Friday, November 16, 2012
FOOTWORK
When I was a kid, my Dad went out before each election and knocked on doors.
We lived in a town of less than 2000 people and he knew who most of his supporters were. He knew the kids in school and who their parents were. He knew the people who would put a little money in the hat or go drum up some more votes or call their own neighbors.
He had a little machine going. Well, it was part of the local Democratic machine.
It was systematic.
When I ran for office, I mostly didn't know anyone. Plymouth, MA. In those days maybe 20,000 people. The elections that I ran for were non-partisan.
The first one, the school board, I was the sock puppet for the school administrators and existing school board. No one liked them. I became part of that gang. I lost.
The second time, I ran for Moderator of the Town Meeting and I had learned my lesson. I took non-partisan a step further and ran on my independence. I had been the Chair of the Finance Committee, the group that makes recommendations to the Town Meeting and I had a reputation.
While I often took the side of the establishment, I, or we, actually, frequently took the side of the "outs". Or the gad flies. Or the disenfranchised. Yes. There even those in a small town. Especially in a small town.
I had given equal fervor to all our positions which were most often fact based and thorough. Our job.
When I ran for Moderator all I had to do was have a few huge signs on the expressway saying MODERATOR ROSE.
I had already elected myself.
I also had a unique position. Every one of those signs were in the yards of the most notorious trouble makers in town meeting. People who were shit stirrers. And popular.
This was not lost on the general public.
I also had the support of the Selectmen, the shadow Democratic polls, the shadow Republican polls, the administrators or civil service in the Town and so on.
My opponent? Both times, a chairman of the Public Safety Commission with dirt on his hands. A bottom of the heap surgeon/doctor, a womanizer. A sleazy guy who was popular because he was also a shit stirrer but not as popular as mine. He was a friend of the police and firemen. Not that I was an enemy but they fell behind him. But that was good for me. Everyone has it in for the police. Not so much the fire.
Anyway, picture my fascination with this.
The Socially Networked Campaign
An app! I saw them. I got them in the mail.
The Obamas knew that I was in the sphere of the Cathedral City phone bank. I was available, if I wanted, to go to Las Vegas for a weekend or, for that matter, to Nevada for a month.
They knew how much money I had given so far and how much it would take to get to the max.
I did, incidentally.
They passed my name to the Raul Ruiz campaign which was the local Demo Congressman and has been elected. They had me targeted too.
If I ran for local office, of course, again non-partisan, it would still be like Plymouth. But the high tech stuff now available says to me that it is only a matter of time before everyone will have this level of stuff.
Of course, the main thing is to have supporters who are interested in doing anything. That is still the basic thing. People to knock on doors, drive car pools and the like. The army.
Romney's ORCA was supposed to do the same thing but failed in the middle of the election day. Buckled. There are a lot of reasons for that. One of them is that despite his rep, Romney is a shitty manager. In fact he is not a manager at all. Unskewed pollsters? Yes men? Too bad.
Here is another fun article on the tech campaigns and why Obama beat their ass.
And finally, some door knocking basics from, I think, the other side of the pond. Same thing different place.
Labels: computer, elections, technology
