2008 Election
Lessons from Iowa: How to Win the People, Then the Press
Thx HuffPost: “Local Papers: Obama Dominating Ground Game”
John McCain once famously proclaimed that the media was his “base,” and as last week’s W&W guest and Straight Talk Express veteran, Seattle PI cartoonist David Horsey, pointed out: Many members of the media have long relationships with and like McCain better than Obama.
This scenario isn’t a far cry from what Obama faced in Iowa last fall when the media insisted that HRC was going to clobber him. The news coverage relied heavily on conventional wisdom and did not take into account the arrival of Obama’s 1-2 punch: grassroots activism and new media tools. While friends were quoting polling data they’d seen on TV, I was countering with finance and participation numbers from My.BarackObama.com. I’d easily gauge public opinion based on thousands of college kids donating $25 more than I would a hermit with a home phone line to answer at dinnertime.
The effectiveness of this strategy was abundantly clear when I arrived in Iowa. The first thing my field team leader taught us - which Megan and I still tease each other relentlessly over - was the motto: “Respect. Empower. Include.” The Council Bluffs, Iowa, team had been infiltrating communities, forging alliances with opinion leaders and enhancing the power of in-person connection with the reinforcement of new technologies for more than a year. Any of the residents could have told us what the pundits started singing on Jan. 4. Kennedy-esque, yada yada.
He’s not going to have that much time in Florida and Ohio, but if his upheaval of the Clinton legacy (particularly in the traditionally red states) is any indication of the power of the 50-state ground strategy, McCain might as well get nice and cozy at one of the many retirement communities in Arizona.
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“Respect. Empower. Include.” That’ll a breath of fresh air for 2009. I can’t wait to get the war-mongerers out of office to get someone that will respect the public rather than telling us what to think.