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Mark Warner campaign/Forward Together PAC debrief

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Saturday, December 2, 2006

 

(There were three sets of notes for this session)

  1. Mark Warner campaign/Forward Together PAC debrief
  2. Notes #1
  3. Notes #2
  4. Notes #3

 

Notes #1

 

 

Jerome Armstrong leads the session

-Two main lessons from working for Dean:

1) In-house technical capability

a. Allowed them to be 24/7

b. Hard to replicate b/c you have to hire at least 5 in-house tech people

c. Had been building towards this with Warner

2) Don’t look at last campaign; look outside @ internet

-Joined PAC in June 2005

-Changed dynamics

1)--In 2002, much less presidential candidate interaction with midterm races compared to 2008 candidates in 2006

2) In terms of internet, the size of the blogs & internet has increased greatly (100 times larger)

-Jerome brought on Nate Wilcox of TX; had blog outreach experience

1) Blog outreach at presidential level has to be constant

2) Blogosphere has been filled out significantly in every area, not just politically

a. Dealing with net neutrality, etc

-Also brought programming, non-content staff on to be in-house (as with Dean campaign)

-Brought on three in-house programmers in 2006

1) Planning to launch social networking platform early in 2007

-Adam Connor came on in January 2006 to do social networking work (facebook, MySpace, etc)

-Part of the reason why Dean lost was a lack of internet program in Iowa

1) Not much interaction between field and blog teams on Dean in Iowa

-High bounce off of Kaine win propelled Warner up to HRC level; were able to hire really high-level staff

1) Meeting with new staff, worked on connecting field and social components

-instantaneous connection between social & volunteer networks and voter file

a. RNC is very top-down & has streamlined its data

b. Dems use many different voter file platforms

-in response to Nancy: Warner on tech & gaming blog radar in a good way because of Nancy’s kind of outreach

-Put disclaimers on blog posts—honesty & transparency in communications ALWAYS

-Have to have rapid response, but work with comm. department

-Scare the shit out of people who think they are posting anonymously

-Three different parts of internet teams

1) Tech

2) Outreach

3) Communications

4) IT infrastructure

-Dean campaign had a disaster with the separation of the IT component; Jerome kept it together, called it “Tech Media” department

-Don’t think of the internet as technical; it’s all about media

-Everyone wants to win; you need to learn to communicate about what is important. There has to be trust & credibility.

-Internet has to be on senior staff & have a seat at the decision-making table

 

Nate Wilcox:

-Did TX politics when internet & field “didn’t matter”; was waiting for internet to impact campaigns

-Was impressed by Dean internet effort; tried to implement that in TX

-Came to VA to help Warner forge national identity

-Interviews of Warner with bloggers from Iowa or YearlyKos

-Candidates & consultants: these are guys who have been learning politics for decades

-We are in a paradigm shift; the people running things are young and have learned politics in a different era b/c of the internet. We are in a transitional era, which has led to some transitional hiccups

-Merge the worlds; sync efforts & VIPs & activists

-Links to all ads, etc, to track how people saw which ads in which market (how did you hear of us?)

-Have to build a sustained infrastructure

1) Zip code finder, meetup, etc

2) Need to make data more open & more accessible to people have control over it, and you don’t need to rebuild database or lists

3) What has value is not lists but relationships; candidates will try to sell & market lists

-People want to be told what to do when they want to help, so we need to make it easily accessible to them

 

 

Adam Connor:

-First experience was throwing a large party at YearlyKos

-Jerome as senior member of senior staff allowed him to push for things on internet that most campaigns wouldn’t go for; could fight for new internet things

-Sometimes people would get into day-to-day dogfights on DailyKos

-Social networking: we are in the first generation of social networking

1) It’s a very CONCIOUS thing now

2) They tried to make it less conscious; make it more part of everyday experience and

-Ended contests at midnight on Fridays; rookie mistake.

 

Nancy:

-Brought on to fill role to reach out to people with technology background that don’t usually get contacted through political blogs; wanted to reach out to bigger online world

-Warner saw himself as a technologist because of his business experience; wanted people to see that about him

-Warner could make connections on the fly with energy, national security, R&D, education—was able to connect the dots the way other candidates can’t because of his technology background

-Warner was able to connect with and understand the impact of a networked society

-Second Life response

1) Washington press corps completely confused & mocking

2) Instructive to see how people reacted to it

-political bloggers ignored it

-It was on Katie Couric & Gaming networks, NPR

-Different people with different roles on campaign responded in different ways as different kinds of media outlets picked up on it

 

Trey:

-Not political background; from TX, where he met Nate volunteering for Dean

1) Built site “Step-Up Texas” where grassroots could nominate & support candidates (because state party was non-existent)

-Warner PAC unique in that it was a venture capital environment where people understood the importance on innovation & software. Fertile environment for internet development

