海角大神

Steve Wilmarth has a message for people in Washington.

鈥淚f they think that now the election is over, it鈥檚 back to business as usual, [they鈥檙e] wrong,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e have the ability to organize.鈥�

The observation came over the weekend at one of more than 3,500 house parties coordinated around the US by Organizing for America, a group that evolved from Barack Obama鈥檚 grass-roots campaign network. With the Obama administration鈥檚 economic stimulus package on the line this week, OFA put out the call. Mr. Wilmarth, a managing director of a nonprofit cultural exchange organization, responded, is just one of more than 30 volunteers who responded in Chester, Conn.

The Chester gathering was part social reunion, part political event. It鈥檚 part of the first test of whether Obama鈥檚 Internet-fired political movement can transform from a campaign juggernaut into a policy-oriented movement that helps to push his national legislative agenda and elect like-minded people at state and local levels.

鈥淣obody has had anything this remotely well-organized or a list this long of people who were not only campaign volunteers, but were told there would be some kind of continued involvement,鈥� says Bruce Buchanan, a presidential historian at the University of Texas at Austin.

It鈥檚 not unusual for a new president to use the latest technology to try to further his agenda. Franklin Roosevelt used radio for his fireside chats. For John Kennedy, television helped him remake the Washington press conference.

But those media were both top-down tools used to get out a message. The Internet, on the other hand, is a bottom-up, social-networking phenomenon. Just as the inauguration of the country鈥檚 first African-American president was historic, Obama鈥檚 state-of-the art political machine, too, may become historic in its ability to reignite American democracy.

鈥淔rom the beginning, Obama said this isn鈥檛 my election, this is your election. He really told people, 鈥榊ou need to get out there and participate,鈥� 鈥� says Alexandra Matthiessen, a homemaker from Ivoryton, Conn.

Like many at the Chester party, Ms. Matthiessen had never been involved in politics. Her friend Suzanne Howard, another mother from Ivoryton also at the party, had been politically active when she was young, but become disillusioned. It was Howard Dean, who ran for president in 2004, who got them interested in politics again. The two met, in fact, ice skating at the local pond when they noticed each other鈥檚 Dean stickers.

Calling themselves 鈥減olitical compadres,鈥� both say Obama鈥檚 election, and their role in it, helped change their sense of what it means to be a citizen in America. 鈥淲e were homemakers in Ivoryton and we were starving for some moral leadership, some integrity in the highest office,鈥� says Ms. Howard. 鈥淲e were despondent, the public was despondent. Howard Dean laid the groundwork, opened the door for Obama.鈥�

They say their work is just beginning. 鈥淲hen the battle cry is called, I will respond,鈥� says Howard. 鈥淚 know we鈥檙e trying to get the stimulus package passed, and I鈥檝e talked it up to people.... But if it doesn鈥檛 pass, I鈥檒l do more.鈥�

That sentiment was universal in the colonial-era kitchen in rural Connecticut. Between the constant chatter and children running in and out, people said they were changed as a result of Obama鈥檚 election and felt they had their own role to play in the polity.

Howard and Matthiessen prefer going door-to-door when making their political pitch. But Henry Krempel, host of the event, says he prefers phone-banking. A computer programmer, he鈥檇 鈥渘ever, ever, ever鈥� been involved with politics until he heard Obama speak. He made 30,000 phone calls all over the US for Obama鈥檚 campaign and is ready to do it again.

鈥淭he phone call, at this time in our history, works. People are ... very segregated, they don鈥檛 see the middle of the road. The nuance is gone,鈥� he says. 鈥淪omebody will say, 鈥業 heard this,鈥� and you can say, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 not quite true and you don鈥檛 have to listen to me, but here鈥檚 a reference ... you can look at.鈥� This kind of rich conversation is something that is very much missing in American politics today.鈥�

Laurie Santos is using this evening to reconnect with people but also to pass around literature about local and state problems, including budget cuts proposed by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell. 鈥淪ome of her suggestions are anti-Obama, anti-stimulus,鈥� says Ms. Santos, a retiree from Clinton, Conn.

Political analysts are watching all of this with interest. 鈥淭his is a very powerful instrument Obama has at his disposal. It certainly worked during the campaign,鈥� says John Zogby, president of Zogby International, a polling firm in Utica, N.Y. 鈥淚t鈥檚 still early, but this could be momentous because no one鈥檚 been able to do it like this before.鈥�

Others are more skeptical. Every president adapts the latest technology, and this movement just happens to be organized around the Internet, says Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution.

鈥淪uddenly it鈥檚 become full court press [on the stimulus package], and so he鈥檚 using it. I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 anything more to it than that.鈥