Volunteers spread Democratic roots across Orange County

Less than a week remains before California’s decisive Feb. 5 primary — a day that will likely decide the respective nominees of the Republican and Democratic parties — and Orange County is abuzz with grassroots political activity.

It’s the first election in many decades that sees no obvious heir apparent for either party.

While momentum from New Hampshire and Iowa has thinned each party’s pool of candidates, the parties and their advocates nevertheless remain engaged in serious races for control of their party, and ultimately, the country.

Boris Mamlyuk is one such soldier. A PhD student at Cornell University, Mamlyuk has taken up residence as a full-time volunteer at Barack Obama’s new volunteer center in Costa Mesa.

The center, as is its counterpart in Santa Ana, is funded solely with volunteer contributions: local residents throwing in $20 or more, if they could afford it. It has no paid staffers.

“This organization is just as grassroots as it gets,” he said. “There are no lawn signs anywhere, because there is a deficit; the demand is so high, we run out.”

“The offices are just fantastic. We have hundreds of volunteers, and are opening satellite phone banking locations throughout the county,” he added.

Earlier that week, the campaign organized a drive with the goal of calling 100,000 Californians to stump for their candidate. They reached 200,000.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which recently opened its offices in Garden Grove, said their volunteers had called more than 300,000 over the same weekend.

The group has particularly reached out to the Vietnamese community in Orange County, drawing large numbers of volunteers who speak Vietnamese to stump for the New York senator.

“We’ve done phone banking...and some Vietnamese phone banking,” staffer Erin Brinkman said.

“We’re doing a lot of outreach with the phones, including ‘Bring Your Own Phone’ parties, where people invite their friends over and make calls for the campaign.”

“As you can see, we’ve made a lot of calls,” she said.

Before former Sen. John Edwards dropped out of the race, his volunteers in Orange County, like Rich Gillock of Costa Mesa, were hardly deterred.

Prior to Edwards’ withdrawal, Gillock was not discouraged that his choice was trailing so far in the polls.

He said there is still hope for Edwards’ message of change and anticorruption to resonate with the broader party. Edwards on Wednesday extracted pledges from Clinton and Obama to keep poverty at the forefront of the issues.

Edwards’ organization relied heavily on word-of-mouth between friends to build a grassroots coalition of support.

For example, residents mailed invitations to neighbors for a house party featuring an Edwards’ campaign representative, and supporters hosted debate-watching parties.

In Orange County, the formula is no different. Gillock said their phone banking organization emphasized calling friends for that personal — and, they hoped, convincing — touch.

“It’s a lot better than having someone call and interrupt dinner for someone you might not even like,” he said.