Clinton team adds 2 California directors
Preparing for her official White House campaign kickoff, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s team is bringing on two paid regional directors in California as part of what’s being described as a “major grassroots organizing effort” to create a presidential campaign infrastructure in all 50 states.
The effort, called the “Ramp Up Grassroots Organizing Program,” is designed to place paid staffers in every state and the District of Columbia, as well as U. S. territories, by the end of May to prepare for the opening salvo of Clinton’s run for the White House, campaign sources said.
The staffers will build campaign infrastructure, plan voter engagement events, hold training sessions and energize grassroots supporters, the campaign said. The two directors for California — one in the north, one in the south — signal that the Clinton campaign will compete hard in every state, sources said. The campaign promises that even in California, a solidly blue state that is home to 1 in 8 U. S. voters but has been generally ignored by presidential candidates because it is not a traditional battleground and votes so late in the primary season, Clinton’s team is not taking the state’s primary for granted.
The strategy follows Clinton’s use of more intimate events so far in key states such as Iowa, where she has roamed in a van and met with small groups of voters to talk about the economy and jobs.
The former U. S. senator and secretary of state is expected to hold a rally in May marking her official campaign kickoff, and teams in places like California will use that event to also launch events like rallies and house parties to fire up the grassroots, sources said.
The Huffington Post reported Wednesday that the Clinton campaign will send an e- mail to supporters from Marlon Marshall, Clinton’s director of state campaigns, to explain the new drive.
“Organizing is the heart and soul of this campaign,” Marshall says in the video link provided to supporters. “As we speak, things are ramping up in all 50 states and the territories. Face- to- face conversations with your friends and neighbors are how we will win. So we’re doubling down on oldschool organizing.”
The latest move comes on the heels of a “Hillstarters” fundraising program that urges Clinton backers to raise the maximum primary donation of $ 2,700 from 10 people. Those early bundlers are expected to get invited to VIP camapign events, like a “Hillstarters” summit starring Clinton next month.