20 January 2013
Inside the Cave
If you haven't yet read Patrick Ruffini's account of Obama's Analytics, Tech and Online divisions, then here is Inside The Cave. Ruffini catalogued the accounts from media reports, as well as original reporting. It's an impressive job.
My reaction might be different than you expect. After election day there was lots of gnashing of teeth on the right about Obama's tech operation. I kept reading the stories and keep thinking to myself, "and...?" Ruffini inadvertently confirmed that Obama 12 didn't do anything mindblowingly new.
Political campaigns don't do revolutionary. They do evolutionary. Best practices are even slower to disseminate in campaigns than in business. Obama 12 was essentially the same campaign as W 04. Both campaigns had lots of time and plenty of money. They did some minor innovations. Some of it even worked.
Posted by Evan @ 01/20/13 07:19 PM | Comments (0)        
02 January 2013
It's not about how you start
Ted Cruz had a pre-swearing in conference call today for bloggers, which reminded me of a funny moment from when he launched his campaign by blogger conference call back in January 2011.
As Cruz began to speak, working up to the moment where he'd declare his candidacy...someone ordered breakfast from the McDonald's drive-thru window. And then kept ordering breakfast. We listened to about 30 awkward seconds of someone ordering McMuffins while completely oblivious that they did not have their phone on mute.
Cruz adroitly rescued the situation by making a crack about Hoover's "a chicken in every pot," but it was an inauspicious beginning.
But, as they say, it's not about how you start, it's about how you finish the campaign.
Posted by Evan @ 01/02/13 05:38 PM | Comments (0)