Way back in early 2004, right after the collapse of the Dean campaign, I met Robbie Mook. I attended a Dean meet-up in Washington, DC at the Hawk & Dove put together by the late Mike Shor — a passionate antiwar activist and leader of the Obama campaign in DC before his untimley death in 2008. Mook had been a field organizer in New Hampshire. He spoke very passionately about house meetings as an organizing tool. I was incredibly impressed with Robbie Mook.
He was young, although he was in his mid-20’s he looked about 17. 2004 was a tough year for anti-war progressives but Mook gave me hope. Here was an incredibly talented young man who had a really inspiring manner. Much of his talk was about lessons learned from the groundbreaking Dean campaign. I remember talking to Robbie after his presentation. I remember hoping that he would be hired by the John Kerry campaign.
My first campaign started in 1974 when, as a 14 year old I met Jimmy Carter, the only politician who never disappointed me. Later, as a 17 year old I worked in 4 states for Carter. In 1983-84 I worked as the Wisconsin State Director for Gary Hart. Mook reminded me of myself in those days, passionate, committed and more than a bit naive.
Fast forward to 2016. I was so optimistic about the mature Robbie Mook as Campaign Manager for Hillary. I was so impressed with his work to elect Terry McAuliffe as Governor of Virginia. However, the Hillary Clinton campaign I encountered on the ground was 180 degrees different from the vision articulated by Mook 12 years before.
I trust Donna Brazile, I knew her from 2000 and 2004. John Kerry might have won if they had followed Donna’s turnout plan. Instead the big bucks went to bland TV ads. In her book she desribes Mook as a data drone who did all he could to stomp out passion for Hillary. Signs? forget it. Buttons? — not cost effective in terms of data points. Rallies? not Hillary’s strength. Any unwashed volunteers at HQ — call the guards! Data, data, data but somehow it was garbage in, garbage out. The DNC? Oh, that’s Debbie’s disaster, who cares.
This was the worst freaking campaign in American history. They had models and algorythmns based on unreliable and volitile assumptions. Thier polling sucked. Mook’s blind faith in his “plan” and refusal to alter it drove the campaign right off the cliff. C’mon how can any Democrat be elected without campaigning in Wisconsin or by denying Ed Rendell funds for turnout in Pennsylvania. Michigan? where is that?
It is a moral imperative that we beat Trump in 2020. We must learn the lessons from 2016. We must never again run a campaign in which passion and enthusiasm is beaten down from the top. For the Clinton campaign models and metrics replaced the quest for votes. Never again!