On the ground.

[rivka]

A while back I posted about McCain's apparent lack of a ground campaign - and especially the lack of a nationwide organizational structure capable of matching up against Barack Obama's. At the time, the discrepancy in the ground campaigns seemed so incredible that I was half-convinced there was some kind of weird Trojan Horse thing going on - a stealth ground campaign we couldn't see.

According to the Washington Post, apparently not:

McCain has faced a severe spending imbalance during most of the fall, but the Republican nominee squirreled away enough funds to pay for a raft of television ads in critical battleground states over the next four days, said Evan Tracey, a political analyst who monitors television spending.

The decision to finance a final advertising push is forcing McCain to curtail spending on Election Day ground forces to help usher his supporters to the polls, according to Republican consultants familiar with McCain's strategy.

The vaunted, 72-hour plan that President Bush used to mobilize voters in 2000 and 2004 has been scaled back for McCain. He has spent half as much as Obama on staffing and has opened far fewer field offices. This week, a number of veteran GOP operatives who orchestrate door-to-door efforts to get voters to the polls were told they should not expect to receive plane tickets, rental cars or hotel rooms from the campaign.

"The desire for parity on television comes at the expense of investment in paid boots on the ground," said one top Republican strategist who has been privy to McCain's plans.

The Post article quotes a campaign advisor saying that negative ads are more likely to change people's minds than personal contacts are. And maybe that's what the McCain campaign believes. But to me this reads more like a campaign that has realized that it can't and won't win (check out this piece of desperation), and is doing what it can to poison the well and make governance harder for the next president.

The problem with my giving up/spoiler interpretation is the overwhelming evidence that the ground campaign has been lacking from the beginning, even in swing states where it was presumably needed most. That link is to a 538.com article called "The Big Empty," a summary of their experiences visiting 50 McCain offices in 13 battleground states. It's a devastating indictment of the campaign - check out their photos, in particular.

On the flip side, Obama's ground organization has been truly revolutionary. Everyone with an interest in practical politics should read this lengthy, thoughtful, and fascinating analysis of how the Obama ground campaign is structured, and their intense efforts to develop, nurture, and sustain volunteer leadership.

The "New Organizers" have succeeded in building what many netroots-oriented campaigners have been dreaming about for a decade. Other recent attempts have failed because they were either so "top-down" and/or poorly-managed that they choked volunteer leadership and enthusiasm; or because they were so dogmatically fixated on pure peer-to-peer or "bottom-up" organizing that they rejected basic management, accountability and planning. The architects and builders of the Obama field campaign, on the other hand, have undogmatically mixed timeless traditions and discipline of good organizing with new technologies of decentralization and self-organization.

Win or lose, "The New Organizers" have already transformed thousands of communities—and revolutionized the way organizing itself will be understood and practiced for at least the next generation. Obama must continue to feed and lead the organization they have built—either as president or in opposition. If he doesn't, then the broader progressive movement needs to figure out how to pick this up, keep it going and spread it to all 50 states.

As I read the article, I kept thinking of my experiences working with Dean For America in 2003-2004. Many of the organizing principles sounded like grown-up, much-improved versions of the work we were trying to do in the Dean campaign. And indeed, the success of the Obama organization developed from both the DFA organization and Dean's work to develop a nationwide Democratic Party structure in his work as the Chair of the DNC.

Because I'm still a Dean partisan in many ways, I'm so thrilled to finally see public recognition of the brilliance of his 50 State Strategy. When he took over as head of the DNC, a lot of people thought sending paid Democratic organizers into places like North Carolina was a dumb waste of money. Dean looks like a genius now.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Howard, I see his name being mooted about for several possible cabinet posts. I'd like to see him get Health and Human Services.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

You know, I'd be torn. I think he'd do a great job at HHS, but I also think he is almost uniquely qualified for his current position. It takes a particular kind of talent to simultaneously throw out tons of red meat to the base, and yet also provide the pragmatic moderate support that's necessary to build a Dem infrastructure in a place like Idaho.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. And it shows a certain mindset - McCain thinks he's attractive enough to his demographic that he doesn't need to do anything for them. Or else he thinks they'll be motivated by fear of Obama. he also believes that TV ads will mobilise people who hadn't quite made their minds up. Given the sheer barrage of information, I think he's wrong on that. A nice Republican coming to your door to escort you to the poll is, IMHO, more likely to get votes than Yet Another TV ad.

