-Diary 2-
NOTE: This Diary is a sequel to a previous diary. Kossacks are encouraged to read the first one.
Ohio Organizing Fellowship $ Meter:
CURRENT: $140
GOAL: $550
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--More below the fold--
By the end of 2007, I had a base of young volunteers full of energy and ready to work hard for The Man.
Following that summer, I organized several events with my volunteers in which we made hundreds of calls to Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. We knocked on hundreds of doors in upstate South Carolina nearly every Saturday for three months. We all listened to worried mothers and pessimistic college kids.
I had the profound privilege to shake Barack's hand and meet personally with his head foreign policy adviser, Dr. Susan Rice. I have also attended an infinite number of volunteer trainings, and I have hosted several training sessions of my own.
Amidst SATs, college applications, interviews, classes, community service, work, and friends, I made room for Barack's campaign. It was crucial and I recognized the urgent need for an Obama Administration.
Then, came the week leading up to January 26th, 2008: the South Carolina primary. It seemed my entire life had been devoted to organizing and volunteering for this day, and it was finally upon me. I was a Runner Poll Checker Director and a Phone Bank Captain in the Southern half of Union County. On Election Day, never had I encountered more stress: volunteers without direction, voting machine problems, and innumerable complaints all compiled on top of three hours of sleep. When the polls closed that day, and I saw the extraordinary margins we won by, I realized the profound difference that the grassroots makes. In the main precinct (Carlisle, SC) in which I was in charge the final tally was: 192 votes for Obama, 19 for Clinton, 14 for Edwards. That night Obama won South Carolina by a 55%-27% margin.
Barack was on a fast track to the Presidency and I was elated. However, the hard work was still not over...
(Stay tuned for future diaries describing my work in North Carolina...)
--FAST FORWARD TO NOW--
Recently, I received the AMAZING letter from the Obama Organizing Fellowship Program. It read:
Congratulations!
We've reviewed your fellowship application, and we are pleased to offer you admission into the Ohio Obama Organizing Fellows program.
The program in Ohio will begin with a three-day training June 14th - 16th. After training, you will work with our staff and other fellows to organize for Barack in communities across the state through July 26th.
In order to accept the position and participate in the Fellows program, you must fill out this form by Monday, May 26th at 5:00 p.m. Central:
http://my.barackobama.com/...
If you accept this offer and join the program, someone from the campaign will call you next week to welcome you personally, discuss further details, and answer any questions you have.
Thank you for all that you've done -- we look forward to meeting you and working with you in the weeks and months ahead.
(name censored)
Voter Contact Director
Obama for America
On June 14th, 5,000 other young volunteers and I will travel to our respective battleground states to begin organizing the areas for the General Election.
The campaign has warned us that the work will be hard. It will require a minimum of 30 hrs./week and little to no sleep. My experiences with this campaign have taught me several rules:
- Don't expect sleep - you won't get any.
- Coffee is your best friend.
- Pizza is dinner... every night.
- Don't every think you are done with data entry - there's always more...
- When Barack gives his victory speech, it's always worth it.
I will be an Ohio fellow. This means that several other fellows and I will attend a training in Columbus and then disperse across the state to organize communities and volunteers. This includes hosting trainings, leading canvass teams, and organizing voter registration efforts.
The campaign is providing housing, and that's all. While being a Fellow will be rewarding, it will also be expensive. I will be expected to pay for gas and all of my food.
My goal and my challenge to the DKos community is help me put everything in to this fellowship. If you help me today, I will not have to get a part-time job in Ohio, and I will be able to work even harder.
My goal is to raise $550 which all go towards gas and food for the two months that I will be organizing in this crucial state. Ohio is crucial for a Democratic victory in November, and it will take a lot of work to keep it in the Democratic column.
Please stay tuned for future diaries in which I will share with you my fund raising progress and other anecdotes from my campaign experiences over the past year.
Thank you again for all of your help and Yes, We Can!