Lamnidae

I did a shift knocking doors for the Obama campaign last night. To be honest, it was my first volunteer shift with the campaign as I’ve been preferring to work with local groups and candidates who will be building more long term infrastructure.

The campaign office looked like the field offices I’m used to seeing on general election night. Bustling with volunteers on phones, piles of food, people handing out stacks of clipboards, etc… There were literally only a few pieces of “turf” left unknocked by the time I was able to start my shift at 6 PM. I could quickly tell on the doors that I’d gotten a list of “leaning R’s” to knock, but still found quite a few Obama supporters in the mix.

I’d imagine that after today, much of the 12 office organization in the state will shutter. I hope enough field staff will be kept in place to manage the insane number of volunteers this primary campaign has generated. If not, I at least hope the Democratic coordinated campaign and other affiliated groups can picks up the volunteers list and convert some of that energy through the finish line. I worry about this sometimes, however, as I really do get a bit of the “culty” feeling around Obama events and supporters, and I really hope that many of these newly found supporters will see that their efforts can be more and bigger than one man if they stick around until November.

I rode my bike past the Clinton campaign office on my way home, and practically got a lump in my throat as I looked at the two volunteers on the phones in the brightly lit former tire shop. The place looked like a mortuary.

In 2004, local operations were starved to convert some of the anti-Bush energy into volunteerism and a ground campaign for Kerry. What little help we got simply was plugged into voter identification efforts because there were no other operations in place. We didn’t even have Kerry/Edwards campaign materials, and had to collect money in a can on the front desk to buy bumper stickers and yard signs. One day Bill Lombardi–now Sen. Tester’s state director–showed up in town with a pile of yard signs and it was like Christmas. Everyone noticed an uptick in volunteers around the Missoula office because people were reminded, “Oh yeah, there is a presidential race going on.” (Only the die hards show up day-in and day-out to volunteer on the state races)

I don’t know what will happen around the state when Obama is finally anointed as the nominee sometime in the next day or so. Simple economics says that operations can’t possibly stay as big as they are now. Last night all the staff in the field office were talking about their desires to move on to swing states, etc… Nobody mentioned their desire to win in Montana. The framework will be there through November and beyond.

The MT Democratic Cooordinated Campaign and Legislative Campaign will likely have robust field offices. Groups like Forward Montana, Conservation Voters, Women’s Vote Project, and others will also need vast armies of volunteers. I urge anyone who just found the volunteer in them this year to find ways to stay engaged. We’re going to have a tough battle to retain much control of our statehouse, and Gov. Schweitzer is going to need some help from the “leg” if he’s going to put the next four years to good use. We’ve also got a full slate of other statewide candidates who could use all of us. The effort doesn’t end today.

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