Reflections on the campaign
In the aftermath, the meaning of the campaign seems clearer now. I have no idea how Barack's administration will form up or how things will go but I'm optimistic.
I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation and for sure the volunteer effort made the difference. I am certain I moved a couple of voters to vote for Barack every day I canvassed, and motivated some others to vote who might not have. Add up all the shifts of volunteers canvassing and you get the margin by which we took Ohio.
Without us, with the level of effort that went into the Gore or Kerry campaigns Florida would have been a loss. We might have squeaked by in Ohio, we might have even managed a win in the electoral college and a narrow margin in the popular vote or we would have lost and been subject to the hope that McCain would have reverted to his pre-Bush-kowtowing-self but with the frightening backdrop of Sarah Palin ascending to prominence in the republican party .
In Ohio we were nervous as polling showed Barack's edge dropping from the 6-10% range into the 0-5% range. It was scary but I was pretty sure that this was the result of the campaign devoting fewer appearances in the traditional swing states and taking the game into states that hadn't voted for a Democrat since the 60s (NC, MO, IA, MT etc). By Halloween I was pretty sure we had a win in the offing, both in Ohio and the full election. The word from HQ was -- "Don't pay attention to the polls, don't let up, every canvassing and phone shift counts, we don't want to be sitting here on Nov 5 thinking 'if only we'd done a little more'".
At this point, being sure we had a win in hand I determined to work harder and do whatever and everything I could to make the result a landslide.
This brings me to my expectations of the coming administration. One important difference from start to end between Obama's campaign and those of Clinton and McCain was a clear message from the top that the way we would do this was by respecting one another while working toward the common goal. In a strategic sense this meant a consistent message and a lack of the infighting that weakened his opponents' campaigns.
On the ground this manifested in seeing staff and volunteers treating one another with respect and humility. People working insanely long hours under constant stress didn't bicker, hardly complained (and never to outsiders) and carried on with the tasks at hand. This included dealing with self-important and sometimes counter-productive local politicians and the local democratic apparatus.
The expectation that we're volunteering for something different is certainly what brought me to Ohio and the fact that the campaign was founded on themes of respect and inclusion was what kept things going and helped to keep people motivated. People who experience that their efforts are appreciated and that they have input to the larger process are far more likely to work harder and we surely did.
Every targeted door in Ohio was knocked on 4 times, this means that we talked to nearly every persuadable voter in the state at least once, in person and probably again on the phone. The data fed back to the campaign meant that we largely didn't continue to expend effort on people who'd voted early and by election day that was nearly 50% of Ohio, That's a lot of effort we could focus on where it still counted.
So both at the strategic level and on the ground this campaign both existed and excelled because Obama is not simply a political operator but an effective leader. Working inside this campaign, it's clear that what Barack learned as a community organizer determined how things were organized.
I know I am ready to do more. Well over a million people volunteered to help Obama win but winning this election is just the starting point. The only change to date is a change in attitude and belief and that's a great place to start, people who believe can accomplish a lot.
My starting point was to go talk to our VP of development and describe how the difference between working with our stressed-out and often back-biting staff and equally stressed but committed and respectful campaign staff was a revealing one. So I will start by trying to bring change to my office. (The big boss heard me and isn't unaware of the problems).
For the past decade, perhaps longer I've been working on being a better me, to be centered and to effect change in my own life, to make my own corner of the world a better, more respectful place. I've by no means always done that as well as I would like but I've done my best and most importantly ---
I was fully ready and in fact longing to recognize a leader who worked from principles of inclusion, respect and empowerment. And there's a million more people like me who are ready to help following through with what we've started. Barack has won with a respectable mandate and I predict that we'll accomplish enough in the next 4 years to win again in 2012 with the kind of mandate that Reagan enjoyed.
I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation and for sure the volunteer effort made the difference. I am certain I moved a couple of voters to vote for Barack every day I canvassed, and motivated some others to vote who might not have. Add up all the shifts of volunteers canvassing and you get the margin by which we took Ohio.
Without us, with the level of effort that went into the Gore or Kerry campaigns Florida would have been a loss. We might have squeaked by in Ohio, we might have even managed a win in the electoral college and a narrow margin in the popular vote or we would have lost and been subject to the hope that McCain would have reverted to his pre-Bush-kowtowing-self but with the frightening backdrop of Sarah Palin ascending to prominence in the republican party .
In Ohio we were nervous as polling showed Barack's edge dropping from the 6-10% range into the 0-5% range. It was scary but I was pretty sure that this was the result of the campaign devoting fewer appearances in the traditional swing states and taking the game into states that hadn't voted for a Democrat since the 60s (NC, MO, IA, MT etc). By Halloween I was pretty sure we had a win in the offing, both in Ohio and the full election. The word from HQ was -- "Don't pay attention to the polls, don't let up, every canvassing and phone shift counts, we don't want to be sitting here on Nov 5 thinking 'if only we'd done a little more'".
At this point, being sure we had a win in hand I determined to work harder and do whatever and everything I could to make the result a landslide.
This brings me to my expectations of the coming administration. One important difference from start to end between Obama's campaign and those of Clinton and McCain was a clear message from the top that the way we would do this was by respecting one another while working toward the common goal. In a strategic sense this meant a consistent message and a lack of the infighting that weakened his opponents' campaigns.
On the ground this manifested in seeing staff and volunteers treating one another with respect and humility. People working insanely long hours under constant stress didn't bicker, hardly complained (and never to outsiders) and carried on with the tasks at hand. This included dealing with self-important and sometimes counter-productive local politicians and the local democratic apparatus.
The expectation that we're volunteering for something different is certainly what brought me to Ohio and the fact that the campaign was founded on themes of respect and inclusion was what kept things going and helped to keep people motivated. People who experience that their efforts are appreciated and that they have input to the larger process are far more likely to work harder and we surely did.
Every targeted door in Ohio was knocked on 4 times, this means that we talked to nearly every persuadable voter in the state at least once, in person and probably again on the phone. The data fed back to the campaign meant that we largely didn't continue to expend effort on people who'd voted early and by election day that was nearly 50% of Ohio, That's a lot of effort we could focus on where it still counted.
So both at the strategic level and on the ground this campaign both existed and excelled because Obama is not simply a political operator but an effective leader. Working inside this campaign, it's clear that what Barack learned as a community organizer determined how things were organized.
I know I am ready to do more. Well over a million people volunteered to help Obama win but winning this election is just the starting point. The only change to date is a change in attitude and belief and that's a great place to start, people who believe can accomplish a lot.
My starting point was to go talk to our VP of development and describe how the difference between working with our stressed-out and often back-biting staff and equally stressed but committed and respectful campaign staff was a revealing one. So I will start by trying to bring change to my office. (The big boss heard me and isn't unaware of the problems).
For the past decade, perhaps longer I've been working on being a better me, to be centered and to effect change in my own life, to make my own corner of the world a better, more respectful place. I've by no means always done that as well as I would like but I've done my best and most importantly ---
I was fully ready and in fact longing to recognize a leader who worked from principles of inclusion, respect and empowerment. And there's a million more people like me who are ready to help following through with what we've started. Barack has won with a respectable mandate and I predict that we'll accomplish enough in the next 4 years to win again in 2012 with the kind of mandate that Reagan enjoyed.