Jerome Armstrong, co-author of Crashing the Gare and founder or MyDD.com, spoke to our Internet and Politics class last week at the George Washington University.
He says that there are two strategies used to win the general election.
- 50+1: An effort to persuade the middle. He also referred to this method as the "unite not divide" strategy. However, unity is quite different than half plus one. I see that as still pretty divided. I see Obama’s campaign as more of an effort towards unity than just a numbers game trying to win more than half (though that is ultimately the goal).
- Mobilize your base: I see Hillary using this strategy and while trying to also unite, she isn’t succeeding because her history has caused a divide amongst people.
So if Armstrong is right and the second strategy is a stronger general election model, then Hillary should be fine come November. The problem is that Obama’s unity strategy is working, which could very well win him the nomination with 50 plus 1.
Which strategy would you respond better to? An effort, from say McCain, to bring Democrats under his wing and unite the county. Or a push from your Democratic nominee to help the campaign or just to receive attention from the campaign and know that you are important to it?
Feel free to check out more videos from guest speakers and our class blog GW Blogspot.