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OFA Ineffective in First Effort

AP

President Barack Obama’s dark money group Organizing for Action is so far proving it is ineffective in promoting Obama’s agenda.

Obama made gun control a major legislative issue shortly after the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., and OFA quickly got behind the president.

OFA failed in its first major effort vote in favor of gun control legislation last month, Politico reports.

OFA’s pledge to punish senators who voted against gun control was the first big test of the group’s reach – and, undoubtedly, a difficult one, given that many of the senators voting no were in deep-red states where Obama lost badly. Even measured against those odds, there are almost no successes to point to. […]

There were no events in North Dakota or Alaska, each home to Democrats who voted no. In Arkansas, the lead state volunteer planned events in and around Little Rock, where he lives, and posted them to OFA’s website. Barely anyone showed.

OFA was unable to sway the votes of four Democrats in red states. It also did not change the votes of any of its GOP targets. 

Aware of the problems, OFA acknowledges that it’s restructuring — but that’s left them months behind on fulfilling Obama’s promise that the group, formed from the remnants of his reelection campaign, would mobilize an existing majority behind a second-term agenda that includes immigration, climate change and the economy.