Clinton, Sanders look to mobilize complacent California voters

[webfact]

Clinton, Sanders look to mobilize complacent California voters
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD and KEN THOMAS

BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Sue LaVaccare is fighting "the California complacency."

With the presidency on the line, it's the well-documented tendency of many voters in a state filled with sunshine and distractions to shrug at election days. And Southern California, a base of support for Hillary Clinton, has a notoriously uneven record when it comes to voter turnout.

"Most people know in their gut that Hillary is the most experienced," says LaVaccare, a 47-year-old health care consultant and political fundraiser who is organizing volunteers for Clinton in the fiercely contested 28th Congressional District in Los Angeles County.

"What I think is our biggest challenge," she says, "is getting her supporters to actually vote."

While Clinton needs a mere 71 delegates from several states voting on June 7 to claim the Democratic nomination, the fight against rival Bernie Sanders in California has grown increasingly contentious as the Vermont senator gains in polling. Both campaigns are counting on unheralded volunteers like LaVaccare to rouse their supporters.

But there is scant glamour in the operational innards of a campaign, grinding far from the stage lights and clamoring crowds of campaign rallies, in living rooms, on street corners and spartan leased offices.

It's there where volunteers armed with computerized data punch in phone numbers to talk with potential voters, or sweep through neighborhoods knocking on door after door.

In California, 475 Democratic delegates will be divvied up on election day, the most of any state. Many will be doled out based on the outcome in 53 congressional districts, each amounting to its own battleground, like the 28th, an ethnically diverse, Democrat-rich territory running from the tony Hollywood Hills into the suburban sprawl of Burbank, a Los Angeles suburb.

Mary Kellerman describes herself a political junkie who has followed Bernie Sanders' career for years. When she'd see him on television she always thought, "This guy needed to be running for president."

Her wishful thinking turned to reality, and as the Vermont senator tries to engineer what would be his biggest upset the campaign organizer is leading a corps of volunteers in Burbank.

"It's fun to go to a rally, but attending every rally is not going to get Bernie Sanders elected," says Kellerman, whose neighborhood crew visited 260 homes on a recent weekend.

In the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Clinton ran up a landslide margin in the 28th District. The Sanders gambit: parlay a surge of new, younger voters who polls show lean to the Vermont senator into a win, or strip away crucial delegates from Clinton that he will bring to the party's convention.

Underscoring the stakes, Clinton has had LaVaccare and other volunteers at work in the district for months. Hollywood for Hillary, as it's known, has grown into a small army of up to 400 people, whose members have gathered at least 15 times to make phone calls and are knocking on doors in places like Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood. You can hear the urgency in the candidates' own words, who've been calling on supporters to turn out in record numbers.

Campaigning Wednesday in Spreckels, in the state's vast agricultural midsection, Sanders noted that Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are devoting several days to campaigning in the state in the run-up to the primary.

"I wonder why Secretary Clinton and her husband Bill are back in California? I thought we had lost and it was all over," Sanders told reporters, with a dollop of sarcasm in his voice.

A look at Clinton's campaign's events in the Los Angeles area provides a peek at the campaign's strategy, which relies in part on driving up her margins with Hispanics, women and Asians: Women-to-women phone calls; Koreans for Hillary, Day of Action; Latino-to-Latino phone calls. It all costs money, but Clinton's campaign announced Wednesday it has plenty of that: $42 million in the bank after raising more than $240 million during the primaries. In May, she raised more than $27 million, the campaign said. Sanders did not immediately report his fundraising details.

The campaigns are fighting over voters like Guerin Piercy, 29, an actress and registered Democrat from Burbank who says the choice between Clinton and Sanders has been difficult.

In this case, Clinton's long familiarity in Washington is working against her — Piercy is leaning to Sanders, in part because "she's been in it too long."

Campaigns employ a host of ways to reach voters — ads can be sent to Facebook pages, for example. They typically stockpile data to suss out voter preferences that can range from registration information to details on their last shopping trip, which can be clues to political leanings.

They constantly track mail-in ballots, so they know who's voted and who hasn't. Both campaigns have an eye on newly registered voters who this spring will exceed 2 million, more than double the level for the same period in presidential elections in 2008 and 2012, according to research firm Political Data Inc.

