MoveOn Gears Up for 2008

Normally, I wouldn't take note of a job description, but this one from MoveOn.org Political Action piqued my interest. (And while they haven't yet posted it on our free job-board, you can check out some other cool positions there or list your own.) They're looking for an Electoral Organizing Tools Project Manager to work "on the development of cutting edge online organizing tools." Here are some excerpts from the job description, which lays out an ambitious but not unrealistic plan for the giant e-group, and hints at some significant upgrades in its integration of technology in its field organizing.

Our plan to win back the White House in November relies on mobilizing 150,000 volunteers in a massive voter contact program using these tools. This election is going to come down to who gets the most voters to the polls on Election Day. That's why we're planning one of the biggest voter-turnout programs progressives have ever run. We'll be calling millions of voters, knocking on millions of doors and using the latest technology to maximize our effectiveness.

At the core of our get-out-the-vote effort is the neighbor-to-neighbor program we ran in 2004 called "Leave No Voter Behind." We knocked on more than 4.2 million doors that year. Recently, researchers at Yale found that this face-to-face canvassing by MoveOn members didn't just increase voter turnout--it was one of the most powerful get-out-the-vote tactics ever studied.

We're also integrating the phone-banking effort we ran in 2006, "Call for Change," so that MoveOn members who aren't in swing states can make a big impact on this election by calling voters in swing states. We made 7 million voter calls this way--and paved the way for a big Democratic win in 2006.

This year, we'll take everything we know works and add new tactics to get all the voters we need to the polls on Election Day.

* We're enhancing our "micro-targeting" abilities to ensure that we find every progressive voter, even those in conservative neighborhoods or households.
* We're developing a sophisticated new effort targeting independent and 'swing' voters, to give them more information and persuade them to vote our way.
* We'll also be reaching out to voters who vote early or to ensure that we contact as many voters as possible before they cast their ballots.

Every part of this ambitious plan relies on software applications that we'll use to involve members and to increase voter education and turnout.

* We'll build on our current online precinct tool that volunteers in target states can use to take responsibility for turning out specific voters, to print walk lists, to enter results, to recruit and communicate with a team of other volunteers, and to host canvassing parties. We'll add google maps and other improvements to make the system easier to use and to motivate volunteers.
* We'll design a system that feeds voters identified at the door as undecided or as voting by mail into our calling program for targeted follow up.
* We'll create tools that paid field organizers will use to recruit and manage thousands of volunteers making many types of calls to voters and other volunteers from in-office phonebanks. We'll also modify our phone tool, which volunteers use to call voters from home, so we can target voters more effectively. Through the phonebanks and at-home calling we'll be able to quickly direct millions of calls to the highest impact calling.

Does the right-wing have anything comparable? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think so.