On Monday, only eight people showed up to a pro-immigration reform event held by Organizing for Action (OFA), the policy advocacy group that was formerly known as the 2012 Obama reelection campaign.
According to a Huffington Post report, the group could only entice “eight people to rally outside of the Merillville office of Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-ID) on Monday to push the congressman to support reform.” The Indiana Democrat has opposed a “pathway to citizenship” in the past.
The group had slightly better luck in southeast Tennessee, where twenty people reportedly showed up to “rally in celebration of the Senate passing an immigration bill. ” OFA, known for its prowess in organizing Ohio in 2012, did somewhat better there–with a whopping twenty five people showing up “to rally outside House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) West Chester Township office Monday.”
OFA has reportedly promised that it “could place substantial grassroots pressure behind reform” and has “an estimated 13 million-member email list — including scores of potential on-the-ground volunteers.”
Yet the group still seems unable to motivate voters in the heartland and blue-collar areas enthusiastically to support comprehensive immigration reform.
The Senate passed immigration reform last week 68-32, and the House is drafting its own immigration reform legislation.