Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani ridiculed Barack Obama's experience as a "community organizer" at the Republican National Convention, and other 'Bama Bashers have done the same, as if this were odd, vague or less than substantive work. But there are a lot of community organizers in this country, and one of the things they do at election time is pour their efforts into political campaigns of their chosen candidates. That is a lot of human energy -- a whole network of it -- that should not be dismissed as a force in any campaign. By the looks of things, the Republicans could probably use the help of some "community organizers."

(And, as the Daily Show pointed out the other night, such organizers are not all wild-eyed liberals, but mainstream conservatives with a mission.)

Ralph E. Moore has been a "community organizer" for as long as I've known him -- close to 30 years -- and then some. He's been particularly active on the east side of Baltimore, and this year he's been all over the place campaigning for Obama. Last night he got a phone call from the candidate: