Obama’s Florida campaign network gets back to work

BY BETH REINHARD, Miami Herald

Four months after the election, President Barack Obama is resurrecting his campaign army in Florida and nationwide to help him sell his $3.5 trillion budget to Congress.

It's the first call to action by Organizing for America, the Democratic Party initiative to turn the campaign's vast grass-roots network into a year-round support system that registers voters, promotes the administration's policies and lays the groundwork for a second term.

Known informally as Obama 2.0 because it represents the second phase of the Internet-savvy campaign, the program will test the staying power of a celebrity president long after the bumper stickers start to fade.

The Democratic Party plans to deploy staffers across the country over the next several weeks, including 35 to 40 people in Florida, the nation's largest swing state. The campaign-in-waiting could set the stage for Florida Democrats in the 2010 election, when a U.S. Senate seat and possibly other statewide offices will be up for grabs.

''It's an investment in Florida Democratic grass-roots like we've never seen before that will pay long-term dividends,'' said Eric Jotkoff, a spokesman for the state party.

Republicans are skeptical that Democrats will be able to sustain the campaign's momentum as the economy continues to deteriorate. Obama's national finance team met Tuesday in Washington for the first time since the election to discuss raising money for the effort.

''It's easier to raise money when you are capitalizing on the enthusiasm for a candidate right before an election,'' said Miami political consultant Freddy Balsera, who was among 20 Florida donors at the meeting.

``Our challenge is going to be to generate the same level of enthusiasm around the party and around ideas.''

E-mails from Organizing for America look like urgent, preelection missives, adorned with the campaign logo and links to websites to donate money to the Democratic Party and volunteer. Supporters are being asked this week to circulate pledge cards in support of Obama's budget proposal, contact members of Congress, and to canvass their neighborhoods on Saturday.

`NEW DIRECTION'

''It's up to you to show Washington that Americans are demanding this new direction and won't stand on the sidelines while our country's future is at stake,'' says one recent e-mail.

Plantation attorney Alan Ehrlich, who put his practice on hold last year to volunteer full-time for the campaign, said his dining room table is still cluttered with sign-up sheets and other trappings of a campaign.

Ehrlich was among 1,700 ''team leaders'' in Florida who sought to organize their neighborhoods into mini political machines. Now he's reaching out to the same crew of volunteers to promote Obama's agenda on healthcare, education and energy.

''A lot of people during the campaign were in this routine of doing voter registration and holding signs up, and I don't think it's over,'' he said. ``We want to keep the momentum going.''

Obama's top advisors have been planning the public relations offensive for months. Miami Beach attorney Daniel Jonas was among about two dozen Obama volunteers invited to a pep talk last month by Patrick Gaspard, the national political director from the campaign who now works at the White House.

NOT DONE YET

''He was thanking people and reminding them that their job is not done yet,'' Jonas said. ``We need to hit the streets make it clear that the public is behind the president.''

In Congress, Obama is facing mounting opposition from Republicans to a spending plan that projects a $1.75 trillion deficit for the fiscal year. A loosely organized group of Republican opponents have staged American colonist-inspired ''tea parties'' in South Florida and around the country in protest.

''Campaigns don't end on election day anymore, and Florida will continue to be a target state for both Democrats and Republicans,'' said Erin Van Sickle, spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Florida. ``We are confident that we have the resources, including grass-roots volunteers and staff on the ground, to continue to ramp up our voter outreach and registration efforts.''