since my wife and I put Obama stickers on our cars (several months ago), I've had a bunch of friendly chats with our main mail carrier, who's very much a kindred spirit. Today I told him about Camp Obama (was it only last weekend in Long Beach? so much has happened) and our phone bank group, and he told me he's going to Nevada with his union!
I get lots of very warm responses to my bumper sticker (even here in deepest south Orange County) and my "veterans for Obama" pin. The other day in the grocery checkout line, an assistant manager was running the register. He said to me, in a quiet voice:
"I like your pin. We're not allowed to say so, but I like your pin!"
Fired up? Ready to Go!
I went to Camp Obama this past weekend and it was amazing! It was an all day event, 8am-8pm and while long, it was invigorating. It was so exciting and motivating to see people from all over the Bay Area from all walks of life come out to support Barack Obama. All these people had come, each with their own story, each with their own reasons and yet all for the same purpose - to do whatever was in their power to win this election! I thought the Camp was really well organized, it started off with really understanding how this campaign was organized and what the central themes of this campaign were - Respect, Empower, and Include. Before going I thought I understood Obama's message of change and inclusion, but after leaving the Camp, I felt that I had an even greater understanding of what he was trying to acheive and how. It seems as if this campaign is being run so differently than most are. Rather than solely trying to win, Obama is trying to win, but not by sacrificing his own values. Those values are integral to how this campaign operates and they are being passed down from to each and every person that volunteers to help out.
After leaving Camp Obama, I was so fired up and definitely ready to go. I know the clock is ticking and we are winding down but I've never been more excited for an election and I'm ready to do whatever I can to help Obama win. I believe now, more than ever that he will bring CHANGE to Washington and he will help all of us acheive our American dreams. He will help to bring a better and brighter future for my daughter, for his and for all the children of this country!
YES WE CAN!!!
I'll write more about the details of the Camp Obama training in later posts. For now, I wanted to share with you the pride I felt upon seeing the incredible DIVERSITY of the group that showed up. Check this out:
- A man who emigrated from Nigeria and now works for General Motors as an engineer on the Chevy Volt project. - The son of a single mother from Haiti. - A Native American freelance writer. - A middle-aged WASP whose families were here in the mid-1600s, whose five-times-great grandfather was a Colonel in the American Revolution, and who has a great-great-grandmother that was a Passamaquoddy Native American (me, Chris Orcutt). - Several politically active African-American women, ages 21 to 80. - Two or three white male "recovering attorneys." - Seven or eight current professional women and former soccer moms, ages 30-60. - A white male college student majoring in Political Science. - Three or four hippies who campaigned for Robert Kennedy. - A disenchanted Republican who is also a retired Wall Street broker.
THAT is America, folks! More to come.
Just got back from Camp Obama in San Francisco. What an experience! This campaign, in addition to being inspiring, is very well organized. Never a dull moment from 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM! Met lots of great motivated volunteers who, like me, will be heading to Nevada over the next three months to support the Nevada Obama campaign.
Fired up and read to go!
I just received notice last night that I have been accepted to attend "Camp Obama".
My understanding of this training camp is that I will prepare to travel to a (nearby?) battleground state to work on the campaign (as part of the ground forces!) until election day. The camp is in San Francisco this coming Sunday!
I am excited at the prospect. I want to get away from my computer screen and the insipient ulcers from reading all the news.
I'll be sorry to have to be out of town for my birthday, Ruth's birthday, and our 20th wedding anniversary, but an Obama victory would be the gift that keeps on giving, and I'll do anything I can (legally) to help it happen.
I'll try and keep the blog up to date so you can enjoy the experience along with me.
Join us for Camp Obama - Mamas for Obama A special mini-training welcoming Moms who can volunteer for Obama for America Kids welcome SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st Location: Culver City (address will be confirmed on RSVP) Check in: 12:30pm Training: 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm RSVP: http://my.barackobama.com/CampObamaCAMama
I attended Camp Obama last month in Los Angeles and cannot begin to explain the impact it has had on my life and my role in this campaign. I encourage all of you that can make the time to attend!
