The handful of people who have gathered on the patio of a Pasadena coffeehouse are either the answer, or the big question mark, in the upcoming presidential election.They have come at the behest of Mike Barako, a Los Angeles special-ed teacher who has been following Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Last month, Barako launched a website through Obama's online campaign to build a local committee of active supporters. More than two dozen people promised to come out for this night's organizational meeting.
But only eight people have shown up, pointing up one of the challenges of the 2008 presidential campaigns' rush to the Internet. Building an online database of supporters and the curious is one thing. Spurring them to action is another.
"That's going to be the test
whether you can capture the lightning in the bottle and turn that into people who will go door to door for you," said Michael Turk, who ran the Internet operation for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign. "How are you going to turn those people into true supporters and do the kind of things that win campaigns?"
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