Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with campaign

Reading on the Campaign Trail

minicloud — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:54:16 -0800

What are some good campaign trail biographies? I'm looking for any interesting read, whether in book form or a series of articles, that follows a candidate for a period of time up to their election, preferably ones where the writer actually accompanied the candidate as they went through the process of running. I'm not only looking for presidential candidates, but any government post at all (senate, congress, local government etc). I know Hunter Thompson is a good place to start, but what else?

Campaign stiffs campaign workers, won't respond. Solutions?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:39:54 -0800

Local political campaign reports a large surplus four days after stiffing its workers (I and dozens of other campaign workers are owed back pay, several of us in the $300+ range). Solutions? This was an unsuccessful bid for a NY City Council seat. (I'm not directly naming the candidate or any individuals in this post, just as a courtesy -- trying not to saturate people's google results with this because A) I don't know yet what happened and B) the candidate has done great things for the community and I still really believe in his achievements. But there's an article at nypost.com and several of the campaign workers are blogging about it, so it's not exactly a secret).

The campaign hired all its workers at $15/hr. On Election Day (the 15th of September), we were told to come pick up our checks on the 18th of Sep., with no indication that anything would be wrong with them (and throughout the entire campaign they were still actively asking us to bring new people, friends and relatives, to come work at $15/hr).

At 9pm on the 17th, we got a group email saying the campaign would only pay us $10/hr and we should not come in on the 18th; instead, the $10/hr checks were mailed. According to the article linked above, the campaign reported a significant surplus four days after sending out our partial-payment checks on the 18th.

The sole public statement from the campaign, given at the reporter's request for that article, was "Everyone has been paid or their check has been sent to them in the mail." That is, needless to say, an extremely disingenuous (and bad-faith) non-response.

Several campaign workers got together and wrote a formal group email to the campaign's email address asking for a resolution (there was no answer, and now that address is apparently no longer accepting emails), and started a blog with the basic facts, then filed a formal complaint with the Campaign Finance Board after it was clear that the campaign wouldn't respond (that complaint is now pending). Many workers have attempted to contact the campaign managers (using known-good phone numbers and email addresses), receiving no responses whatsoever. Only the Field Coordinator has been responsive, but she has no relation to the campaign's finances.

One thing I have not done is cash the partial-payment check they mailed me on the 18th, on the suspicion that cashing it could be seen as implicitly accepting it as correct payment. (Please share opinions re. whether that's a wrong suspicion, because I seriously need that money.) For me, and for at least a dozen other people who also started towards the beginning of the campaign, these partial checks sent on the 18th were the second or third of the weekly checks we received. Our earlier first checks were all correct, $15/hr, agreeing with our timesheets. I did cash my correct earlier check, as I think all of us did.

My own financial position means the money I'm still owed (several hundred dollars) is clearly worth time and effort in material terms, not just on principle. Are there steps to be taken while we wait for the Campaign Finance Board to review the complaint? And more importantly: would even the best-case result of that review produce money for us, or would it just produce something like censure or fees for the campaign?

Where do the insiders go?

2bucksplus — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:37:23 -0800

What are the best "inside baseball" political blogs covering the upcoming New York City elections? I used to read the Politicker religiously when it was still part of the Observer and edited by Ben Smith, back when I worked with a campaign in the primary and general elections in 2005.

Are any of these blogs the obvious successor or is there something better?

Lessons from the Obama campaign

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:15:39 -0800

Looking for best infodumps, narratives, archives, and analyses of Barack Obama's successful campaign for election, with a focus on volunteers and fundraising. I know the number one thing leading to the campaign's success was one standard, general issue Barack H. Obama, so just assume I have a candidate, issue or idea that has a chance, that is a bit different, that is controversial yet also popular, that can be identified with hope and change. An Obama it is not, of course, but I think it's worth exploring Obama's campaign and seeing what can be taken away, because my orthodox methods are not working worth shit right now.

