MyKi, tram conductors, desalination, Kennett and Brumby
Just a quick blog today. According to my car mechanic, Labor lost because of MyKi, tram conductors, desalination, Kennett and Brumby. Let me explain. According to my car mechanic, MyKi became...
View ArticlePolitics is mobile
More from Pew Internet, as much as 26 percent of the adult American population may have engaged with the midterm elections using their mobile phone. The report found: 82% of adults have cell phones. Of...
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Thoughts from afar on the Queensland election
For me, commenting on the Queensland election is like an astronomer explaining the geography of Jupiter’s moons — there’s a lot of data, but ultimately I’m a long way away from the action....
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What does “community campaigning” actually mean?
All kinds of Labor people are extolling the virtues of “community campaigning”. NSW Labor party activist and Leichardt councillor, Darcy Byrne, for example argues that: For a party such as Labor, with...
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Moving Forward
Why is it that the Obama 2012 campaign is successfully using the “Moving Forward” slogan to rally support for ObamaCare, yet it was derided by the media when Labor and Gillard used it in 2010? Back in...
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Putting the Greens Party last a mistake
Mr Dastyari, who described the Greens as “extremists not unlike One Nation”, said Labor must “stop treating them like they are part of our family … Where it is in the Labor Party’s interest to do so,...
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I’ve got Obama’s back
At the start of September, I’ll be embarking on a two month journey to campaign for Barack Obama as an Organising Fellow based in Boston. There’s no doubt that supporting Obama’s re-election is the...
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Day -58: Training for Obama
Yesterday and today, I’ve been doing the intense Organizing Fellow training. Yesterday was up in New Hampshire with a large group — about 200 or so, and today is the smaller intensive for the...
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Day -55: The post-convention bounce
The Democratic National Convention last week was fairly big news in the States. There was a lot of coverage on all the major stations, and several key note speeches (Clinton, Michelle Obama, Julian...
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Day -51: Face-to-face contact under compulsory voting
At the core of the Obama campaign is a massive field operation founded on face-to-face and one-to-one contact between a large corps of volunteers and their neighbours. The objective of this...
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Day -44: The Crossroads Muddle
With only 44 days until the election, pundits in the USA are baffled by the lack of inroads made by the daisy-chain bombing of conservative advertising by the Republican Super PACs. Republican super...
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Day -37: Love your leaders
When Barack Obama wins this election, it will be despite a sluggish economy, over 8 percent unemployment and unprecedented conservative spending by Super PACs — and because of his campaign’s field...
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Day -32: The Etch-a-sketch debate
Last night’s debate was a remarkable illustration of Romney’s Etch-a-Sketch campaign. Romney, able now to directly address millions of Americans on the same stage with President Obama, was simply able...
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Day -23: On friction
The conduct of [a campaign] resembles the workings of an intricate machine with tremendous friction, so that combinations which are easily planned on paper can be executed only with great effort....
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Day -14: Can social media really change votes?
Tonight I was honoured to give a guest lecturer at the Labor Guild School of Management in Boston, Massachusetts about the role of social media for unions. I’ve written a fair few blog posts (and an...
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Day -8: The climate change election?
During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney mocked the idea of stopping sea-level rise. “President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans — [bites lip and...
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Day -4: Obama’s campaign strategy a lesson in discipline
There is a growing sense in the final days of the election campaign that Team Obama will narrowly win a second term for the President. When he does win, it will be because of the sharp, disciplined...
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Day -2: It’s all about GOTV
More than two years of campaigning boils down into Get Out The Vote, the final week of the election — specifically the final Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The Obama campaign has put together...
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The Drum: It’s the personal contact, stupid
My article about the Obama campaign was published on the ABC’s The Drum site. I have reproduced it below. If you believed the recent spate of articles focusing on Barack Obama’s high-tech campaign,...
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The lessons for unions from Obama’s 2012 campaign
I had the great fortune to work for the Obama for America campaign for two and a half months in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I believe there are many elements of his campaign that unions could...
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Political brands: just a buzzword or a real thing?
Read any number of journalist or blogger commentaries over the last several years and you will have seen the infiltration of marketing terms like “brand”, “positioning”, public relations, image...
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Obama 2012 Campaign Report
In 2012, I spent over two and a half months working full-time as an Organizing Fellow with the Obama for America campaign. Based in Boston Massachusetts, the campaign’s focus was winning the next-door...
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Day -33: The turn out election
It is 33 days until Election Day. What has changed in electioneering in Australia since 2010? Obama-style Firstly, I think the progressive parties have watched the Obama campaign very closely. They’ve...
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Day -6: Why focus is essential for campaigning
Have you been following the Australian election? There’s a lot happening each day, with announcements, stunts, gaffs and ads. All of this creates white noise — a political static — from which...
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