Obama backers look for ways to carry out the call for change

[Emit]

Anybody here in GD: P hosting or going to any of these house parties? Seems it might be an avenue to have your voices heard, no?

The movement that elected Barack Obama president, looking beyond last month's hard-earned victory, has begun to chew on a central question:

What now?

"It's like, damn, that was amazing," said Chris Savage, a 44-year-old chemist and Obama activist who lives near Ann Arbor, Mich. "The question is, what happens to all this energy?"

Obama supporters nationwide are busy trying to come up with answers, meeting in homes, bars, coffee shops, and at holiday parties to devise plans for building on the enthusiasm generated by his presidential bid.

If Obama's campaign was about bringing change to the country, the post-election period is about defining what that change means and how to achieve it.

His backers are already using networks developed during the campaign to rally support for causes including building local neighborhood organizations and eliminating racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

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Obama aides say they are still figuring out how best to use their e-mail list of some 13 million names. The campaign says it received more than 500,000 responses to an online survey. Over the weekend, it hosted an Organizing for Change Legacy Conference outside Chicago, an invitation-only event at which a few hundred field staff members and volunteer leaders met to "look forward to the future of what our volunteer organization can become."

"Since the election, the challenges we face - and our responsibility to take action - have only gotten more urgent," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wrote to supporters Thursday to promote "Change is Coming" house meetings this coming weekend. Coordinated by the campaign, more than 1,500 gatherings of supporters are being held around the country to harness the campaign energy for governing.

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http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/12/09/obama_backers_look_for_ways_to_carry_out_the_call_for_change/?page=1