Wellstone Action!

In the 75 days between Election and Inauguration, we've been giving a lot of thought to what comes next.  Here at Wellstone Action, we view Election Day 2008 as just the start of a much larger movement.  We are working to make sure that one outcome of Barack Obama's tremendous national victory is the inspiring of many more people to step forward and run for office themselves.  Obama's win has triggered a huge, new wave of people who believe they can make a difference, can step up and run for public offices at all levels.  

So a good question to ask now is - what can future progressive candidates learn from Barack Obama's candidacy and Presidential campaign that can help them win elections too?  There are at least four important lessons for any candidate no matter what the seat: being authentic; delivering a strategic, disciplined message;  prioritizing a commitment to involving people in your campaign; and raising the resources you need to win.  

Obviously, everyone is an authentic individual.  So what makes some candidates seem real and others not?  It is an ability to succinctly convey to voters who they are, what they believe, and why.  An authentic candidate is one whose words ring true to voters because they match up with what they know of the candidate.  The evidence is irrefutable that more and more voters are making up their minds first and foremost on the relative authenticity of the candidates in an election.

Barack Obama was authentic to voters.  As a new figure on the scene, his campaign was a model for how you can use your life story and the values you hold dear to introduce and define yourself on your terms to voters.  So when he talked about change, breaking from the politics as usual, and restoring middle class prosperity, voters believed him -- because he communicated his life story and his values in a way that was in alignment with this message.

So lesson number one is that Obama's authentic style took him from a candidate just with supporters to one with passionate believers, and helped him win over enough voters to win.  

Successful campaigns combine an authentic candidacy with a disciplined, focused, strategic message.  The Obama campaign believed from the beginning that this election was about the economy and the desire for economic change, and they stuck to it throughout.  There were many times when it was easy to be dragged off the economy: a debate with Hillary Clinton on experience; whether Sarah Palin was qualified or not, etc.  But the campaign tried not to bite on those distractions and stayed relentless on the economy and change and this trumped  the multiple messages coming from the other side.  So lesson number two for any candidate is to hone a relevant and succinct message to your voters that rings true for you and stick with it.  

The third lesson of the Obama campaign is that actively involving people in your campaign helps you win.  It's called field organizing-the art and science of turning supporters into active, connected volunteers and organizing them to systematically go out and talk to and persuade voters.  The Obama campaign took this work to unprecedented levels with their effective mobilization of millions of committed supporters.  It started with community organizing sensibilities conveyed from the top by Obama himself.   Then the campaign committed significant resources to hire huge numbers of staff organizers (it takes an army to move an army!) who skillfully turned supporters into volunteers, organized people into teams, and empowered them to organize their neighborhoods and communities.  Finally, the campaign built an extraordinary technology platform that supported this organizing four ways: tying people tightly together with the campaign through e-mail, texting and an on-line community; managing the huge volunteer and data operation on-line and through its website; giving volunteers on-line tools for their direct voter contact work; and raising the resources to fund this operation.

The fourth lesson--a campaign must raise the resources it needs to win.  Yes, the amount of money in politics is problematic for our democracy.  But in Obama's case, his millions of donors giving unprecedented amounts of money flowed from the kind of candidate he was-authentic and inspirational-and the kind of campaign he ran-actively involving millions and employing groundbreaking e-fundraising. This fundraising allowed him to compete where and when he needed and build his massive organization.  

For any candidate for office at any level, you need to decide what it takes to win, and how much that will cost, develop the plan to raise those funds, and keep it as a priority.  And the more people you significantly involve in your campaign the larger pool of potential donors as well.