-Given a lot of freedom in design of technology platform

-Silos issue: how we have different silos of locked data, unable to collapse tools & data together

-Integration with the rest of the campaign organization was incredibly important; integration immense success with field & fundraising

1) Realized they shouldn’t re-invent the wheel with online fundraising; worked with ActBlue

2) Started with the vote file & CRM products

3) Then built with social networking & activist identity

4) Everything flowed into ONE SILO

-Programmers drive the progressive movement “from the bottom”, and they’re unrecognized because they don’t blog

-Mapchangers mailers also sent to caucus goers in Iowa; were able to compare online & offline data

-The key is starting early and thinking about how to tie internet to field; ask how to make it easier for activists, volunteers. Make it accessible, break down myth of the internet. Be married at the hip with field! Talk about what you can do for each other.

-Data collection tool: direct response program online. All info flowed into one silo of user data. Spent a month and ½ to build survey & message testing tool.

-In VA, they’re trying to bridge gap between netroots & state party for 2007

 

 

Audra Tafoya:

-In NH for Warner; bad with internet blog stuff; communications

-Presidential campaigns send people to NH in midterms & keep them there for primary

-Credits Warner & PAC for taking back the state house

-Mapchanger program; Warner was writing checks for 1/3 of campaign budget; energized Deaniacs & bloggers (there are few of them)

-Moderate business types interested in Warner because of message; activists interested in Warner because of tactics. Interesting mix of supporters

-Mapchangers built contacts significantly in NH

-Opened floodgates of other presidentials investing in the state house

Invested $200,000 total in NH

 

Dave Barnhart:

-Field & internet teams should be connected at the hip & working together

-Asked issue ID questions with Mapchangers

-Tech teams sit on goldmine of behavioral data

 

Ben:

-The primary thing about data-mining is to have rigorous testing. If it works, do it.

-Data-mining needs to prove itself in the field as an effective tool

-Data collection techniques: right now, it’s done mostly through polling

-Surveys off fundraisers. Have to have a different attitude about broadening data resources & collection

 

 

Notes #2

 

SESSION 1 — WARNER DEBRIEF

TRENDHOLD (SP?) ROOM (2ND FLOOR)

 

• Warner’s being second to Hillary → recruit great campaign staff

• Network-era politics:

o Compare to paradigm shift (old people die, young people move in)

o Sestak uses the internet & media sphere well

o → the transition brings “hiccups”

• Social networking

o Jerome as web organizer, Facebook, etc. – it’s important to have web people.

o Idea: integrate social networking into donating, etc. – into internet experience. Don’t realize that you’re networking, when you are **

• Governor as a technologist

o Mark Warner sees himself as a technologist

• → need an outreach effort

• connections in energy, national security, “connecting the dots” with technology (R&D)

• internet team: do outreach to people who weren’t involved in blogging explicitly on the usual channels

• is a progressive. → make connections with the ways our lives work. Connect the personality of the politician to the daily experiences of voters/activists

o Entered governor into Second Life– virtual… “pathbreakingly mockable” TMG Warcraft articles (***)

• Mentioned on G4, NPR, etc.

• “Orange hatter”

o Step up Texas – grassroots nominating website (***). Esp. useful in states where Dem. Party is less involved/successful

o Gov. Warner’s PAC:

• Venture capitalist environment – technology-friendly

• On PAC, CapitalOne co-founder

• Given freedom on tech platform design. “Silos” of data and reputation e.g. on eBay and Amazon ←→ political information

• Aim: “collapse the silos” and start from the ground up

o Benjamin Rahn ActBlue

• Corporate networking CRM

• Activist platforms

• → silo with CRM & voter file

• Door knocks and technology – do it with Palms to strike 35,000 people from the lists. (***) equip your canvassers with technology to make things work.

o Chris Bowers (sp?) – “crazy hippie internet person”

o Merge it with traditional world – “local organizer VIP” (e.g. old people with long lists).

• Audra (Audrey sp?) – N.H. model

o Presidential campaigns send staff to work for state party & candidates, then keep them on for the primary.

o Mark Warner etc. → taking back house in New Hampshire (lots of unlikelies got elected) & Forward Together

• Map changers. M.Warner did it first on federal level, then in state legislatures. Pick your candidate, write in your address, and candidates receive checks (donations)

• → built up list of emails and contacts

• → invested $200,000 in state senate, as well

• also created mail campaigns (5% response rate).

• 10% response rate on online contest

• PR @ house parties with flyers for contest…

• N.H. house: 400 members, 3000 people. $2,000-$3,000 campaigns, just a few home mailings, which Warner helped to fund

• Result: Energized the Dean-iacs, bloggers, activists, etc. → fostered communication in a small online community.

• People in NH interested due to tactics and due to ideas (voters)

o Field teams need to cooperate with field teams – practical. As long as you keep asking the practical questions, you’ll be on the right track.

o Lowering the barrier to activism (*** - what’s the risk with the elderly republicans? AARP? What role can they play?)

