Hundreds of Obama volunteers come to Gainesville for training

Barack Obama's army of young volunteers is coming to Gainesville for basic training.

About 200 volunteers for the Illinois senator's presidential campaign are coming to Gainesville for three days of training starting Saturday. The unpaid volunteers, called Obama Organizing Fellows, will then be dispersed to take part in a voter registration drive and other campaign efforts.

"These are people who have never been involved in politics before that are hoping to be involved in this historic campaign," said Obama campaign spokesman Josh Earnest.

Fellows are being trained in 23 cities nationwide, including Gainesville and Tamarac in Florida. They're mainly, but not exclusively, college students and other young people who have committed to six weeks of volunteering at least 30 hours per week, Earnest said.

University of Florida philosophy major Daniel Beaulieu, 21, is an organizing fellow with more experience than most. He's already volunteered in Iowa, South Carolina and Texas during the primary season.

He said he's helped convince unregistered voters both to register to vote and to volunteer for the campaign. He's hoping for a similar experience during his work as a fellow.

"It's just really rewarding," he said.

Gainesville fellows will join Obama staffers and supporters Friday night in an event at Alley Gatorz bowling alley, before starting training the next day. Local supporters are housing the fellows.

Pat McCollough, coordinator of the Gainesville for Obama group, said she's hosting four volunteers and enough people have come forward to ensure others have places to stay.

"I am really pleased with how Gainesville is coming together for the Obama campaign," she said.

The training comes as the campaign prepares to open a local office next to the Alachua County Democratic Party headquarters on NW 8th Avenue. Obama is also expected to make his first North Florida appearance since August 2007 by coming to Jacksonville on June 20.

The fellows program is based on Obama's work as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, according to a video featuring the Democratic nominee on his campaign Web site.

Earnest said the training will be an introduction to the campaign and "Organizing 101." About two-thirds of the fellows are from Florida and most will return to their home communities for efforts to register voters and recruit other volunteers, he said.

Beaulieu heads the UF Students for Barack Obama group and is planning efforts to register students to vote.

"That's really our biggest goal — to get all students registered to vote in November," he said.

For the time being, he said he's looking forward to the training and he's even volunteered to have four volunteers stay in his Gainesville apartment. They'll have to decide who sleeps on a futon and couch and who gets the floor, he said.

"We'll probably do rock, paper, scissors," he said.