Insights I need most include:

- The development of the messaging the campaign used, particularly at the local and special interest group level, to recruit and motivate the fantastic numbers of field volunteers, particularly the ones that never knocked doors/delivered leaflets/made voter phone calls before. I'm also interested in getting volunteers that have never worked with a political party before.

- Insights into organisational strategies / campaign management strategies/other methods or resources that helped to lead to and sustain the huge number of volunteers.

- The development of the messaging and the organisational strategies used to recruit hundreds of small scale and repeat fundraisers, both online and offline.

Besides looking for narratives elsewhere online, I'm also interested in your lessons from experience campaigning, either from the top or from the ground. What worked as a call to action for you? I need people to be as inspired to work hard as I am, and I need a lot of new people to get to the scale I need. Even if these tactics are nowhere near as successful as they were for Obama, any reasonable rate of return on the time and resources invested here would give us an edge.

We have an awesome, awesome computer system to organise our field work, we just need more people power and more money.

I am aware that these methods go back to Dean and Before, so non-Obama stuff is ok too of course.

I can't give a lot of details of specifics here, but if you have advice or questions you would like to share you can send them to battycampaignmanager@gmail.com

Thanks very much for your help. This is a frightening and overwhelming experience but it's also a wonderful one. I've never wanted something to succeed as much as this in my entire professional life.

Help me plan a D&D Campaign

Philby — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:24:58 -0800

Dungeon Masters: Help me start planning and preparing a Dungeons and Dragons campaign for a group of seasoned players who've been a while between rolls of the dice... After many long years hiatus, at last I get to DM a D&D (3.5 edition) game again... oh crafty, masterful dungeon masters- how do you go about planning and preparing a campaign for your players? How do you put it all together, come up with episodes in a grand arc of story? And can you recommend any good online resources for dungeon mastering? Any hints, tips, departure points, inspiration very much appreciated. Any ideas on how to be the best dungeon master i can be would be grand, too!

I have the big idea for the campaign in mind... it's fleshing it out and breaking it into segments that i'd like help with. Thanks!

So, now that I've spent 30 minutes talking to you, will you vote for my guy?

Weebot — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:43:14 -0800

For the politicos out there: how effective is phone banking / canvassing, statistically speaking? So I'm working on a political campaign right now on the communication side of things, and I was curious as to some of the inner-working of the field program. I'm relatively new to all this, so a lot of it is a mystery to me.

We are running a particularly intense field program, and I was curious about the literature and history behind it. Some particular questions pop up in my head, like how likely is voter going to support you if a volunteer talks to them face-to-face? Over the phone? To the candidate directly? Where did this technique of politicking originate? What are the major pieces of literature behind these techniques? Things like that.

Sometimes I wish I had majored in Political Science rather than English...

Sending emails through a nonprofit's website

acridrabbit — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:47:54 -0800

How to set up a way for my non-profit's supporters to send letters to the editor and to elected officials online? I'm looking for a way to set up an online letter-writing campaign. Ideally, a supporter would be able to visit our website, select from a list of recipients, customize the body of the email, and hit send.

My non-profit group's website runs on Wordpress and Drupal, but I haven't been able to find a plug-in or module-based solution through either of those platforms. Is there a stand-alone solution or an easy way to implement this?

What innovations of the Obama campaign could be applied to activist campaigns?

GIMG — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:49:30 -0800

Could activists for social causes (e.g. global warming) learn something from the Obama campaign in how to effectively engage and mobilize people?

Go Green for Obama?

limeonaire — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:08:19 -0800

Does anyone know what those green lapel pins are that about a third of Obama's staffers seem to be wearing in the photos here? (via)

I scream, you scream, we all scream for a grassroots campaign strategy!

serazin — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:12:03 -0800

I gather from Howard Dean's announcement today that he and the Obama People don't get along. I'm curious though how much Obama's win and the Congressional turnover are due to Dean's strategies and policies as head of the DNC. When he was running for president, Dean was Mr. Grassroots. Does the "grassrootsyness" of the Obama campaign owe much to Dean? What actually changed in the DNC under Dean? (I'm interested in your incite and also in reading any articles you can point me to on the subject.)

Money's influence on state issues

itesser — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:06:29 -0800

Are there statistics or studies or articles about money swaying ballot propositions? In the heat of a CA Prop 8 discussion, someone said "the side with less funding hardly ever wins". I'm willing to believe that's generally true with candidates running for elected office (although links/resources about it would be informative and appreciated), but I want to know if this has been studied on a state-issue level.

Help Me Get Hope

Secret Life of Gravy — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:07:29 -0800

Election 08: Best way to mount my campaign signs? I just got back to NC and this state is in the game! I bought 5 different Obama rally signs this morning (love the variety) and I want to mount them in the yard. Anybody done this? Suggestions? Bear in mind we get a lot of rain here.

Next up: modeling Main Street vs. Wall St

scission — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:34:26 -0800

I want to play "the race card." Where can I print one out? I've already seen this Magic card. I liked it, but I'm looking for something that isn't specific to a particular fandom.

I want the debates to be annotated after the fact, a la pop-up video.

vytae — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:08:30 -0800

Has anyone seen a pop-up-video style version of the presidential or VP debates that checks facts and names? If not, is there any organization I could suggest this to with any reasonable hope of having them implement it? I know FactCheck.org and other various news agencies have published lists of selected falsehoods and mistakes, but I would really love to have "true"/"not true"/"his real name is..."/"the actual number was..." info show up on my screen as I watch the recorded version of each debate. I feel like this idea would have enough mass appeal that somebody on the internet (if not a major news outlet) should have done it already, but my searches turn up nothing. Have you seen this anywhere? Can you think of anyone I could suggest this to, who could put this kind of thing together? (I'm half hoping that someone like CNN would love to make this happen, they just haven't come up with the idea yet. Maybe I'm crazy.)

What can I do to win the election for my candidate?

davebug — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:52:22 -0800

To the undecideds, or those who believe they can put themselves in the undecided's shoes: What might persuade you towards a particular candidate, particularly in the form of anything a volunteer might be able to do? Would someone coming to your door help, or hurt? Phone calls? Voter registration campaigns, or offers of rides to the polls? Signs in yards and clever bumper stickers? Blog posts? Emailing everyone I know with video clips and transcripts? What can be done to positively affect your decision in the presidential election? In short, how might I, as a volunteer, most effectively turn you into decided for my candidate. (Note, if there's no way at all anyone or anything can change your mind, you're not undecided, but it is valid to say no volunteer could do anything to possibly affect your decision in any positive way.)

Talking points for BBC TV interview on role of Internet in U.S. politics

camworld — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:11:11 -0800

I've just been asked to be interviewed for a popular show on BBC TV to talk about the role of the Internet in U.S. politics for this campaign cycle. What are some succinct and intelligent talking points I can follow without sounding like I'm talking out my arse. My role in the 2004 campaign cycle is fairly well-known. I was heavily involved in the Wesley Clark campaign during the primaries and built the first campaign web site for Clark04 and then proceeded to build the innovative (at the time) Clark Community Network that allowed every campaign supporter to be a blogger for Clark and have a voice in the campaign.

After the Clark campaign I proceeded to consult for the Kerry campaign but left after 6 weeks because I refused to play the backstabbery game that most campaigns are chock full of. Side note: It's kind of ironic that political campaigns have some of the most screwed up office politics I have ever witnessed.

I also wrote some proposals for the DNCC, proposing they build an online community that allowed the delegates, remote bloggers, the political activists and journalists to communicate with one another -- basically break down the barriers that have been in place at every political convention for the past 100 years.

This cycle, I am mostly uninvolved with politics but am paying close attention to the polls and the proposed policies of each candidate. I'm impressed with the online efforts of the Obama campaign and know a few of the people who helped put that together.

So, if you were in my shoes, what talking points would you stick to? Should I take the opportunity to throw in a few digs at the McCain/Palin campaign? I'm obviously a strong Obama supporter, if only because I think McCain is walking death and Palin is the most unqualified person to ever be this close to the White House (even trumping George W. Bush's ignorance and mismanagement).

