PALO ALTO -- — Dana Stewart, 54, spent more than two hours Wednesday night sitting on a folding chair in a private office-park conference room here learning how to become a "HillStar" -- part of a program Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign introduced last week to build a grass-roots get-out-the-vote organization ahead of California's Feb. 5 primary.
It was a vintage campaign session with a high-tech twist. Clinton staffer and veteran organizer Michael Trujillo taught Stewart and about 50 other potential volunteers how to use their own social networks -- from family and neighbors to e-mail contacts -- to identify the New York senator's supporters, who will then be entered into a database for follow-up.
"It's simple enough," Stewart said afterward, holding a copy of the bound presentation Trujillo had handed out. "It's not brain surgery. We all have friends we can deal with. Hopefully they're like-minded, so it's not like we have to twist a lot of arms."
The next night, Roger Hu convened a similar gathering of volunteers for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama four miles away at the Lucie Stern Community Center -- the third weekly meeting of Obama's supporters in California's 14th Congressional District. But there were no bound playbooks -- just an agenda and a list of the committee coordinators, plus a suggested script to use when phoning other potential volunteers.
And unlike the Clinton gathering, led by a paid staffer delivering the campaign line, the Obama meeting was run by a volunteer participating in his first presidential campaign.
"I think for a lot of people in my generation, it's about getting re-engaged in politics," said Hu, 29, an engineer and social justice activist. "A lot of things Obama has said about 'Stop watching "SportsCenter" and make this a better place' speaks volumes about the kind of people he speaks to."
The two sessions illuminate key differences between the Clinton and Obama campaigns as they fight for preeminence in California. Clinton has been wrapping up the high-profile endorsements -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- and building a traditional, centralized campaign organization. Obama has been trying to harness the energy that has brought thousands of people to his campaign rallies.
