50 State Strategy in Your Neighborhood

by: Jorge C. Santos

Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 03:37:36 PM EST

As New Jersey's Super Tuesday results showed, big-time, voters from both red and blue parts of the state are participating at record levels. And we have a bumper-crop of hundreds of thousands of new Democrats.  But all this phenomenal participatory democracy needs local leadership to follow-up and keep it hot. DNC Chair Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy has been a fight-everywhere movement to recognize and give tools to grassroots power. And in that spirit, I want to let you know about a program that the DNC is putting into place with the NJ
Democratic State Committee.

It's designed to put the 50-State Strategy right into your own hands, and in your own neighborhood. This is a direct invitation to all active Democrats. We're hoping you can help us build something extraordinary.

It's called the Neighborhood Leader Program.  The work of Neighborhood Leaders is simple - they'll each talk to 25 voters at least three times before Election Day 2008, and they'll recruit two more people to become Neighborhood Leaders as well. It's very doable and we can walk you through it.

The success of the Neighborhood Leader Program lies directly in the method of voter contact - direct, personal conversations with voters at the door or on the phone.  Every campaign knows that these are the most effective ways of communicating with and persuading swing voters. Personal communication works better than TV ads, better than mailers, better than robocalls - it's the essence of grassroots politics.

Democratic Party staffers, like me, are working across the country organizing house parties and meet ups to train local activists in the program.  By Election Day, there will be tens if not hundreds of thousands of these Neighborhood Leaders across the country with a big chunk right here in the Garden State.

This is designed so that you can have maximum impact in your own neighborhood, with no time wasted. As a Neighborhood Leader, you agree to be the Democratic contact for your little group of target voters, and - this is important - it will also work the other way around, so that you're representing those voters to the Democratic Party. You agree to reach out to your voter group three times between now and Election Day- the time commitment is about an hour week for three weeks spread over the course of the 2008 campaign.  In some cases, you will be the only contact these voters have with the Democratic Party.  You will be helping the entire slate of Democratic candidates in your area from President to Senate to Congress and the local level.

Lists, lit pieces, scripts and other materials will be sent out from the NJ DSC and you can always call or email with any questions you might have about the program.

I hope to hear from you soon!

Jorge Santos
NJ Democratic State Committee
609.392.3367
jsantos@njdems.org