Obama's ground campaign

[(Anonymous)]

You might be interested in some analysis of and questions about the disciplined yet bottom-up style of Obama's organization (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~sumanah/cgi-bin/nb/nb.cgi/view/weblog/2008/10/26/0).

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

Howard Dean is the only political candidate that I've ever fallen in love with. Obama is nice enough--I'd let him buy me a drink--but my political heart eloped with Dean long ago.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It gives me a little glow in my heart to resurrect my Dean icon.

I think one of the problems we ran into, though, was that we all did fall in love in a really big way, and to some extent the campaign and the organizing became all about how awesome it was to be in love with Dean. It became about the Dean experience, rather than about the candidate Dean - if that makes sense. And that just didn't carry over to the average non-passionate voter.

It was great for the Democratic party in the long run, because all of our energy and passion and faith and organizational contacts built into a revitalized progressive Dem movement. But it's probably a good thing that the starry-eyed excitement of the Obama campaign is tempered by hard-nosed realism.

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

Awwww! I had a huge rush of nostalgia when I saw your icon.

I think you're dead right about the non-translation. I remember advocating for Dean during my primary caucus (the most undemocratic process I've ever seen). People were too polite to roll their eyes, but I had the feeling they wanted to.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

I was a Deaniac too and am so happy to see him have proved his critics wrong. I went to Iowa in the last few days before the caucus and was there in the room when he made that noise that everybody claimed showed he was crazy. What it really showed was that he was trying to rally his troops while hoarse from days of talking non-stop. I have never forgiven the world for the horrible things they did with that.

Yeah, I probably loved him some too. Sigh.

MKK

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, Obama isn't in all 50 states. My dread is that we're going to wake up on Wednesday morning with the GOP still controlling the New York State Senate and Proposition 8 passing in California because Obama doesn't visit his freebie states to drive up Democratic turnout.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Proposition 8 passing in California because Obama doesn't visit his freebie states to drive up Democratic turnout.

I've seen mixed reports about what increased Obama voters might do to Prop 8's chances. If he brings out an enormous swell of African-American voters who are religious conservatives, Obama voters may actually help Prop 8's chances.

I really wish he had come out more vigorously against it.

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

I do too, although I'm pragmatic enough that I understand his dilemma. Mostly, I really wish that we would never get into these situations in the first place. My stomach turns at the thought that a simple majority of voters can roll back judicially-enabled civil rights, and I wish that Loving v. Virginia and its ilk had been more forceful in establishing the notion that the unalienable rights clause is there precisely to overrule the prejudices of the majority.

[aloha-moira.livejournal.com]

That post on 538 was epic. I still have this vague unsettling feeling that all the Republican organization is happening secretly out of churches etc. and the empty McCain offices don't mean as much as they could. (I'm also experiencing occasional feelings of panic that all the McCain-positive "internal polling" is a set-up for voter fraud/suppression. I know it's probably not rational. But it's there.)

But yay for Dean finally getting his propers! I was looking for a pen the other day and found my bat (I wonder if that's a collector item yet?) Like journeywoman, I do like Obama but oh, how I loved the good doctor... *wistful*

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

Why do you think you fell in love with Dean but not Obama? I can't remember what specifically attracted me to Dean. But maybe you still remember the specific magic moment. ;)

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't really fall in love with Dean myself (it felt a whole lot like a lot of his supporters were in love with the *idea* of being in love), but I never swooned for Obama because of his use of gays as the Sister Souljah of his campaign. I.e., the group he threw under the bus to prove he wasn't one of *those* democrats.

He still has many good qualities, and I will vote for him without a qualm, but... no love.

