Hillary Clinton is dispatching a full-time organizer to Texas, part of a 50-state strategy to build support for her presidential bid.
Manfred Mecoy, the Texas grassroots organizer, is a Fort Worth native and University of Texas at Austin graduate. He has worked as a Democratic organizer in North Carolina last year, and in Ohio in 2010 and 2012.
He’ll be based in the Dallas area, and will travel statewide, a Clinton campaign aide said.
The “Ramp Up Grassroots Organizing Program” includes one paid campaign staffer in every state, with more in the four states with the earliest contests in 2016 – Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
They’ll recruit and train volunteers, at least through the end of May.
Obvious question #1: What role, if any, does Battleground Texas play in this? We know there’s a connection between BGTX and Ready for Hillary, but where does Manfred Mecoy fit in? How does it all work together? As of Friday afternoon when that item hit the web, I had not received a press release from either organization. Maybe someone will say something on Monday, I don’t know.
Obvious question #2: What’s the goal here? Having an organization in place just in case it’s needed in a contested primary? Continuing to carry on the original mission of BGTX, which despite the 2014 debacle was about boosting turnout in Presidential elections? Checking off the “implement a 50-state strategy” box on their to do list? Leading us to believe we’ll be putting in effort to organize in Texas but really looking for people who will make GOTV calls to Florida and Ohio next year? It would be nice to know.