Don’t miss today’s front-page Washington Post article profiling Virginia as a battleground state (now with working link — thanks, Dad). The discussion of demographics and voting patterns is political-junkielicious in itself, but the article also talks in some detail about Obama’s local organizing tactics. 30-odd offices statewide? Check. Massive voter registration campaign? Check. Local events organized via MyBarackObama? Check. Obama “fellows” working their butts off? Check. Database-driven turnout operations? Check. Database-driven microtargeting to find potentially wavering Republicans? Check. A good look at how a modern political machine works? Check, and quite likely mate.
– cpd
August 4th, 2008
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In the spirit of even-handedness, let’s follow our recent “help” for John McCain with some unsolicited advice for Barack Obama. In Obama’s case, we’ll need to get more subtle — he and his people have the mechanics of running for office pretty much down, and I bet they could write their own Online Politics 101.
But here’s something to think about — when Obama is describing what he and his administration would do, why does he so often say “I” instead of “we?” The campaign certainly uses “we” effectively in other settings (see: “Yes We Can”), and so does Obama himself in his best speeches, but when he’s talking off the cuff, it’s often “I” “I” “I.” Is this why people say he sounds cocky? “Cocky” could be code for “uppity” (with all of its racial overtones), but I’ve heard Obama described as arrogant-seeming by people who mean him well and are worried by how he comes off.
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August 4th, 2008
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