The grassroots organizer gets some love

The American Prospect has Kelly Candaele and Peter Dreier's The Year of the Organizer and I give this one a huge thumbs up. As a grassroots guy, having worked in the trenches myself, I'm thrilled to see some recognition of the art and science of the work. The ground game isn't as sexy as some politics but there's nothing else that does what it can accomplish in that particular race and well beyond. I love the direct, gradual work and find it so authentic. We are indeed selling hope rather than soap.

And a tip of the tam to Barack Obama and his team for recognizing the void and filling it. Another tip is due Marshall Ganz. As Governor Dean's Fifty States Strategy attempts, building counts. So he's due a tip of the tam too. Oh hell, tips of the tam for everyone involved in the Progressive grassroots ... like Arshad Hassan and DFA's Training Academy. I surely learned from Arshad plus my friend and fellow PPC member Matt Blizek is likely doing much for our world now that he's on their staff.

Grassroots organizing is something we Progressives simply must do. Our team might not be able to fund folks like the fatcats but when we get into "a market" (to borrow a right wing term) with a fair fight then we win. P/W