Getting involved in the campaign as a non-citizen

papalotl — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:34:42 -0800

Can permanent residents (not US citizens) get involved in the political campaign? I have a 2 year temporary green card that will hopefully become permanent next year. I can't vote, but I want to volunteer as a community organizer for the Obama campaign. Are there any restrictions to this in the US law? Can this affect my immigration process in any conceivable way?

Short & Sweet Truth About Obama?

jeanmari — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:35:15 -0800

On behalf of my parents, where is a source that they can use to look up short and sweet responses to counter to the attacks on Obama leveled by their Republican neighbors? My parents (who are voting Democratic this year for the first time in, well, ever) keep getting inflammatory chain letter emails that attempt to spread misinformation about Obama. They've been asking me for short and sweet ways to counter these attacks.

I've given them some "elevator speech length" talking points with sources, but I can't find a collection of these on the internet to address the rumors that they've been sent. I've had to do my own research and give them brief statement myself. There has to be something out there, yes? I'm finding the lengthy information and the sources and documents, but nothing that has been condensed.

The information we're looking for is not the Fight The Smears site. The rumors involve distortion or denial of his record.

(P.S. We are donating gas cards to college students who want to travel for the campaign. Any websites that show the major gas stations per state? Would hate to give these guys a Mobil card for a BP state.)

Help me help him

andromache — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:48:50 -0800

OK. Let's do this fucking thing. I want to help Obama get elected. How can I have the biggest impact in the immediate run-up to Election Day? I'm in NYC, and I'd like to take, say, the five days leading up to November 4 to do whatever needs doing most. I'm willing to travel to a nearby swing state (PA, OH) where I would probably be more valuable.

I don't have much money. Do I contact a local campaign HQ? Ridesharing? Can I sleep on the floor of some field organizer? What nearby state/county/city needs some unskilled but enthusiastic support from, say, Nov. 1-Nov. 4?

I was thinking of something like bussing college kids to the polls on the Fourth--I guess it'll be too late to just canvas for him and go door to door touting his virtues.

Possible alternative: I understand that there are lots of documented cases of people (many black, or otherwise likely to vote Democratic) being turned away from polls for shady reasons--like their name is similar to that of a convicted felon. So I'd also be happy to do some kind of poll policing, with the understanding that it's A. allowing eligible voters vote is the right thing to do, and B. it'd help my man Barry O.

I haven't done this before, but dear God, if he loses I need to know that I did what I could and if he wins I want to have been part of it. Dig? Thanks a lot, all.

What Makes a Dubya 2000 Vote an Understandable Decision?

WCityMike — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:38:18 -0800

I'd honestly like to know why half of America voted for George W. Bush in 2000: what their reasoning was. Please note right off the bat: I'm not asking this in order to encourage mockery of, or lambaste, those people who voted for George W. Bush in 2000. Quite the contrary: I am actually asking this in order to try to fuel an attempt to get rid of a mindset that does mock and lambaste them. (2004 was a different matter, as far as people's reasoning was concerned: the terrorist attack introduced the meme, appropriate or not, that Dubya was needed to continue to be tough on terror, that it was patriotic to vote for him, and so on. So that meme was there and can explain among other things the 2004 win.)

But in the 2000 election, patriotism while under attack was not a theme available to Dubya yet. Yet he got a huge part of the country. The precise vote count and the election controversy doesn't matter for this question: he convinced nearly (or over) half the country that he would be a good President.

My question is: why? Is there a way that this question can be modeled where that half of America doesn't come off as looking bad?

A few days ago, in order to write a comment in a thread (that ended up being deleted), I ended up digging up via the Internet Archive an old web post I wrote the first weekend of December 2000.

That made me realize this question was in my mind and had never been answered, and that it was really coloring my opinion of the people who live in this country with me towards the heavy negative. All that evidence was available before the election took place, if I was able to write that essay a few weeks after the election. Why didn't it count in the public eye? There's about ten to twelve good and even media-juicy stories, any one of which you would think would have sunk his campaign. Why didn't it?

