Burnt Orange Report

They forgot the number one rule - getting the voters to the polls to begin with. The Republicans are in office for one reason. Not enough Democrats vote.

OK, well, that's why there was all this strategy and planning -- to get voters to the polls. J.D. Angle actually led a GOTV panel that I, unfortunately, had to miss because I needed to get back to work. But the entire day was centered around how to target an audience of "plus-one" -- where if you know that 30,000 people will vote in your election, you do everything in your power to guarantee that 15,001 are going to vote for you. (Numbers not to scale, of course).

You were there? As was I. I have no idea what you look like, though.

I was the young whipper-snapper that came in a little late (around 11:15 or so) and sat at the long set of tables away from the door.

Rule #1 should be: don't bring a whole bunch of people from New York and DC down to Texas to run a campaign. That's what they did when I worked for Sanchez in 2002 and it was a big mistake. Arrogant Harvard grads won't ensure an election victory, trust me!

Point #2 is why Andy Brown will have trouble...the guy still can't articulate why he wants to run for office.

Phillip, in the Earle t-shirt?

I was the young whipper-snapper in the blue blazer, yellow shirt, and khakis. On the far-right of the table immediately facing (but farthest from) the screen.

Nah, no Earle t-shirt. Near him, though. Dark pants, beige shirt. Sat next to James Aldrete and Charlie Gustin (guy in purple shirt, my old work buddies) the whole time.

What'd you think of the event?

Ahh, okay. I remember.

I thought it was good. I especially liked the polling and messaging portions. The turnout was a lot lighter than I had expected, though. I left when we broke for lunch, so I didn't see any of the afternoon stuff.

There are three key resources in a campaign, time, money, and people. Of these, only one is an absolutely restricted supply. And when it comes to consuming those resources the most important goal is to simply have effective contact with your voters. You need to know them and they need to know you. That's why you have money and an organization. Any resource not focused to the goal of voter contact is wasted.

When I was working on the Dean campaign for the Iowa Caucuses, I found that a large amount of campaigning occurs through indirect channels. For instance, while Dean had a vastly greater number of volunteers calling voters and knocking on doors, John Kerry was meeting in small groups with community leaders and preachers. Those leaders are then able to persuade their followers in ways out-of-state college students simply cannot.

With the Dems registering dead people and illegals to vote and voting multiple times in one in election, it's a wonder their candidates STILL can't get elected....

"With the Dems registering dead people and illegals to vote and voting multiple times in one in election, it's a wonder their candidates STILL can't get elected...."

They haven't mastered the art of manipulating the e-machines and buying off Supreme Court Justices.

No, Trey -- considering the Republican efforts to make it more difficult for Texans of color to vote, it's amazing Democrats are still electing anyone at all.