Following President Obama's success in the Nov. 4 election, volunteers and workers for his election campaign are remaining active in promoting the policies of the Obama administration.
Organizing for America is a national grassroots movement stemming from Obama's campaign and affiliated with the Democratic National Committee. OFA kicked off a series of Wisconsin meetings Tuesday night with a town-hall-style discussion in Sun Prairie.
According to OFA State Director Dan Grandone, the two purposes of OFA are to build on the grassroots organization and activism that developed during the campaign and to promote Obama's agenda on health care, education and energy. Tuesday's listening session was the first of 20 stops Grandone will make throughout the state.
""We're very excited of course about winning the election and President Obama becoming president … but people I think by and large realize the job is not done and now it's time and an opportunity for us to try to pass the policies that were at the root of his platform during the campaign."" Grandone said.
He said since the campaign, the enthusiasm for Obama has not died out and OFA has received ""thousands"" of calls from people wanting to get involved in the organization.
After attendees shared stories about why they became involved in the Obama campaign, Grandone asked them to share their visions for OFA in Wisconsin, which is still in the process of defining itself.
""We are building this plane as we fly it,"" Grandone said, adding he hopes to take attendees' comments and incorporate them into OFA's structure.
Some suggestions from supporters included keeping the statewide organization in contact through e-mail and encouraging involvement from youth and minority citizens.
Many agreed volunteer training will be essential for the organization, citing the need for volunteers to adapt to the idea of governing as opposed to campaigning and the hope that the organization can attract Democrats, Republicans and independents.
""Electing President Obama was not enough,"" Grandone said. ""Now we have got to take this to the next step … so we can move these issues that we care about forward.""
