A lot has been made of Dean's massive grassroots volunteer GOTV organization, and I'm the first to admit the numbers are in fact impressive. However, as we saw in Iowa, numbers are not everything. The criticism which emanated from politicos after the disappointment in Iowa ran namely along the lines of "too many, too green, too little organization". Burlington vowed to make changes, and some of those changes are evident here on Elm Street in Manchester, with the opening of the Dean Volunteer Operations Center. Josh Marshall also visited the site a few days back, and I share many of his impressions, although during my visit, there were only about a dozen volunteers, and five or six "facilitators".
The idea behind the volunteer center is certainly justifiable; it addresses the criticism that the Iowa volunteer organization was anything but organized. As my press "facilitator" guide assured me during my tour, volunteers are processed as efficiently and quickly as possible from the time they cross through the double doors. Brian, Wampum's new intern, reported during his visit that the line for volunteers spilled out onto the sidewalk, and yet when we both stopped in a half hour later, the crowds were gone, sent out to canvas or wave signs.
I don't believe, however, that the new center will solve the problem it attempts to address, a better, more effecient, more capable, volunteer GOVT effort.
Case and point is the Edwards volunteer effort, lead as I mentioned yesterday, by Kinsey Casey. Half frozen volunteers climb the two long flights of stairs to the third floor headquarters, and are mostly organized for canvassing, lit-dropping and visibility in the cramped hallway. Phone banking and refreshments are located in the middle of staff offices, and oftentimes it's difficult to tell who is paid and who flew in to volunteer for a few days.
And that's the beauty of it, from my point of view. As I sat in the end of the hallway writing last evening, five college-aged individuals sat down, pulled out stacks of literature, DVDs, stickers and started putting together canvassing packs. I asked them where they were from - North Carolina, Chicago, Albany. Then I asked when they'd arrived, expecting, from the confidence in which they moved about their tasks, to hear they been in NH for weeks. They all had arrived on Friday, a mere two days previously.
While often "messy", the benefits of integrating staff and volunteers is immeasurable. It's follows the same principles of "mainstreaming" special needs kids; there is no substitute for "peer modelling". Separating volunteers from professional staff denies them the opportunities to learn the skills critical to run an effective campaign. As the campaign grows from primary effort to a general election race, those volunteers who have mastered those skills can be called upon to help educate and break in a whole new class of volunteers, and may often graduate to paid staff in smaller campaigns. It's part of the evolution of political "hackery" (in the positive sense of the word.)
While it's great to have a launching ground for GOTV election day activities separate from central campaign offices, it should be a one day affair. While talk of empowerment is heady, instilling volunteers with the nuts and bolts of organizing a campaign is truly empowering, as I saw from the young Edwards volunteers.
Posted by MB Williams at January 26, 2004 03:45 PM | TrackBack