Interesting article in today's Chronicle about Democratic presidential aspirants staffing up in California for the March 3 primary (in which voting by mail has already begun). The state is simply too big for most traditional "ground games" to have any wide impact. Nonetheless, billionaire Bloomberg has gone big: he has 300 staffers according to this report. Bernie has 90; Warren 50; Biden 20.
Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, who organized election field work in the state for both Obama and Hillary Clinton, makes an observation about putting up a field effort here that I find accurate:
One possibility: California does have a good sized cohort of professional signature gatherers who survive on the piecework job of qualifying measures for ballots. It's a difficult, high turnover, activity, but I did once know someone who funded a law school education that way. Maybe campaigns can find some of their low level staff there? These people have a significant skill.
There's another current obstacle to campaigns staffing up: people who are available for human contact work are being recruited by the 2020 Census for $30 an hour. Compared to the campaigns, that's a real job with a considerable duration. If I wanted such a job, I'd go that way unless I had an ideological attachment to a candidate. Mike Bloomberg might have to offer a very high rate for a small return.
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Because I am Walking San Francisco, I can provide a little anecdata from the last month about campaigns' visibility. There's plenty of Bernie litter (doorhangers) in the Mission, Bernal, and SOMA; there are scattered Warren signs in many neighborhoods, but not a huge number; Mayor Pete's signs are quite prominent in Folsom Gulch; and I noted a lone Bloomberg sign in Pacific Heights.
It's not that enthusiasm for dumping Trump is low. I spent some time yesterday calling people who've signed up with Seed the Vote to go work in Arizona and Nevada next October to elect whoever emerges from the primary. These folks will be ready to go. We all have to be.
Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, who organized election field work in the state for both Obama and Hillary Clinton, makes an observation about putting up a field effort here that I find accurate:
That's fine as far as unpaid work goes. Volunteers can be tremendously helpful unpaid assets. And paid phone banks are always a possibility since they can be located anywhere -- except that research shows that the return from such calls is close to non-existent. But in a near-to-full-employment economy, where are campaigns going to pick up short term staffers who can competently organize and carry out voter contact, especially at the doors?“The beauty of California, even if you don’t have a lot of time, is that we have a lot of volunteers across the state, a really highly trained activist base, who know how to do this,” Wicks said.
One possibility: California does have a good sized cohort of professional signature gatherers who survive on the piecework job of qualifying measures for ballots. It's a difficult, high turnover, activity, but I did once know someone who funded a law school education that way. Maybe campaigns can find some of their low level staff there? These people have a significant skill.
Because I am Walking San Francisco, I can provide a little anecdata from the last month about campaigns' visibility. There's plenty of Bernie litter (doorhangers) in the Mission, Bernal, and SOMA; there are scattered Warren signs in many neighborhoods, but not a huge number; Mayor Pete's signs are quite prominent in Folsom Gulch; and I noted a lone Bloomberg sign in Pacific Heights.
It's not that enthusiasm for dumping Trump is low. I spent some time yesterday calling people who've signed up with Seed the Vote to go work in Arizona and Nevada next October to elect whoever emerges from the primary. These folks will be ready to go. We all have to be.
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