Tag Archives: Election

Campaigning has always been about three variables…

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“Campaigning has always been about three variables. It’s always been about time, people, and money. These social media tools we’re leveraging have made it easier for us to spend less time organizing more people, and for less money,” he says. “But the reality is that none of those do well without a candidate who has a powerful message that gets people to engage. I’m honored and lucky to be working with a candidate who is the perfect one in that regard, because Bernie Sanders clearly has an authentic message that resonates.”

http://www.fastcompany.com/3058681/inside-bernie-sanders-social-media-machine

Because it is hard to persuade people…

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“…Because it is hard to persuade people who think like this to switch sides, electoral strategists argue that chasing swing voters is pointless. The easiest extra votes come from the 40% of the electorate who typically stay at home in a presidential poll. Each side therefore concentrates on stirring up people who support it but might not vote. That raises the anger to a new pitch.”


“…Despair over Mr Trump has reached such an intensity among some Republicans that the usual rules about there being no swing voters may no longer apply.”

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21693924-prospect-trump-v-clinton-grim-look-carefully-and-2016-offers-faint-promise?fsrc=scn/tw/te/pe/ed/battlelines

My sense is that what we have…

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“My sense is that what we have here is a feedback loop. Does media attention increase a candidate’s standing in the polls? Yes. Does a candidate’s standing in the polls increase media attention? Also yes.


“And everything else which sways both journalists and voters in the same direction just increases the correlation. The media and the public and the candidates are embedded in a system where every part affects every other.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/01/how-much-influence-does-the-media-really-have-over-elections-digging-into-the-data

When TV was king the secret to…

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“When TV was king, the secret to media was money. If you have money, you can reach the masses. The best way to get money is to make powerful interests happy, so they’ll give you money you can use to reach the masses and get re-elected.


“Now, though…When attention is scarce and there are many choices, media costs something other than money. It costs interesting. If you are angry or remarkable or an outlier, you’re interesting, and your idea can spread. People who are dull and merely aligned with powerful interests have a harder time earning attention, because money isn’t sufficient.


“Thus, as media moves from TV-driven to attention-driven, we’re going to see more outliers, more renegades and more angry people driving agendas and getting elected.”

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/10/how-media-changes-politics.html

Did Obama’s Ground Game Matter The Influence of…

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Did Obama’s Ground Game Matter?


The Influence of Local Field Offices During the 2008 Presidential Election


Abstract:
Imbued with unprecedented financial resources, the Obama 2008 presidential campaign established more than 700 field offices across the country, mostly in battleground states. To what extend did this form of campaigning actually affect the presidential vote? This article examines the county-level presidential vote in 2008 in eleven battleground states. The findings show that those counties in which the Obama campaign had established field offices during the general election saw a disproportionate increase in the Democratic vote share. Furthermore, this field office-induced vote increase was large enough to flip three battleground states from Republican to Democratic.

http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/5/1023.abstract

The personal qualities necessary for attaining office…

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“The personal qualities necessary for attaining office are practically the opposite of those demanded by the office itself. The trouble with the damn system is that it selects for the skills needed to get elected, and nothing else. A test that you can only pass by cheating can’t possibly select honest people.” — James P. Hogan

http://www.freedomkeys.com/politicians.htm