Note: I am a campaign blogger for Barack Obama and this is crossposted at BarackObama.com.
Happy New Year, Kossacks! This is what a movement looks like, a taste of the year ahead:
This nationwide enthusiasm is being harnessed into concrete action.
We've got tremendous organizations in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, but we're also equipped well beyond the early states. We have 32 offices open in 17 of the February 5th states; offices in places like Alabama (where we have 3!), North Dakota (check out this local news video from today on our operation there) and even Alaska, which have been all but ignored in past presidential primaries. These 32 staffed offices that empower our grassroots activist to maximize their statewide impact.
Real change doesn't happen because politicians promise it -- it doesn't happen when it comes from the top. Real change happens when it comes from us. Barack Obama understands that better than any other candidate, and that's how this movement has flourished and continues to build momentum.
As of this hour, over 481,000 individuals have made a sacrifice and donated to this campaign. Virtually all of our donors have given under $100; less than three and a half percent of our donors have maxed out.
By January 3rd, a half of a million people will have donated to the Obama campaign, shattering every previous total in presidential primary history.
Regardless of what happens on Thursday, this number will be a thunderclap over the political establishment and the entrenched, big-money interests that have dominated our politics for far too long.
On that day, history will be made -- not just by an individual, but by a movement.