What has Organization of America accomplished since Election '08?

By GottaLaff

TPM has asked the questions I've been asking for a year, but they got answers. See, they did what I failed to do: They went to the source. Now why didn't I think of that?

TPMDC has learned that 24.7 percent of the donations made online to OFA are new donors - people who didn't give during the campaign. That's a pretty striking figure give that a record 3 million people donated during 2007 and 2008.

That's encouraging!

Organizationally, the boots-on-the-ground, Washington outsider vibe has translated into real results as well.

Even better!

I'm giving you the barest of bare bones, so please read the whole post here. It's an exclusive, and I don't want to be grabby.

Since June 6 when the health care push began in earnest, 95 percent of OFA's efforts have been focused on health care.

Good, good. I'm liking this.

In addition, OFA volunteers from 2008 and this year invested time in training new supporters, who learned community organizing techniques that will help Democrats and Obama going forward, they said. [...]

Bird and Stewart shared several stories about OFA supporters on the ground whose calls seemed to make the difference convincing representatives in Arizona and West Virginia. They said Obama gets renergized from these stories and from reconnecting with the grassroots group that helped him win the presidency last year. [...]

[T]he OFA volunteers are spread out across the country and do outreach to all 535 members of Congress. They also get involved in other issues, and organized locally to help tsunami victims in American Samoa.

OFA stays engaged with supporters who aren't as interested in health care, sending out emails on the climate change bill that's pending in Congress, and targeting college supporters on the issue of student loan reform.

Bird said hearing positive stories from volunteers keeps them grounded in reality.

Now go read what I left out.