Team Hillary in Newton

I attended a Team Hillary party on Thursday night where we talked about the campaign in Pennsylvania. Several people involved in the Team Hillary group from Newton, MA., a group initially organized to volunteer in New Hampshire by Massachusetts State Representatives Ruth Balser and Kay Kahn, is going to Pennsylvania from April 17-22. Kay and Ruth's group of volunteers has been active in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island. The Clinton campaign asked Kay and Ruth to "adopt" towns in New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Of course, we worked in Newton for the Massachusetts primary. (Obama won Newton by only 19 votes, which was considered a tremendous victory for Team Hillary since Newton was considered Obama territory.) We worked out of the Salem, NH office for the NH primary and adopted Warwick, RI for the primary onMarch 4. Team Hillary-Newton has adopted Bucks County, PA for the Pennsylvania primary on April 22; we will be working from the campaign office in Bristol, PA.

I don't know if state and local politicians in other states have been asked by the campaign to organize a volunteer corps to adopt a particular location, but it is a model that should be used for the upcoming primaries. Kay's and Ruth's extensive networks have put together a formidable volunteer movement. Hillary's decisive victory in the Salem and surrounding areas in New Hampshire was possible in large part, I believe, because of a very effective collaboration between experienced state and local politicians and the young campaign staff. In my opinion, the staff in Columbus, Ohio needed guidance from experienced local and state politicians--see my entry "Buckeyes for Hillary"for a discussion of the organizing effort in Ohio. I didn't see evidence of any supervision in Ohio.

I hope that political scientists and historians studying Hillary's historic march to the White House will consider the significant role played by local and state politicians in organizing and leading a grassroots volunteer movement.