• Kevin Gruff, Jim Webb’s internet director

• Get a presentation on transparency, accountability

o Don’t let people post anonymously

• Staff structure

o Webmaster

o Outreach

o Communication (blogwriting)

• Data mining – how does it fit in?

o Republicans used it in 2004 book

• 50 segments of poll- and data- collection under Karl Rove

• macro-poll…

o Data in campaigns is currently unreliable—making it integrated and accessible is key.

o Asking issue questions, so we know what questions voter care about, behavioral data is extremely useful.

o Have a centralized data collection tool (into the “silo”)

• The Democratic future

o What do we need to compete with the Democrats?

o “sustained architecture”

• tools that Dean campaign find online – zip code finder, meet online, etc.

• MoveOn.org and other campaign organizers lose their data files after campaigns

o Candidates build “lists” – need to move beyond that single mentality (***) and beyond relationships

• NetRoots

o A lot of blog activists are at odds – or think they’re at odds – with the state parties. (***)

o Goal in Virginia: bridging the gap between bloggers and state party.

o Getting involved: make it easy so people can get simple instructions.

 

 

Notes #3

 

didn’t focus on past campaigns for guidance

also looked at general internet

 

more focus on mid-term elections than in the past

gave lots of money to campaigns, worked as surrogate

 

Jerome Armstrong – also worked on dean campaign. Having an adequate tech infrastructure allowed their campaign to effectively take advantage of staff and volunteers to create a 24x7 campaign.

 

Intended on launching in-house designed social networking site before mission was aborted.

 

Part of reason dean lost was that there wasn’t a great network setup in iowa. Much easier to develop infrastructure for other areas, which didn’t already have an elaborate network already in place.

 

RNC has much more hierarchical format, so that they can tell everyone that they needed to use a single database that they controlled. DNC is less top-bottom, so it’s been harder to have unification of the data.

 

Blogger relations – warner had a lot of experience in VA with business and political community, but less national experience.

 

We’re at the end of the broadcast era. It’s a paradigm shift to a network centric.

 

Disconnect between those who have lots of political experience in the prior era but do not fully comprehend web 2.0

 

Social networking is still a very conscious thing- you know you’re there when you’re there. They were working on social networking that was less obvious, so that you’d be on a social networking site when you’re donating and not fully realize it.

 

One of the great things about warner was that he could make connections that a lot of other people might not be able to. “connecting the dots” and sometimes through technology.

 

Through their efforts on secondlife, warner garnered a lot of positive buzz on the tech and gamer blogs.

 

Data is often in silos, unable to interact between systems. They built systems to break down those silos and integrate departments. Started building a voter file, then looked at corporate CRMs to learn best practices and then built their own, then began building social networking platform.

 

Lessons learned – avoid paid doorknockers. They don’t care, may even fake their reports, and aren’t cost effective.

 

Old folks need the vip treatment online. i.e. allow 84 year old grandmother to easily upload her event list.

 

Need to treat big donors well on blog, recognize when they comment, etc.

 

Mark warner was a huge part in helping win the state legislature in new Hampshire.

 

Map changers (in iowa and new Hampshire) – online voting system which then directed money to online winners. energized the bloggers and deaniacs. Not a lot of online community, but this helped to get them excited.also built up contact info database for activists in these critical states. Don’t close a big project on Friday at 5 pm. Mailing of 80,000 to announce the contest (4/4 voters), 5% response rate from mailing, in the end 10% response rate.

 

Honesty, accountability and transparency are critical in your approach to bloggers. Staff could post comments, mentioning that they are staff, but making it clear that they are not speaking on behalf of the campaign. Don’t try and post anonymously. It’s just not worth getting caught.

 

Internet team often butts heads with field team. Shouldn’t be like that, there’s a lot of room for useful collaboration between the two. Online team thought big and outside the box, but always remembered to remain grounded and ask what specific benefits the project would garner.

 

Tech job roles – dean campaign – 3 different parts to internet team. Webmaster/tech, outreach component, communications component (blogwriting, etc). outside of that was the it infrastructure.

Warner – IT can’t be keep distinct from political folk, because tech decisions must be made with political considerations in mind. Online media / offline media is a more useful distinction.

 

Datamining – needs to prove itself by a/b testing, regressional analysis, data collection techniques. Tech team can have a gold mine of info. One of core programs created was an online survey system that was highly integrated with other programs. Message testing, very important – sent two mailers with different links, observered which mailer was more effective.

 

Recommendation applebee’s America

study penn did about Bloomberg race and hillary’s

 

we’ve changed from the candidate based politics. It used to be in a silo, and a candidate would retire and all of his data would be done. We need to build a national machine, where people jumping in would have immediate jump start with knowledge of precinct captains, etc.


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