Organizing for America, Charleston County Dems Open New Office

NORTH CHARLESTON - Despite the rain, dozens of people turned out to celebrate the grand opening of a new Organizing for America South Carolina office 5060 Dorchester Road, Suite 260 Tuesday night.

OFA-SC, based in Columbia, and the Charleston County Democratic Party hosted the event. The new office will be the Lowcountry headquarters for Pres. Barack Obama's re-election efforts.

"The Lowcountry region is so important to us because it is a region that has shown a great deal of support for our President," OFA Southern Regional Director Tharon Johnson said. "No state is written off, every state is important. We have a 50-state strategy."

Noting that Obama won Charleston County in the 2008 election, Johnson said OFA hopes to build on Obama's strong showing in the area in 2012. Johnson and other speakers at the office opening defended the American Jobs Act, which was defeated in the Senate last week, as necessary to put unemployed Americans back to work.

Johnson said promoting and defending legislation like the Jobs Act, which brings together ideas supported by both Democrats and Republicans in the past, and getting into communities and talking to people directly are important facets of Obama's re-election efforts.

"It's not the Democratic Jobs Act or the Republican Jobs Act, it's the American Jobs Act," Johnson said. "So we talk to everyone, conservative or liberal, we want all voices heard."

Johnson said opening the North Charleston office now shows South Carolinians the Democrats are not waiting for the Republicans to pick a nominee before they begin campaigning.

"Voters are going to have a clear choice next November," he said. "What I mean is you're going to know the difference between our president, Barack Obama, and all his accomplishments and what he's doing to put Americans back to work versus the candidate that emerges from the Republican field with no plan to move the country forward."