[aloha-moira.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was any one particular moment, actually. The first I heard of him was in a flyer I got at an anti-war rally in Boston in early 2003, so that was a positive thing. Then the more I heard about him - sciencey background (relatively speaking), supported CUs in Vermont, from the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party", etc - the more I liked him. His policies were progressive, but they were also intelligent, practical, pragmatic... now I'm getting all nostalgic. :)

I also found his personality to be really endearing; I thought he was funny and "real", great smile, not too much politician-speak. And he wasn't afraid to be angry about the direction the country was taking! I guess maybe that was his undoing in the end, but it appealed to me a lot because I felt the same way. And of course, I liked what he was doing with organizing on the Internet. It made me feel like I could really get involved and make a difference even though I'm not particularly gifted in the interpersonal interactions department. I ended up hosting MeetUps, phonebanking, and knocking doors anyway :) but having the DFA website as an entree to the campaign was a big deal.

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

I'm reading the Huffington Post article right now. That approach makes total sense, and it's hard to understand this is the first successful application--why hasn't it happened earlier?

I have been the volunteer organizer for a few non-political events, and I think the biggest challenge is giving volunteers something meaningful to do. They recognize the value of grunt work, but it's hard to keep smart people engaged at the grunt level for very long. By entrusting proven volunteers with leadership roles, you can make the paid staff's time go further, engage the community at a deeper level (because they trust volunteers more than people who are paid to do the work), and hang on to those committed people that you've got.

And of course, the willingness to use, trust, and listen to volunteers speaks well to the potential of an Obama administration. Let's hope that it translates to a genuine engagement of citizens on policy issues.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I'm reading the Huffington Post article right now. That approach makes total sense, and it's hard to understand this is the first successful application--why hasn't it happened earlier?

I think this is where Obama's background as a community organizer - as much as Palin and other Republicans make fun of him for it - has been incredibly beneficial. How many politicians come out of an organizing background? I think you probably have to go all the way back to the big union movements. I get the impression that in most modern campaigns, dealing with volunteers is something the lowest-level staffers do, rather than being seen as a skilled position.

I think you're right that this kind of knowledge and understanding of volunteers did already exist elsewhere, in non-political contexts. What the article reminds me of is the church concept of "gifts-based ministry," where instead of making a list of jobs and finding people to do it, you help people identify what their gifts and passions are and then create jobs that are served by those gifts. It takes a lot more effort, a lot more willingness to invest time and energy in volunteers, and a lot more trust in your volunteers, but as you say, that pays off in a big way.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I think you're right that this kind of knowledge and understanding of volunteers did already exist elsewhere, in non-political contexts. What the article reminds me of is the church concept of "gifts-based ministry," where instead of making a list of jobs and finding people to do it, you help people identify what their gifts and passions are and then create jobs that are served by those gifts. It takes a lot more effort, a lot more willingness to invest time and energy in volunteers, and a lot more trust in your volunteers, but as you say, that pays off in a big way.

I'm way late on this thread, but this is very cool and not something I'd run into before. May I steal it? (I mean, obviously you don't claim it as yours, but I wonder if it's okay to grab it and run in non-church stuff?)

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

The three anti-Obama TV ads that I'm seeing in the DC area all hammer at his lack of experience at being President. Well, McCain doesn't have any experience there, either. They're some of the stupidest ads I've ever seen.

The news said Arlington, the Virginia county closest to DC, had 3.5 hour lines to absentee vote today. I took my gimpy, legally-blind upstairs neighbor to vote today and we had our absentee ballot applications (and my assistant form) within a minute. I may have to drive by the precinct on Tuesday to see if there's really going to be lines. There's never been lines here since I moved to Manassas 17 years ago, but the registrar is sure there will be.

[cassandre.livejournal.com]

Funny, my husband and I were having a very similar conversation about Dean today, and about how Dean laid the groundwork that showed Obama how to mobilize support, especially on the internet.

And happily Obama hasn't messed things up with any barbaric roars, at least not yet.