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Obama's organisational advantage

James Forsyth

Sunday, 2nd March 2008

After I’d been to Clinton HQ, I went along to see what the Obama campaign were doing. The first thing that strikes you is how the two campaigns have swapped roles. While the Clinton office is out of town next to a discount furniture store, the Obama one is in a corporate office building in the heart of downtown. It is now Obama offices—not Clinton ones—that have people chaperoning the press.

The Obama people here are very keen to stress how much of a grassroots’ efforts their campaign here is. They emphasise how there was a volunteer campaign already up and running before any paid staff arrived.

Given the caucus element to the Texas vote, which requires voters to turn up for an hour after the polls close, having motivated supporters is a huge advantage. The Obama team already have more than 4,000 precinct captains; the Clinton campaign are still trying to sign them up at every opportunity.

To date in this campaign, Obama has had a huge advantage in caucus states—winning 11 of them and splitting the result in Nevada. Texas is regarded as the ‘Olympics of field’ by the Obama organisers and with 4,000 precinct captains they are well placed to win gold.