More navigators.
Via Politico:
Michelle Obama is jumping into the 2018 campaigns with a voter registration initiative that will be strictly nonpartisan — exciting and frustrating top Democrats who’d like the popular former first lady to actively campaign for candidates.
The initiative, scheduled to be launched Thursday, is the result of months of quiet conversations and planning full of false starts and uncertainty about whether to go forward. It will have the former first lady appear in public service announcements and at live events throughout the country into the fall, according to multiple people informed of the plans.
She’ll be joined by several A-list celebrities, including actor Tom Hanks, country stars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Houston Rockets star Chris Paul, singer Janelle Monae and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The first PSA will go out Thursday, with more in the process of being lined up, featuring other prominent activists and players. The group will be incorporated as a nonprofit, separate from the Obama Foundation, the personal offices of Barack and Michelle Obama, and Citizen 44, the LLC that the former president himself pays for to handle his own political involvement.
Named “When We All Vote,” it will be stocked with prominent Obama alumni, including Valerie Jarrett as president of the board and former first lady chief of staff Tina Tchen as treasurer. Pete Rouse, an Obama senior adviser who served as interim White House chief of staff, will also be on the board. The CEO will be Kyle Lierman, a former senior policy adviser in the White House who founded Civic Advisors, a “social impact strategy” and consulting firm home to a number of Obama White House alumni.
Money is still being raised for what people involved with the planning have told others would be an $8 million budget. Organizers plan to raise much of it through corporate sponsorships and foundation grants — all while navigating around nonprofit laws and Democratic donors who already are being hit up nonstop by candidates, committees and other groups seeking cash.
The new group is planning a series of events building up to a late-September crescendo of rallies and trainings. Along the way, there will be several voter registration days of action, followed by “GOTV days of action” as the elections approaches.
Organizers intend to send personal messages to people urging them to register. According to one document describing the group’s plans, it will partner with “outlets that young Americans use most.”