Hi, this is not a glamor diary. I am not trying to tell the Obama campaign what it NEEDS to do. I won't pretend to know how to craft a sophisticated media buy, and I am not going to try to dissemble a string of rolling tracking poll averages.
Rather, last night I spent some time making calls for the Obama campaign and noticed some ways that their on-line calling system could be easily optimized and made more effective. I give these comments in good faith and I hope somebody in the Obama campaign sees them and runs with them and gets themselves a big fat promotion. If I had so many comments after my modest participation, I figured that likely other folks on the site would have comments about possible fixes for any of the Obama interactive campaign builder tools - phone calling, walk lists, fundraising, etc.
I'd like to ask community members to use this thread for the following:
- To make suggestions about how each of the Obama online campaign builder tools can be improved.
- To give tips about what works when canvassing or calling - and what really doesn't work!
- To ask questions about how to get started and how to get involved. The campaign is deluged with phone calls. We can develop our own recruiting and support group right here.
I'll go first, here are my experiences, suggestions and questions regarding the Obama on line calling system.
- They need to add a feature where you can indicate that a number is disconnected. Of the calls I made maybe 25% were disconnected numbers, but there was no place to indicate that.
- They give a list of issues to ask people if they are interested in, but what they should really ask is for folks to identify their top 2 or 3. At one point during a call a guy started laughing and asked, "Who's not interested in any of these?" The point was that clearly some (Hello? Get out of Iraq!) were more important than others.
- Could go for some better training, better FAQ, better script on how to get started. I did calls through MoveOn in 2006, so it wasn't a big deal. I knew the drill, but I'm afraid some of my more introverted friends would be intimidated by the lack of information at start up. A simple script and step by step guidance would help.
- Some kind of theory of the project would be great. Again, to reference MoveOn in 2006, the message was "ID our voters, don't bother with the others." Here, I sense the project is broader. It's more, step 1. ID our voters (and their voters so we won't need to bother with them), and step 2. engage people on the fence in conversation, hear them out and ID what's driving them.
As sort of a "sophisticated" operative, I worked that step 2 naturally and provided information in the comments. Still it would be great to know what it is they really need to know and what messages are really testing well.
All of this is not to be negative. We have what 54 (53?) days to go? that's an eternity. It's actually the opposite of a critique. I am immensely impressed with the online tools for community activism that the campaign offers. I just want to squawk a bit to try and help them be as effective as they can be.
Please use this as an activism thread. Got a great story you just gotta share, post it. Got a suggestion? Post it. Want to just know how to get involved? Ask what you might think is the stupid question here.
Let me finish by quoting Obama himself:
I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.
You make a big election about small things.
And you know what - it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.
I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.
But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.
This is about us. We will win this with work, sweat, and tears.
And if you can't volunteer, you can always donate. Try it on my fund raising page, it will make you feel good.
I am so inspired by my week of activism, I can't even put it in words. Make the campaign a part of you. You won't regret it.