A peek at the Obama operation in Virginia.
What will this enormous piece of social capital be used for after November 4?
Sean Quinn at fivethirtyeight.com gives us a peek at the operations of the Obama organization/movement in Northern Virginia. I heard very similar things this morning from someone volutneering full time in Los Angeles.
The question of what happens to this huge piece of social capital after November 4 may be of historic importance. In California, for example, where the political system is broken and the Democratic Party is as broken as any other part of it, the Obamanistas could provide a way out of the wilderness, both in finding candidates (not, for example, Jerry Brown) and in using the initiative process.
Commodore Vanderbilt is supposed to have said the the Episcopal Bishop of New York, “If the staff of the Diocese had half the talent of the people I have working for me at the New York Central, the Kingdom of God would be a hell of a lot closer.” Just so.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman