I had envisioned this diary as the second in a series on the subject of learning the leadership ropes in a modern grassroots political campaign. My previous experience as an activist has been in a more of a support role. But in full disclosure, I was elected chairperson of the above group, so I do have a built in bias, and I admit freely that I don’t have all the answers. So that said, here we go. In the first diary I wrote on this subject we reported having difficulty connecting with the State Bernie 2016 Campaign, something many of you out there have also experienced. Fortunately that problem was solved with the presence of the two field organizers, Oliver and Alex, who attended our meeting last Tuesday.

In addition to the news they gave us about the campaign, they also discussed the role that they could play in our planned activities. We realize we are fortunate to be in an early primary state where there is now a robust organization to support our efforts. Our job then is to make sure the enthusiasm currently powering Bernie’s huge rallies and steady rise in the polls translates into votes at the ballot box.

In order to do that, the organizers informed us they could support us with scrubbed data for phone banking and canvassing activities, so that we can connect with our own potential voters and not waste time phoning/door knocking where the door would be slammed in our faces. This was a great concern to us as we had researched the work and costs of creating our own lists, and undoubtedly the effort to do it would have not only been doomed to failure, it would have seriously depleted the energy we need for other activities. As far as literature for handouts and flyers is concerned, they had us covered there too with campaign approved documentation. For additional information they directed us to the official sites here and here. And they did agree with us that the excellent grassroots website feelthebern.org was a good resource for those who were undecided and wanted more information about Bernie’s positions.

Also of importance were the implications of fundraising on all of us as individuals and as a group with respect to FEC guidelines and reporting. We were discouraged from doing our own fundraising because raising over $1,000 as a group would require us to follow FEC reporting guidelines as a PAC. This would eliminate our ability to coordinate directly with the campaign as a volunteer group and thus seriously curtail our activities and effectiveness. For an excellent treatment of this subject and what constitutes a contribution, see the FEC website for this citizens guide to fundraising. But something is really wrong when a volunteer group can’t raise a thousand dollars for Bernie, but the Koch Bros. can spend a $Billion to influence up and down ballot elections across the country.

Our next meeting is scheduled for this coming Tuesday when we will begin planning our first tabling and phone banking activities, forming organizational committees, and assigning specific tasks to individual members. Also on our agenda this coming week is attendance at a meeting of two groups from Vermont, made up of seasoned activists dedicated to helping out with canvassing, phone banking and similar campaign activities in NH. We are excited about this contact which will stretch our reach and which we made through the same website link that you probably used to sign up for the organizing event on the 29th of July.

I would encourage those of you in later primary states that abut early ones to emulate the VT groups and check the above site out every few days, as there are constantly new activities being posted. There are also similar groups in MA and ME to help Bernie win in NH. By organizing this way you can not only help us win the early primaries, but you will be geared up and ready to pivot to your own primary organization, and hit the ground running when your time for GOTV comes. If you are starting your own group, some good ideas on organizing can be found in the campaign’s on line organizing toolkit.

But possibly the most useful activity for those in later primary states is in getting non voters, Independents, and former Republican voters who are Bernie supporters to register as Democrats in closed primary states like New York and Arizona. Without this registration they won’t be able to vote for Bernie. A good source of information on primary dates, status, and registration guidelines can be found at voteforbernie.org. This information should be double-checked with your secretary of state’s website for any changes in dates and/or new voter suppression laws passed in many states with Republican legislatures, and which take effect in this round of elections.

There is more I could say and I know I have left out many important issues like voter registration, outreach to students and campuses, letters to the editor, etc. so if you have something to add, join in the discussion below. If you are nearby and want to hook up please Kosmail me. Hopefully I have given some of you some incentive to go out and start your own groups for Bernie, if you can’t find one that fits near you. As the man is fond of saying.

It’s not about me…It’s about you...

and I would add it’s about all of us. Or, as a member of our group said when faced with a four hour weeknight drive to meet with the folks in VT, “if you want good government you have to be willing to do the work”. Please join us in this effort, because if enough of us get involved we can win this thing.