Head start

During the middle of an April workday, a volunteer with a pleasant voice asked me a simple question when I answered my cell phone: "Would you like to volunteer for President Barack Obama's presidential campaign again?"

I explained that I hadn't volunteered last time, and that I was on her list likely because I signed up for campaign updates as part of my job as a journalist. The caller understood that I wouldn't be volunteering, but broached the next question on her form: "So I guess you don't want to say if you support the president's reelection?" I didn't say, but I did some quick math: 18 months to go.

President Obama announced his 2012 reelection campaign on April 4 with an online video that was conspicuously low-key: The president didn't appear in the two-minute spot. Instead, groups of supporters spoke of letting Obama finish the job he started in ways that sometimes seemed tepid. "I don't agree with Obama on everything, but I respect him and I trust him," said a man identified as Ed from North Carolina.

But if the video seemed cool, it's also calculated, and part of a strategy that's already unfolding from Obama's campaign headquarters at One Prudential Plaza in downtown Chicago. If there's anything to learn about strategy from the president's last campaign, one of the central lessons is simple and formidable: Don't underestimate Obama's ability to organize. And if there's a clear reality emerging in the early stages of the 2012 presidential campaign it's this: Obama is getting a whopping head start.

The presidential incumbent always gets a jump on his competition for obvious reasons-barring a disaster, he's almost certain to be on the ballot, while the opposing party takes months to choose a nominee. But Obama's head start has a sharper edge: He's starting months before President George W. Bush launched his 2004 reelection campaign, and he has a not-so-secret weapon that no other candidate has at this moment: A massive campaign apparatus that includes some 13 million email addresses.

One of the brilliant strokes of Obama's last campaign was the ability to leverage that list for all kinds of support: Recruiting an army of volunteers, prompting friends to vote for Obama, promoting campaign rallies, fostering neighborhood parties, and-not least of all-raising funds. Obama hauled in a record $745 million for his 2008 run, raising nearly two-thirds online.

Obama campaign strategists are already revamping their online arsenal with social networking innovations that have claimed dominance since 2008: Facebook and Twitter. Advisers say the campaign will devote a huge staff to mastering social media outreach for this cycle.

For now, the campaign is already leveraging its massive instant contact list: The same day the Obama volunteer called my cell phone, I also received an email from Jeremy Bird, national field director for the Obama campaign. The mass message was recruiting summer organizers. Approved applicants will attend training sessions and spend the summer helping "lay the groundwork for 2012 across the country, planning events, registering voters, and building neighborhood teams."

Meanwhile, Republicans are far from settling on a solid slate of contenders for the GOP nomination. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty appear likely to run. But other GOP heavy hitters are also weighing campaigns, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. But Republican enthusiasm hasn't centered on one candidate.

A handful of top donors to Sen. John McCain's 2008 election campaign expressed a lackluster outlook on the slate of Republican candidates so far. Michael Ashner-a New York real estate executive who raised some $500,000 for McCain-told the Los Angeles Times he wasn't ready to support anyone. "I'm sort of hiding under my desk when the calls come in," he told the newspaper. "I don't see a dynamic candidate out there yet."