OFA’s effectiveness: 100,000 signatures

OK, we’ve been on the lookout for how effective President Obama’s political unit, Organizing for America, was last weekend in its grassroots effort to drum up support for Obama’s budget.

Some numbers are starting to emerge.

Scott Kraus of the Allentown Morning Call reports the following:

The verdict: More than 100,000 signatures collected at 1,200 events attended by 10,000 volunteers. The group is calling that a strong showing, but let’s do the math.

That means the typical canvassing event was attended by fewer than 9 volunteers who on average, collected 10 signatures each. Not exactly a groundswell.

Organizing for America spokeswoman Natalie Wyeth said the campaign and post-election organizing efforts are “apples and oranges,” and that OFA is only just getting started. Saturday’s effort was pure door-to-door, volunteer-driven, without the help of paid staff or the detailed database-driven lists the campaign used last fall, she said.

“This is kind of more all encompassing,” Wyeth said, adding that canvassers talked to anyone who’d listen, including McCain supporters. She said OFA is very new and that its organizers are still experimenting. Eventually, each state should have it’s own paid staffer.

I am still waiting for more statistics, but I sort of agree with Kraus: These aren’t exactly earth shattering numbers for a nationwide effort.

jeremy.jacobs@digital-stage.thehill.com