Mon, Nov 10th, 2008 by Michael Cornfield
More than one hundred people attended (in person and via webcast) this morning’s panel presentation, “Preparing For The Advocacy Battle to Come,” a post-election survey of winning strategies and tactics co-sponsored by 720 Strategies and Women in Government Relations.
Suzanne Zurn, VP of Political Involvement Initiatives at 720 Strategies, opened the session by pointing out the existence of Change.gov, a new online action site for the more than ten million citizens in the Obama database. “That puts everyone on notice,” Zurn commented, “although it doesn’t take millions of people to make a difference in advocacy.” Indeed, how to get results with thousands or even hundreds of involved supporters proved to be a theme in the presentations of the panelists.
Dorothy Carpenter, a Specialist in the Legislative Communications and Grassroots Department at Southwest Airlines, detailed some of the ways in which the company’s more than 34,000 employees were mobilized through a multi-channel voter registration drive. “Countdown Calendars,” the “Today@SWA” e-newsletter, and stress balls for pilots all served to remind the Southwest Airline community to vote. Carpenter was pleasantly surprised to learn that many employees were already heavily involved in civics and politics. “One of our pilots is a mayor,” she told the audience - at which point another Southwest Airline employee, watching by webcast, sent a Blackberry correction in true digital style: the mayor was actually a mechanic.
Christian Clymer, representative of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) and Senior Director of Affordability and Access for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, talked about the “Nag” campaign for the PFCD that was produced by 720 in partnership with Moxie Pictures. The purpose of this ten-day blitz was to move health care back up the election agenda. Clymer screened a broadcast spot and viral video in which such celebrities as Lauren Bacall, Mary-Louise Parker, and Phylicia Rashad joined other Americans in asking viewers to “Vote as if Your Health Depends On It.” The spot aired on national cable stations as well as online, with more than 50,000 views and more than 20,000 signing up to join the fight against chronic disease as a result. The campaign was “a coming-out party for PFCD,” Clymer said.
Ken Spain, Press Secretary and National Spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, reviewed the election results from his perspective. He observed that several Republican Representatives prevailed in close contests because they were able to frame the race for voters as a choice between the candidates, instead of a referendum on the Bush Administration. Spain expects the GOP to take advantage of several issues likely to arise in the coming Congressional session, including the expiration of tax cuts, offshore oil drilling, union card check legislation, health care, and the Fairness Doctrine.
Audrey Molsky and Amy Young, Account Executives at Catalist, the Democratic database company that warehoused both Sen. Clinton’s and Obama’s grassroots databases, led the audience on a tour of how the campaigns and advocacy organizations can use advanced microtargeting techniques to create a profile of a likely activist on their issue. With a file of 190 million voters and more than 400 commercial fields of data, it is possible for advocacy organizations today to have access to the same high end data used by presidential candidates. And, through advanced strategies in statistical modeling championed by the campaigns, tomorrow’s leading advocacy organizations will build predictive models that will identify those citizens most likely to activate on their issues. 720 is already leveraging modeling and targeting the Catalist database with clients, and we encourage you to speak with us about your microtargeting goals.
The webcast of this panel presentation is available here. The Powerpoint slides of the panelists are available here.
Michael, a political scientist, is the author of two books about the Internet and American politics. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at The Graudate School of Political Management at George Washington University.
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