On Saturday, several members of the Obama campaign sat on a Netroots Nation panel named "Organizing for Change: An Inside Look at Obama For America's Grassroots Strategy." The discussion was moderated by new media director Joe Rospars and featured deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand, Ohio general election director Jeremy Bird, and Georgia deputy field director Joy Cushman.
Of all the panels I attended in Austin, this was one of the more newsworthy, as it's quite rare that you get to hear directly from the Obama organizers and field operatives -- the real backbone of the campaign and the key to Barack's primary success.
The video below shows Bird describing his experiences organizing for Obama in South Carolina, where he served as field director during the primary. I'll be posting additional video from the event in the coming days.
Here's the first part of Bird's presentation:
Here's the brief video shown during the event:
And back to Bird, who tells a fascinating story about a 37-year-old Obama volunteer in Florence, SC who decided to try to unseat a long-time mayoral incumbent using the campaign infrastructure left in place after the presidential primary. He won by a single vote:
Anonymous on Fri, 07/25/2008 - 18:33
Winning the South Carolina primary by the 2:1 margin you did was an extraordinary achievement in very Republican South Carolina. It is meaningful that today, in polls looking toward the general election, the tally here is very close, and Obama has a real chance to win South Carolina again. Few pundits give him a real chance. Our representation is abysmal, and it would be significant if Barack can triumph here.
Dean Schuyler
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