Since the 2000 election, so for eight years now, my answer has been one that paints an extremely nasty picture of HALF of the country. "Those who voted for Bush in 2000 are fucking dumbasses who didn't bother to research their vote." Complete with the hostile anger implied by "fucking dumbasses."

I imagine some of you are going, "Yeah, that's exactly how I feel, they are dumbasses." But that's not what I want your answer to be! I don't want this thread to be a pile-on for Bush voters. I don't want to think that half of America are fucking dumbasses. I have walked around with anger and with cynicism, and while I'm not seeking to swing all the way over to the other pole of things ("Charrrrliiiiieee!"), I am trying to get a better framework — free of preconceptions made angrily a long time ago — of parts of my worldview. I think the world is filled with a lot more kindness and nobility than I gave it credit for, and I think I need to start thinking better of the world in general.

So in order to do that, I want to figure this out. I want to know why people thought about it and decided to themselves that George W. Bush would be a good President, a better one than Al Gore would. And, moreover, why that decision was made with such evidence as to have that decision repeated in such massive numbers that the 2000 election was so damn close. I don't want my explanation to be "nation of dumbasses" or "sheep led by media trends" or "neocon manipulation" or other cynical nastiness anymore, so I am trying to get a different perceptual framework of the event.

It doesn't necessarily mean that media trends or neocon manipulation wasn't at play. But I just want to get a handle on why it would be a understandable decision for half of America to make back in 2000.

Anyone?

Need To Score Some Hope Pronto

rossination — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:35:35 -0800

I feel incredibly stupid for asking this, but where can I find Obama bumper stickers, buttons, and other materials in Seattle? I ordered a couple of buttons from moveon.org, but they're taking forever to arrive and I want to send some to a friend in Sweden. I would, obviously, be happy to make a small donation to the campaign as well.

I'm sure there's a FAT CHANCE of this, but sources in or around Greenlake / Wallingford / UW would be appreciated.

Plucking the Progressive Prairies

abkadefgee — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:11:07 -0800

What are some books or other resources that can help me become a better political organizer in rural areas? I'm working in three very rural counties right now and am facing new challenges as a result. I'd like to get some info on how I can be a better organizer in these areas and how I can get folks involved who live 2 hours from my office.

I do a lot of traveling to meet up with people, but i want to make the most of my trips and find the best places for recruiting volunteers.

And although I'm asking for books and resources, I'm also glad to hear any tips you guys might have as well if you have experience in the field.

I want to fetch coffee for the future POTUS or staff

msamye — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:54:00 -0800

Best way to volunteer for the national presidental campaign? In the interest of being useful to a large amount of people, let's say either side is open. I've got myself some time and don't need a significant amount of cash. I'd love to go get involved with the national campaign, but am blanking on where to start. Any contacts or stories of MeFites doing this now, and how to get involved?

I'm a young college grad with lots of work experience, but I'd like not to just jump into whatever next corporate job is waiting for me, and it seems to be a perfect time. I'm also willing to relocate anywhere in the US to make this happen, at least until the elections.

Again, either side is welcomed. I'd like this to be useful for everyone. MeFi mail me if you want more info.

Public financing of campaigns.

pithy comment — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:39:28 -0800

Last week Obama eschewed the public financing system for the general election. It seems that many of the articles I am reading are saying that he is the "first major party candidate to reject public financing and its attendant spending limits." Do they mean in this election, or ever? If they mean "first-ever" (since public financing started) and public financing means a candidate can't raise private funds, then why is there always so much talk of candidates hosting various fund-raising events like $x,000-a-plate dinners? Are the publicly financed campaigns having their PACs raise money or what?

Help me find this poster!

ocherdraco — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:14:03 -0800

Help me find a full image of a Clinton campaign poster from the Puerto Rican primary I'm a design geek, and having caught a glimpse of the poster in this photo on the New York Times website, I really want to see the whole thing, but my Google fu is letting me down.

Hive mind, I'm hoping yours is better.