Obama's and Huckabee's Iowa Ground Games

[BeyondGeography]

==From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann

With a super-newsy Des Moines Register poll out, here are a few observations -- for whatever they're worth -- on what I've seen on the ground about the two new leaders in the state: Obama and Huckabee.

Obama's new slot at the top has a host of possible causes and factors. But here's one: As someone originally inclined to believe that Obama's massive productions at the Harkin Steak Fry and the Jefferson-Jackson dinner were mostly smoke and mirrors, I am officially (and somewhat begrudgingly) admitting that, here in Iowa, there's some real backbone to his organization.

Last week, I went to an Obama campaign event that featured brief remarks by Michelle Obama and the official opening of a new field office in West Des Moines. There wasn't anything particularly remarkable about the event, which attracted 60 or 70 people who waited outside in the frigid afternoon for the senator's wife to speak. But what I did notice was this: the young staffers running the event knew most of the attendees personally (and vice versa). When the lead staffer thanked each of her colleagues by name at the beginning of the program, supporters cheered and shouted out things like "We love you, Luke!"

This probably doesn't seem all that noteworthy, but it might be a hint of an important distinction between the Obama campaign and the failed presidential bid of Howard Dean in 2004. Pundits compare the two campaigns frequently, and with reason: Obama, like Dean, is a change candidate with a foundation of support in youth and netroots communities. Dean's campaign fell apart because -- among other things -- it was "made of sand," as one longtime Iowa statesman here put it. Its manpower was entirely disconnected from grassroots activists, and supporters had little allegiance to keep them in the fold when the going got tough. But Obama supporters appear to have a genuine personal fondness for the young campaign workers who have clearly laid down roots in this community. (This is also evidenced, by the way, when Obama thanks his field organizers at the beginning of every town hall, as he always does. Crowds almost always appear to know the young person with the clipboard who Obama points out by name.)

...As is probably obvious, the same can't be said for Huckabee. Republicans, in general, do far less "touches" between the campaign and voters, and the Huckabee camp in particular appears to be flying by the seats of their pants. Their candidate is EXTREMELY media savvy, but he's still got an uphill battle on the ground. Watch the trip here on Monday and Tuesday closely -- it's much more oriented towards TV pictures than it is towards real retail politicking. And Huckabee's staff here simply doesn't have the time or resources to be putting rubber to the road in the same way you'll see from Romney (whose campaign uses a traveling bank of cell phones to nimbly move around the state for evening phone-calling efforts).==

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/02/492702.aspx

Comment: If the organzational strength that was evident at ObamaTime at the Apollo last Thursday os any indication (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3773790), Obama doesn't just have his act together in Iowa.

In Iowa, he is also is getting it done for less money-per-head than the competition:

==The popularity of Obama's campaign has meant he has had little trouble in recruiting, paying less than his rivals: his field workers earn about $2,000 a month, compared with $2,500 for Clinton's and $2,700 for Edwards'.==

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/barackobama/story/0,,2220112,00.html

[AtomicKitten]

1. Obama for the win!

[pstans]

2. Paul Tewes has a done a great job building Obama's organiztion in Iowa

His events are run smoothly and his organization at the Harkin Steak Fry and the JJ were amazing and beat out the campaigns by far.

[ClarkUSA]

3. Obama Overcoming Skeptics -- that's been the story for the past week or two.

Fortunately, he's always had his supporters, who never doubted the cream would rise to the top. I like this part:

The same thing happened when I went to an bema-sponsored caucus training in Knoxville, IA earlier this week. Staffers packed 37 people into a tiny office to teach them what the big night in January will look like. They knew almost all of the participants by name, most of whom were first-time caucus-goers who brought their spouses and friends in tow. Moreover, the mock caucus was FUN -- they voted on PIES instead of actual candidates for a goofy twist -- and the participants came away less intimidated by the whole process.

It's not clear that this affection and connectness is mirrored in all of the 1,700-odd precincts in Iowa, and it's likely that rival campaigns have equally dedicated and beloved organizers in the field as well. But I came away from both organizational events with a pretty strong sense that these true believers aren't going to disappear on caucus night -- unless their candidate does something truly catastrophic between now and then. He might not gain the votes he needs to win Iowa, but my sense is that he's not at the high risk of losing support that one might have imagined a few months ago. Their sense of membership in the Obama movement, cultivated by these bright-eyed young field organizers, seems awfully strong.