The California College Republicans have gained a lot of attention recently for their growing role in providing campaign volunteers. I had previously heard about their successes organizing GOTV operations which have provided hundreds of volunteers for several different campaigns, and I thought this to be very impressive. But not until the recent March 6 election did I have the chance to witness the magnitude of the CCR GOTV operation firsthand.

Hon Lien is the candidate making waves in San Jose. After receiving 24.7% of the vote in a crowded 8-candidate City Council election on Tuesday, she will continue in a run off election and is poised to become the second Republican on the 11-member city council. This will be the first time in over 20 years that two Republicans have served on the council. Her amazing biography from an immigrant from Vietnam to successful businesswoman has allowed her to pick up many important endorsements, including from some prominent Democrats. But with a steep registration gap, her election is no cakewalk.

To ensure maximum Republican turnout for Lien, the Santa Clara County GOP called in some GOTV Big Guns— College Republicans.

The California College Republicans brought their first rate GOTV mobilization to San Jose the weekend before last. On that Friday afternoon, 63 enthusiastic CRs descended upon Council District 4. They walked every Republican household in the District by the end of the weekend.

San Jose is just the latest in what has become a GOTV tradition for CCR in recent years. It began in 2004 when CCR helped elect Abel Maldonado to the State Senate. Then in 2005 the operation was moved to San Diego, where Councilman Kevin Faulconer was narrowly elected by roughly 700 votes.

The operation took an ambitious twist in 2006 when the leadership decided to take a last minute multi-race approach to their GOTV program. Assemblymembers Shirley Horton and Bonnie Garcia both benefited from the volunteerism of over 200 CRs in the November election.

Now with Hon Lien's election, CCR has now turned out well over 260 GOTV volunteers for targeted races in Northern and Southern California in the last year.

These are not ordinary volunteers mind you. They are young, dynamic and hardworking. Most of them stayed in the field for over six hours last weekend.

In a situation where every voter contact counts, a GOTV program can't find a better asset than CCR. Thank you again to Ryan Clumpner, Mason Harrison, Chandra Sharma and Kelly Hayes. They are leaders.

Keen butcher is the Chairman of the Santa Clara Republican Party and the President of the California Republican County Chairman's Association. This article was originally published on the Flash Report.