What Happened in Cali?

From my friend Adam:

Charlie. I wanted to share my thoughts about the California work we've done and where we'll go from here:

The results were undoubtedly disappointing. We secretly hoped to win, told ourselves we'd be happy to lose by 1-5%, and are down about losing by 10%. The lessons learned are that organization matters more than anything else. The Clintons had big turnout among Latinos, especially in LA. They worked the phones, walked the streets, and dragged people to the polls. We tried to do the same here in the Bay Area, but I think we fell short. The biggest disappointment was the turnout among African-Americans. As I canvassed I walked up to groups of African-American men and asked if they voted, and usually they shrugged or didn't know their polling place or weren't interested. The ground operation wasn't strong enough; there wasn't the groundswell that gets people out of their houses and to the polling places. I hoped this county (Alameda) would be dominant for Obama, with UC Berkeley and Oakland as strong support areas. Instead he only won by 6%.

The lessons are to really organize and get in the communities so that everyone knows and everyone votes. We have to really build up the enthusiasm so it feels like a movement. I think that Clinton is the default candidate, meaning that voters who don't know that much or haven't been paying attention vote for her, because they recognize her name. The way to counter that is with strong enthusiasm. Also, get people involved. The more people at a rally or canvassing, the more it feels like something worth belonging to.

Good luck in the VA and MD primaries.