Grassroots Report: Montana

Here in the state with the biggest sky I have ever seen (really!), we have 4 senior organizers who have been on the ground since the first week of September. Our program is called “Big Sky! Big Win!” They are covering Missoula, Helena, Butte, Bozeman and Billings. We will be hiring 5 additional organizers to work on the Native American reservations across the state in October.

We’re also fortunate to work with 6 Montana Federation of Teachers/Montana Education Association retiree organizers who are engaged with speaking directly to teachers and coordinating with other local union members in nearly every one of the 57 counties in the state.

Big Sky! Big Win! is all about identifying supporters early and making sure we get them out to polls on election day. We are working to add 10,000 voters to our “Yes List” in September and another 10,000 voters in the first three weeks of October. We do this so that our targeted campaigns have identified supporters to get to the polls on Election Day, certainly, but also to encourage people to begin the early vote process which starts October 6th.

Our organizers have hit the ground running. Just a couple of quick anecdotes from our organizers:

Eli, who is working in the Billings area, has already personally called hundreds of supporters and he organized volunteers who talked to 250 voters last night alone. They identified 45 people who said “Yes, I am going to vote for…” Eli is also meeting with local elected officials, labor union leaders and key members of Montana Conservation groups.

Olivia, who works the Missoula area, coordinated a joint literature drop over the weekend that delivered our candidates’ information to 1,314 selected doors. They were able to round up several volunteers to make calls, identified good visibility locations and built a Yes List of 125 voters. She had also integrated our candidates activities with mainstream Obama events.

Lastly, John has worked extensively with the Superintendent of Schools and Attorney General candidates to recruit volunteers for their campaigns; set-up office space in the state capitol; coordinate with AFL-CIO staff; identify 32 volunteers to make calls with 14 people beginning immediately as well as finding 5 people to knock on doors in key precincts.

One funny note – We unknowingly called the Republican candidate for Governor, Roy Brown, and asked him to volunteers to make calls. I think we almost had him convinced!

Wonderful Event Hosted By the Stillwater Dems

Big Sky! Big Win! is coordinating its efforts with the Montana Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign, the Obama operation along with the Governor and U.S. Senate Campaigns.

I just returned from the Montana a few days ago and I can honestly tell you that people there are excited about the Democratic ticket – but we need to make sure we harness their energy. We’re pleased to be in Montana working with our partners to win the state for the top of the ticket, increase Democratic margins the State House and Senate and elect Steve Bullock (Attorney General), Linda McCulloch (Secretary of State) and Denise Juneau (Superintendent of Public Instruction) to statewide office.

Check back soon for the latest information on all our activities in Montana and across the country!

UPDATED: Here is a nice writeup by the Billings Gazette about Steve Bullock, our candidate for Attorney General