More on Obama/ODP Campaign Coordination

On Tuesday I raised the issue of whether the Obama campaign in Ohio would impede or displace the Ohio Democratic Party's coordinated campaign on behalf of downticket races, based on a report out of Iowa. Today Todd Hoffman, Director of Internet Operations for the ODP, distributed a joint memo from the ODP and the Obama campaign outlining a cooperative campaign effort - the text of which is reprinted on BSB here.

Titled "Unprecedented Cooperation between the Obama campaign and the Ohio Democratic Party," the memo says that the two have "moved quickly to combine their operations in a way that will win elections at all levels in Ohio." As reported in Iowa, key staffers "at the Columbus HQ and in the field across the state" have been transferred to the Obama campaign, and the Obama campaign is headquartered in the ODP building in Columbus. The memo appears to indicate that the 4,000 "neighborhood leaders" previously recruited by the ODP for door-to-door canvassing are to be swept into the Obama campaign, and the following steps will be taken to "make sure we have victories at all levels in November":

Recruiting 10,000 more volunteer canvassers: Ohio has 11,500 precincts. By September 1st, we want every precinct covered by at least one volunteer, and “heavied up” with multiple canvassers in our most important precincts.

Additional polling to further understand Ohio’s voters: Better data about voters’ issues and value preferences mean canvassers have more effective conversations at the door, that mail and phones are more precisely targeted, and that paid resources are being more effectively spent.

Aggressive voter registration drives and knocking doors: This election will be won by neighbors talking to their neighbors and bringing as many new voters into the process as possible. It is crucial that this work is done now on a statewide scale.

Also today, Justin Miller has a story at PolitickerOH.com with more details. He reports that Obama canvassers will ID voters in General Assembly and Congressional races as well as the presidential race, an improvement over the presidential-only effort in 2004. All the data will go into ODP voter files that are available to downticket campaigns. A local party official told Miller that the Obama campaign plans to hire "300 paid organizers for its field work, 25 in Franklin County alone," and Obama communications director Isaac Baker promised "a very significant field presence in every corner of Ohio and every community across the state."

Miller also indicates that the Obama campaign has hired Greg Schultz, a former legislative liaison for Gov. Ted Strickland, as deputy political director. It has also hired Jackie Bray, deputy field director for Hillary Clinton's Ohio campaign, as its statewide field director. In addition to Aaron Pickrell, this gives the Obama campaign at least three top staffers who are intimately familiar with campaigning in Ohio.