February 15, 2008
Finally...
The staffers have spoken. Things are finally happening. We had a meeting last night at the North/Stockyards office with them and they explained what they have been doing with their noses in their laptops; crunching data. In particular, voter data. The staff has been combing over every bit of data they can find on Tarrant County, trying to figure out what places to hit the hardest. Finally, it's game on.
If you are, or would like to be, a precinct captain, come to the Fort Worth Precinct Captain training session tomorrow. It's at the Montessori Academy again.
When: Saturday, February 16, 9:00 - 11 a.m.
Where: the East Fort Worth Montessori Academy located at 501 Oakland Blvd. Fort Worth 76103 (corner of Randol Mill Road and Oakland).
Equipment to Bring: Your voter registration card, a pencil, a notebook, and your own refreshments.Why: Because the 'Change You Can Believe In' can't happen without your help.
Hoped for Donation: $5 to cover the cost of the facility and incidentals. (We local volunteers are paying for this!)
And only come if you plan on working your ass off from now until March 4th. This is not a rally, it won't be a get to know you, warm fuzzy kind of morning. This is time to get serious. So only bring others that want to be precinct captains with you. We have limited space and resources, so please, only serious, serious volunteers. You can go home and share all you learn with everyone else.
I do have some good news. The East Fort Worth office is finally ready to open. We have the cert. of occupancy, so now we can start to get things rolling there. I will be there Saturday after the training session and Sunday getting the windows painted and receiving donated supplies. Our super-staffer, Cisco, seems pretty frickin' motivated, so I have know doubt we will be seeing a lot happen there over the next day or two. I will post a phone number as soon as we have one.
Unfortunately I can't give you some actual "this is what to do news" right now. I am doing everything I can to pry info out of the staffers, but they are busy as shit getting everything ready for Saturday morning and beyond. They are out at the malls, the colleges and every where else scouting people and locations for events, visibility and volunteers. The event tomorrow is pretty important for getting things going, and having seen the presentation for tomorrow, I am feeling much better about things.
There is one issue I do feel needs addressed though. At the meeting last night, and in several conversations with volunteers, I have found that people don't seem to get the people power thing. The staff can never know your neighborhood the way you do, can never speak at your church, school or work like you can, and can't be expected to tell you what to do every second of the day. This campaign depends on every one of us doing our part, what ever we can do. So if you aren't already, start talking with the people around you. Plan a house party, find something to do, just get to work.
The data that we all crave, phone numbers and addresses, is already beginning to roll out. Tomorrow the staff will show you how to access it, what to do with it, and then it is up to all of us to use it. But don't let that stop you from gathering as many committed volunteers' info today. The staff loves to be given more Obama supporters names and numbers. And direct everyone to the campaign site. It's the best tool out there for collecting the data they need.
Anyhow, that's what I got for now. See you in the morning. If you want to be really helpful, show up a little early and set up a couple of chairs, because setting up over 200 will wear me out. There will be coffee and donuts, but we need creamer, sugar, cups, etc. because these things aren't free. Please remember we are doing this on our dime, not the campaign's. They need to spend money on much more important things.