A Plea from a Local DNC Neighborhood Leader

My e-mail to some friends...
Jeff In Milwaukee, DemocraticUnderground.com
Friday, October 26, 2007

"I was at a meeting tonight in Brookfield regarding the Democratic National Committee's Neighborhood Leaders Program. This is an effort to build a community of grassroots organizers in advance of the 2008 election. In the presentation that we saw, the DNC Field Organizer told us that it takes anywhere between 300-400 phone calls or direct mail contacts to yield one additional vote in the General Election. It takes only 14 face-to-face contacts between neighbors to have the same effect.

"The math means that if you target 50 neighbors and talk to them three times in the next year, that's going to yield 10 additional votes. Multiply that by a half million neighborhood organizers, and you've got five million additional votes. That makes a difference.

"What to Neighborhood Leaders do? You start with a list of the people in your neighborhood who you KNOW to be Demcratic, liberal, or Independent (and open-minded). Added to that will be a list of names provided by the DNC. These are people in your neighborhood who maybe you don't know, but are known to be Democrats because of previous contact with Democratic campaigns.

"Then you contact them. With the winter months coming up, nobody expects you to be going door-to-door through the snowdrifts. A simple phone call would be a good ice-breaker. Because they're Democrats and you're a live person who also lives in the neighborhood, you don't have to worry too much about people slamming the receiver down when you call. A backyard cook-out in the summer is another effective (and fun) way to meet your neighbors and make those contacts. You can also go out in September to make sure all your constituents have absentee ballots - in this case you're also offering them a service..."

Read the rest here. And to become a DNC Neighborhood Leader, contact Corinne at DPMC Headquarters: 414-223-3050. Or email info@milwaukeedems.org