For volunteers in Duluth, the campaign’s day of action on May 19th is a family affair.

It’s important work. We’re talking with voters about this critical election, what’s at stake and the big choices we have to make come November 6. Luckily for two volunteer leaders in Duluth, their families have their backs.

Cherise and Kassie have spent the last three months organizing their neighborhoods around Duluth, building their area’s volunteer capacity leading up to this day of action, our first major volunteer day of the 2012 campaign.

According to Kassie, “we both started by organizing a similar group of people: our families.” Kassie’s two toddler granddaughters are common visitors to the Duluth field office. Meanwhile, Cherise’s son Anthony is leading the team’s efforts with the campaign’s digital tools.

Volunteers will spend the morning knocking on doors and making phone calls as part of a massive effort to reach voters across the state. That afternoon, supporters across the area will gather for a community barbeque with great music, food and an opportunity to get to know each other. Kassie is grateful for a chance to bring family together and meet new friends.

“We’re very family oriented, we all like to have fun, and that makes us a lot more productive. My favorite thing about this is we’re a little family helping President Obama get re-elected. I would never have met Cherise without this campaign and I know these friendships will last beyond November 6.”

To join Kassie and Cherise, or volunteers in your area, find an event near you.

Minnesota volunteers Barbie and Zoey are a mother-daughter team working to deliver a win for President Obama this November. Barbie, a teacher for more than 30 years, tutors elementary- to high-school-aged students during her free time. Her daughter Zoey is a recent college graduate, now working at a PR agency in Minneapolis. They recently sat down to talk about what it's like working together on the campaign.

Q. Why do you support the President?
Barbie: Because this country needs to move forward. He's the smartest guy in the room, and he's the one I feel should be in charge and can do it. And as a mom, his work on things like equal pay and protecting my daughter's right to make her own health decisions is so important to me, because I want my daughter to have all the opportunities in the world.

Zoey: He's still the same guy I voted for in 2008. He's accomplished a lot in the past four years, but there's so much more that he has to do.

Q. How did you first get involved in the campaign?
Zoey: We went to a house party a family friend was throwing a few months back. We both wanted to volunteer, so why not do it together?

Barbie: We had to get involved. The stakes are too high not to.

Zoey: Being at the house party and remembering what our country was like before he took office, I knew I had to do something. He stands for a lot of what I believe in, and being reminded of that was really what got me excited.

Barbie: I raised my daughter to be strong and independent. If I didn't stand up for what I believed in, how could I expect her to?

Q. Are there any accomplishments from the last three years that especially stand out to you?
Barbie: Appointing two women to the Supreme Court stands out in both of our minds. Seeing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" finally repealed was huge. And he was able to advance the state of health care in this nation.

Zoey: Without the Affordable Care Act, I would have had to live without health care for months. Thanks to President Obama, I was able to stay on my parents' plan for an extra year and had flexibility that helped me with finding a great job after college.

Q. What's at stake for women in this election?
Barbie: What isn't? The very fact that our reproductive rights are on the chopping block is horrifying. My daughter should not have to fight the battle already fought by me and my mother. Women still run into a glass ceiling. We're still fighting for equal pay and better conditions for child care. The fight continues, and it shouldn't have anything to do with our reproductive system.

Zoey: My parents raised my brother and I as equals, and it's so frustrating that if we had the same job, he'd be making more money than me. It doesn't make sense.

Also, it's terrifying to know that the rights that I've had over my body my entire life could now be taken from me. So many women before me fought so hard, and that could all be taken away from us. Every single mother in this country has battled sexism their entire life, and knowing that my mom has had to watch me fight the same fights is heartbreaking. I don't know how she's done it. She's worked so hard for me to have more advantages than she's had, yet we're struggling to move ahead.

Q. How does your mother-daughter relationship influence your work for the campaign?
Barbie: It's a lot more fun. We get to work together, but also have all of our friends come together. Having a cross-generational group of women get involved is amazing. We spend enough time shopping, watching Mad Men, and doing crossword puzzles together—why not add supporting the President to our list?

Zoey: She raised me in a way that I wanted to have the same values as her. I watched my mom stay strong in her beliefs while allowing me to have my own opinions. Having that kind of positive female role model is something that I do not take for granted.

Join volunteers like Barbie and Zoey by getting involved with the campaign in your community.

Volunteer

I could not be more excited that I'll be hosting my Obama house party soon! It's been a few months in the making, so it feels great to finally get all my friends and my mom's friends in one room to talk about the campaign and how we can support President Obama together. It's perfect that we're hosting the party on Mother's Day weekend.

On Monday night my mom and I met with a few campaign staffers to discuss the final details of the party. We had a really great conversation about what we want to get out of the party. To put it simply, we want our friends to get involved beyond just coming to the party. There will be a wealth of knowledge in the room about Obama's accomplishments and what's at stake in the election, but what we really need people to realize is that he can't do it alone and we can't take this election for granted.

We're hoping to inspire action and start the night off by playing campaign videos throughout the house to get people to talk about the past four years, the 2012 campaign, and President Obama. We'll then play a game asking people to guess different members of President Obama's administration to make it fun as we lead into our discussion.

Last night my mom and I sad down and talked about why we support President Obama and why we're hosting this party on Mother's Day weekend. We both agreed that this election is about moving forward with an economy built to last, and a president who believes in equal pay and the right to choose.

I want everyone at the party to know that they were invited because my mom and I believe they are the people who can make a difference in this campaign. Members of the staff will talk about the grassroots and digital efforts of the campaign, as well as how we can get involved as a group.

The timing of the party is perfect because on May 19th the campaign is having a Day of Action across Minnesota in which people will be canvassing and phone banking in support of the President and other Democrats. It'll be a great way for us to get started with our volunteering efforts.

The sign-in sheets are printed, the food is all prepared, and the night's schedule is set. Now it's time to get the party started!

I've done my share of campaigns in Minnesota, so when I decided to get involved with President Obama's re-election someone asked, 'Why in the world are you doing another campaign with those crazy hours?' I responded, ‘I need to do this campaign. I believe in this president. We need four more years to move America forward and I need to do my part.' Now I need you doing your part too. Join this campaign and we'll win this together!

-Jeff Blodgett, State Director

This weekend, over 400 hundred fired up Minnesotans gathered for the grand opening of our St. Paul office. It was an opportunity to help paint our office mural and for neighborhood team leaders to talk with hundreds of potential volunteers.

One person who knows how close elections can get, Senator Al Franken, helped fire up the crowd:

"There's so many reasons why we need to win this election and my message to you is to work hard between now and November 6. I won a close election. It was 312 votes. There are people here who knocked on more than 312 doors! I want you to think about that this year, everything counts, every volunteer matters, we need you working hard all the way to Election Day!"

We're keeping the momentum going after our great office opening. Join us for our day of action on May 19.

"We all had different reasons for wanting to help the President. I first started supporting Obama in 2008, when I was in college. When I was in school, my professors would always tell us that you would start with an A and just have to keep it. I feel like President Obama started with an F, since he took office in such a crisis, and it's a lot harder to start with something like that and try to raise it up. He's doing so much—working to lower unemployment, raise income, and help with education, and I really believe in all the things he's doing that help me right now: I have student loans, and my health insurance costs are really high. My husband is looking for more work, and I'm pregnant with twins, so a lot of what the President is trying to do affects our family."

—Alyssa, Minnesota