Please keep in mind that is is intensive and extensive. It will be a full 2 days of important information and workshop style learning but again, I cannot reccomend it more.
Deputy Field Organizer training this weekend in the Hudson ValleyCommit to moving to a swing state for the next five weeks--there will be a training in the Hudson Valley area (location to be determined) this weekend, Sep. 20th-21st. Goal is to get 120 people to come to the Hudson Valley Camp Obama and relocate to PA. Campaign can provide housing and food but not transportation.
The NY Field team will be conducting Camp Obama Hudson Valley trainings this weekend. As part of our Camp Obama training, we place time in our schedule to get a phone call from a regional field director/field organizer in PA to do a live conference call with our campers on site to walk through a “day-in-the-life” of an Obama field organizer in a battleground state. Location:Indian Rock Shopping Center128 Route 59Suffern NY 10901 www.loopnet.com/property/15007741/1-28-Route-59/Saturday and Sunday from 9am – 3/4pm.
Breakfast will be provided both mornings. We are looking first and foremost for those ready to be deployed for five weeks to a battleground state, preferably Pennsylvania. We will also take those who are ready to go out for four weekends. If you are not sure about someone’s eligibility definitely just pass them on
Contact: Moira Kelley, 917-273-2837, mkelley@barackobama.com
I have just found the best way to relieve my anxiety about the election and the antidote for the depression and hopelessness I have felt over the last 10 days. Ever since Palin became the latest phenom I have been irritable (just ask Katy and Cleo) and distracted. I have transformed into a news junkie reading the latest on the election on websites I have never visited before and watching the state polls. I have never volunteered for a political campaign before but I am so tired of having elections taken from us that I had to do something. So I went to Camp Obama this weekend and now I know we are going to win.
The community organization Obama has built is incredibly impressive especially here in California. 300 volunteers signed up for Camp Obama in LA this weekend and an extra 100 showed up. (And there will be 12 more Camp Obama's in So Cal in the next month or so.) We learned about the grass roots organization Obama has built and the incredible on-line tools that they are using to organize and communicate. The Republicans have nothing like Camp Obama, their on-line tools nor has McCain invested in community organizers like Obama has. We learned why the polls are inaccurate (so don't waste your time reading them). One of the articles I read last week basically said Democrats should relax. The Obama campaign knows what it is doing. Don't get all caught up in Palin's celebrity. Well I saw the inside and I am relaxed, breathing and confident we will win.
Palin has energized the Democratic base, Hillary supporters (yes it's true) and others. In fact they call Palin the gift that keeps on giving. The westside of LA is very motivated and powerful and represented almost half of those at Camp Obama this weekend. Now you may say a lot of good that does us when California, and especially the westside, will go for Obama anyway and we need this kind of support in the battle ground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Mexico, etc. And that is exactly what the California Obama campaign is all about. The sole focus for California is Nevada. We are lending our organization to Nevada.
Many of you have asked what you can do to help. We need volunteers to call potential voters in Nevada and to go on road trips to Las Vegas, for those of you that live in the LA area. I made 20 calls this weekend (in less than one hour) and it was not hard at all. Some people seemed to be hungry for contact with the Obama campaign. We have phone banks set up across the westside to make calls evenings and weekends. You can even call from your local Starbucks using your computer and cell phone. I will be organizing folks to join these phone banks and phoning myself. If you are interested in a road trip to Vegas then I can hook you in. I am going for the weekend of October 18 & 19th and for November 1st thru 4th, election night. We also need people to help with data management and people that speak Spanish to call hispanic voters in Nevada. I guarantee you that if take part in some way over the next 51 days you will ease your anxiety and depression and meet some amazing people.
Attended Day One of Camp Obama here in Ventura, California. A very energizing day. Heard a lot of moving and inspirational personal stories. People who have worked in the primaries shared highlights of their work with Obama in New Mexico, Texas and Nevada.
Also, we began reviewing the tasks we need to accomplish between now and November 4th to have a successful November 5th.
Setup our team from East Ventura. Will choose our coordinators tomorrow and plan our first phone bank event. We are excited and ready to get moving.
