Interview conducted by the New York blogs.

Q: Can you explain to us what the state director does?

The State Director is the quarterback of the campaign in NY. I help coordinate the political, field, communications and logistics of the campaign. I am also the all-around trouble shooter. As problems arise, I can direct certain parts of the team to address matters. The State Director assists with fundraising, is a spokesperson for the campaign… and reaches out to Elected Officials and other important constituencies.

Q: What are your top goals?

We want to have a historic victory for Senator Obama in NY. We want to contribute to the swing-states – where this race will be won or lost. We want to make sure that people realize that Senator Obama’s message of change is transmitted all across the State.

Q: Do you see a down-ballot effect from Obama’s overwhelming popularity in this state?

Yes, we know that many first-time voters will be coming out to the polls. We anticipate record turnout. This should have a coattail effect on close elections farther down the ballot.

Q: What can people who don’t want to or can’t travel to a swing state do here in New York?

For the first time, all the Get-Out-The-Vote phonecalls in battleground states will be made by volunteers. There are no paid phonebanks in the Obama campaign. Therefore, big states like California, Texas, Illinois and New York are responsible for turning out voters in states like Florida, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina – to name a few.

In New York, we need to make nearly 3 million phonecalls in the final four days of this campaign. This means that volunteers in New York who are unable to travel to a swing state can have an impact like never before.

We have large phonebank locations set up all over the state. Check out our website at: http://ny.barackobama.com/nylastcall to find a location near you!

Q: Some final words for your volunteers?

This is it people... this is when the Presidential race will be decided. With many battleground states too close to call… this race will be won by whichever side gets more of its voters to the polls.

Every Barack Obama supporter in NY needs to dig deep and commit as much time as possible to calling battleground state voters and get them to the polls.

We need you to join us. Barack Obama needs your help to win.
Please commit a day or two (or four)… and spread the word to ALL your friends. Reach out to all your networks; family, friends, Facebook, alumni groups – we need you to reach EVERYONE!

Thank you for your time, Dave. Now let's go out and win this thing.

When Howard Dean took the reins at the Democratic National Committee, he did so with a mandate to return the party to its members and to launch a Fifty State Strategy that competes for votes everywhere, in every state, every district, every precinct, every block. Ever since Dean's accession, the DNC has put enormous resources to work on this simple idea.

Today, this strategy makes its full debut in New York, with the release of what is probably the most advanced and most open voter contact tool ever built. The principle is simple: the DNC and NYSDC have put their voter file online, enabling every Democrat to print out walk lists in their immediate neighborhood and take charge of voter outreach themselves. It really doesn't get more grassroots, more people-powered than that.

What's really revolutionary is this: the feedback process built into this tool crowdsources the maintenance of this file to you, the voter. You now own the Democratic Party's voter outreach, not Washington (or, these days, Chicago), not Albany, not the party committees themselves. It's your party now.

In charge of the effort here in New York is one Dave Pollak, who is in my considered opinion probably the best person to have in this kind of a key position.

And where it gets really exciting is when you consider that this tool, built to get out the vote for Barack Obama, will be modified to enable you to also knock on doors for candidates further down the ballot. Given that we have four competitive House races and at least eight for the state Senate, you're looking at a way to channel the excitement for Senator Obama further down the ballot.

The size of our victory in November now rests on your shoulders, dear Democrat. Get out there.

Dave Pollak just emailed over as follows:

The 2007 Elections are only 3 weeks away, and we need your help to guarantee Democratic success in critical races across NY State! Not only are we working to elect great Democratic candidates right now, but their victories will help build towards future Democratic victories in 2008 and beyond.

As you know, the NY Dems are hosting weekend canvassing on Long Island and weeknight phonebanking in Manhattan from now until Election Day, November 6. Our Long Island Political Director, Lauren Corcoran-Doolin (laurend [at] nydems [dot] org), has additional information about canvassing/phonebanking dates, places and times, or you can contact Claire Silberman at claire.silberman [at] gmail [dot] com with any other questions or comments. There are critical volunteer needs upstate as well so please contact our Upstate Political Director Cathy Calhoun at cathyc [at] nydems [dot] org to get people plugged in outside of the NYC area.

This brings me to a related subject: we all love to bitch and moan and complain about how bad the Democrats are, and all the many ways, large and small, they disappoint. I do this regularly and, frankly, with cause. Two words: Noach Dear.

That said, the concerns of people who actually go out there, knock on the doors, write the checks, carry the petitions, make the calls, in short, do the hard work, are far more likely to be heard.

So, let's get out there and get us some more, and better, Democrats.

So, as you may have noticed, it having been blogged across the state in all of your favored publications - The Albany Project, The Politicker, Rochester Turning, and here - a bunch of we bloggers were up in Albany yesterday to see what it looks like when the actual Democratic Party does its business.

Enlightening. Here are some impressions:

My man Eliot in the press gaggle.

Approaching Albany.

Bloggers Row; from left to right, Paul, Azi and Liza.

Phil, Dave, Paul, Dave, hams.

Edna and Celeste.

So here we are at the butt-crack of dawn, getting ready to depart for the state capital and today's Spring Meeting of the NYSDC. Joining us will be the good folks over at The Albany Project and from Rochester Turning.

Expect posts, liveblogging, guest blogging and plenty of photo material throughout the day.

And there's Liza. We're off.

Some pictures from last night's book party for Senator Schumer's first offering; is it just me, or are Democratic grassroots events getting increasingly posh? Another observation: when Schumer announced himself a Hillary man, there was some scattered cheering at the front; the rest of the room remained in stony silence. Heh.

Dave Pollak, state party-co-chair, with orchids

June O'Neill (right), the other co-chair, with Trudy Mason, feminist icon.

Senator Charles Schumer.

From Lipris, here's the video of Dave Pollak speaking at Prey on Thursday. Fun fact: right behind him is netroots hero Brian Keeler.