Obama's Private Army

At 4pm tomorrow Monica Coleman will open her home to about 30 friends and neighbours. They will eat some snacks, watch a video and help to demonstrate how - for all his problems - President Obama still has a powerful army behind him.

Her party in Raleigh, North Carolina, is one of more than 3,000 across America this weekend by the street-level activists who helped to propel Mr Obama to victory last year. “We're here to watch his back,” Ms Coleman said. “Winning the election was only the beginning and now we must be his soldiers again.”

It is the first occasion since November that the President has deployed the massed ranks of his volunteers. His campaign machine, now calling itself Organising for America, issued the mobilisation call last week to a database of 13 million supporters.

An e-mail bearing Mr Obama's name urged them to gather friends at “Economic Recovery House Meetings” this weekend and watch a video from Tim Kaine, the Democratic Party chairman, extolling the virtues of the near-trillion dollar stimulus Bill. “The economic crisis is growing more serious every day, and the time for action has come,” said the President. “Americans need to know how it will affect their lives - they need to know that help is on the way.” More