WASHINGTON - August 11 - MoveOn PAC has launched an unprecedented $5 million campaign in battleground states to apply a technique which experts say is the single most effective strategy for voter persuasion and increased voter turnout—person-to-person contact by friends and neighbors. MoveOn calls this precinct-level GOTV effort: “Leave No Voter Behind.”

Using the same technology it pioneered for grassroots organizing over the internet, MoveOn PAC has developed the capacity and infrastructure to wage a door-to-door campaign in support of John Kerry in 10,000 neighborhoods in most key battleground states. Over the next six weeks, MoveOn PAC will hire 500 organizers to assist 30,000+ MoveOn volunteers in turning out as many as 440,000 new votes for John Kerry -- a combination of previously undecided voters and infrequent Democratic voters who would otherwise be unlikely to go the polls.

Relying on an advanced online system that walks neighborhood leaders through a series of conversations with carefully targeted voters in their areas, MoveOn’s effort is a “back to the future” return to the personal contact that was a hallmark of effective old-time political machines. The only independent effort that is comparable in scope and approach is the labor movement’s widely respected worker-to-worker outreach program, which relies on labor’s enormous cadre of trained organizers.

The response from MoveOn members to its fundraising drive for this program has been the best ever. Within less than 24 hours, the PAC raised $1.2 million for Leave No Voter Behind. “We’ve never raised so much money in such a short a time for one of our projects,” said Eli Pariser, MoveOn PAC’s executive director. “It’s clear that our members are eager to support a high-tech return to old-fashioned, neighbor-to-neighbor democracy.”

As a political action committee, raising money in thousands of contributions averaging $70, MoveOn PAC can explicitly urge voters to vote for Sen. Kerry or against President Bush, an advantage over most other independent organizations.

Leave No Voter Behind launches this week, and efforts will build through September and October, until organizers and volunteers are knocking on doors and talking with neighbors in thousands of local communities. The campaign will compliment and coordinate with the efforts of ACT and other independent progressive groups, which rely more heavily on sweep canvasses and phone banking, as opposed to neighbor-to-neighbor contact.

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