To commemorate his 30th Iowa county visited last weekend, the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley is organizing 30 house parties across Iowa Wednesday night. Though the former Maryland governor will not be physically in the state, he will call in to the parties and speak with caucus goers and supporters. Campaign volunteers Brendan McGuire and Kennedy Green are gathering potential and already-committed O’Malley supporters to attend one of the parties.
McGuire said the gatherings are both a tool to get more voters behind O’Malley, as well as a chance to answer any questions Iowans may have about the third-place Democrat.
“Two weeks ago now, we laid out the “15 Goals for America,” and this is a great chance to commemorate the governor’s commitment to this state, but also to really familiarize folks with those goals,” said McGuire. “Those goals are really the bedrock of this campaign and they show folks what an O’Malley administration would be doing with them.”
McGuire and Iowa Communications Director Kristin Sosanie pointed out that the Obama campaign orchestrated similar house parties throughout his campaign in Iowa, and the O’Malley group is following the success of that movement in organizing house parties of their own.
“It’s all about getting out the message and getting people more jazzed up than they already are, if that’s possible,” said McGuire. “Also, of course, spreading his message and increasing the number of people that are exposed to his 15 goals and governor O’Malley’s message.”
Green also commented that the gatherings help campaign staff give a personal touch to wary Iowans.
“This is a chance to make sure that we are connecting with the people that we’ve already gotten to know in the past,” said Green. “People who have mentioned that they want to know more about O’Malley, that lean O’Malley, and want to get to know other people in the area who are feeling the same way.”
McGuire also added that the house parties help further Martin O’Malley’s grassroots movement in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.
“It’s a true caucus campaign,” said McGuire. “We recognize that we need to have these relationships because come caucus night you need to have these people that know each other and know how to talk.”
Parties will be held in Des Moines, Newton, Ottumwa, Ames, Mt. Pleasant, and other cities across the state on Wednesday night.