"It becomes very critical to not only convince voters to be for you, but also to do everything you can to get them to got to the polls. That's a big deal," says veteran Democratic consultant Bill Carrick, who is not aligned with either campaign.

Kellerman, 41, an executive assistant for a marketing company, says she tries to avoid looking at the up-and-down poll numbers. And she's learned not to be discouraged if someone isn't interested in talking presidential politics.

"There are people who close their doors on us. That's OK," says Kellerman, who is getting over a serious illness and sported an array of colorful Sanders' campaign buttons. "I have not felt so energized in a long time."

___

Thomas reported from Washington.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-06-02

[hawker9000]

Clinton will have no trouble corralling the mere 70 or so delegate votes she still needs from California. But I actually don't think that means her problems will be over with Sandie. The level of contention seems high and gaining intensity, and it's hard to believe that'll just suddenly end on June 8th. I haven't heard any credible talk of his running independently, but he doesn't really need to do that to keep his supporters well stirred and antagonized by Hillary.

[Rimbuman]

Hillary in jail please.

[Usernames]

Hillary's charm and enthusiasm versus Sanders realism and vast experience in the private sector. All those college kids cheated out of their Bernie are going to go home or vote for Trump out of revenge.

[mrwebb8825]

So, once again the media is skewing the numbers in Clinton's favor. 1769 pledged delegates is a LONG way from the 2383 pledged and locked in delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

Go Bernie. Would be hysterical to see him lock up 90-95% of the 475 CA. delegates.

[Shaunduhpostman]

She couldn't even motivate her delegates in Nevada to go in and vote and lost the state because of it. Anyway, who needs to vote for Hillary when the Democratic party has already given her the vote for you, via voter lockouts in New York (3 million voters denied votes because they registered as Demcocrats too late), Arizona (people taken off the voting rolls and registered independent without their consent) and perhaps other states as well.

Sanders as a write in if the Dems don't wise up and choose an electable candidate and if Bernie doesn't run as an independent. Also, people need to fight on the local level and get rid rid of the scum in congress by voting in representatives taht do their job, ie representing people, not businesses. That is where the apathy is a real killer, not presidential elections. Even if Sanders did get elected he and the country would still have the corporate court eunuchs obstructing anything and everything that wasn't good for profits.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Shaunduhpostman

[TPI]

She couldn't even motivate her delegates in Nevada to go in and vote and lost the state because of it. Anyway, who needs to vote for Hillary when the Democratic party has already given her the vote for you, via voter lockouts in New York (3 million voters denied votes because they registered as Demcocrats too late), Arizona (people taken off the voting rolls and registered independent without their consent) and perhaps other states as well.

Sanders as a write in if the Dems don't wise up and choose an electable candidate and if Bernie doesn't run as an independent. Also, people need to fight on the local level and get rid rid of the scum in congress by voting in representatives taht do their job, ie representing people, not businesses. That is where the apathy is a real killer, not presidential elections. Even if Sanders did get elected he and the country would still have the corporate court eunuchs obstructing anything and everything that wasn't good for profits.

Agreed! The clinton camp are spruiking...."you've got to know how to play the game!". It will be great when Bernie gets up on the 8th of June with the convention in his pocket! Then it'll be watch out Hillary the FBI are coming!!

[sgtsabai]

The problem in California is not just encouraging voters to vote. The problem is the corporate Democrats are using an old Republican ploy to throw out votes. Poll workers are being told that independents, which are allowed to vote and overwhelming support Bernie, must fill out a provisional ballot, which is then thrown away as always. They do NOT have to fill out a provisional ballot.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/37203-placebo-ballots-stealing-california-from-bernie-using-an-old-gop-vote-snatching-trick

[mrwebb8825]

It'll be a fine day in America when that crooked broad goes to prison and is out of the limelight permanently. Wake up people and DEMAND your right to vote for whomever you please and stop believing the lies told by people suddenly knocking on your door. They don't care about you and will continue to exploit you as long as you lay down and let them.

Also, we need to demand that all ballots and voting instructions are written entirely in English. If you can't read it, you shouldn't be allowed a vote. Something tells me nearly 1/2 of the 11 million illegals are in CA. and the surrounding area.