Catherine S. Read's Blog

Embrace the Polls!

Catherine S. Read — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:31:01 EDT

Here is something important I learned as a Government & Politics major at George Mason University back in the early '80s: numbers can lie. A class on political statistics clearly demonstrated that numbers can be manipulated to support whatever position they need to on any given issue. That was probably one of the greatest lessons I took away from my degree program.

Since that time, I pay very little attention to polls. Polls are accurate about as often as weather reports. But they do serve an important psychological function - they make people believe that future events are predictable. And they do sway people who are uncertain and undecided by giving them an anchor or a framework for their decision making.

There has been a lot of talk about the polls at the Obama events I've attended this past week. And I say the same thing every time - the polls are working in our favor. Every Obama supporter needs to wake up every day scared to death that our candidate may not win. Why? Because the legion of people the pollsters have largely overlooked will work that much harder over the next 67 days to make sure Obama supporters are registered and turn out to vote.

I hope the polls continue to show a very close race. It will be the fuel that drives us to knock on doors, make the phone calls, register the voters, participate in fundraisers, recruit other volunteers, and display our support on our cars, our lawns and our t-shirts. We cannot pull back on this effort for even one day. These well publicized polls will help ensure that we don't. So embrace the polls for the positive effect they will have on the Obama campaign and realize on any given day those numbers are probably about as accurate as the chance for rain.

Hello My Name Is . . .

Catherine S. Read — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:51:15 EDT

Some of the most effective tools in any effort can be the simplest ones: like a nametag. Some campaign offices have blank peel-n-stick nametags for big volunteer events so that people can talk with each other over the course of an afternoon or evening and not have to remember the names of 20 new people they just met.

But take that one step further and realize that in going door-to-door and canvassing in neighborhoods, having your name where someone can see it while they are speaking to you helps make a connection. As volunteers, we have an advantage in having a sheet of paper in front of us with the full name of the people we are looking for. But after we say our name once in the first three seconds of our introduction, what is the likelihood that the person standing there is going to remember it?

I am proposing that volunteers make a name tag using the simple tools available at any local office supply store. We've all been to conventions or conferences where we are handed a name tag in plastic sleeves that we either pin on or hang around our necks for the duration of the event. A lot would be gained if volunteers would simply wear a nametag when working in the campaign office, attending events or going door-to-door to canvass. It allows us to better connect with each other and the voters we meet in the field. Even in a high tech world, low tech solutions can be very effective. Consistently wearing a name tag gives us an identity that transcends being just one among a throng of volunteers and helps us to make the human connections that will drive this campaign.

Ask the Question!

Catherine S. Read — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:37:09 EDT

There is one very important question that is not being asked on a daily basis by volunteers. That question is this: "Are you registered on My.BarackObama.com?"

On numerous occasions I've had volunteers ask me to fill out a form with my name, email address and phone number, and nowhere on these xeroxed forms is the question: "Are you registered on My.BarackObama.com?" If volunteers would ask that question every single time to every single person, perhaps more would respond: "What is that?"

I worked on a telephone bank for an Obama event a week ago. The scripted phone message said to give the name and phone number of the person in charge of the event. Nowhere in the phone script did it say to direct people to BarackObama.com where they could find events in their area by zip code and sign up online. But I did it anyway. Because real world consumer behavior says that someone will go to a website to search for information before they pick up the telephone!

This is a tragedy and a waste of a valuable resource! I totally "get" that talking to voters is more powerful than sending them someplace where we don't know who they are or if they've even been there. But the Internet has trained people to a certain set of expectations; and one of them is the "do it yourself" aspect of finding information online.

Even more important than encouraging voters to seek out volunteer opportunities online, is connecting them with EACH OTHER! It's not just about the campaign communicating with voters and volunteers, it's about connecting people on the front lines WITH EACH OTHER.

I read an article online this weekend about a woman in a rural town who felt she was "the only one" in her small community who supported Obama. Well if someone had told her about My.BarackObama.com, she would have been able to search for other Obama supporters by zipcode to see who in her town was also onboard this campaign. People in rural communities need this more than anyone else - they are isolated and live in such a small community they don't want to risk being ostracized or criticized. That's true of people within neighborhoods! I have neighbors who haven't spoken to me in the five years I lived here until they saw me walking around in an Obama t-shirt and noticed the Obama signs in my front windows. Suddenly I have friends I had not previously met because they know where I stand and they want an ally in their support of Obama! They want to know they are "not the only one."

We should make it a goal to ask every single person we talk to every single time: "Are you registered on My.BarackObama.com?" And don't assume that people in rural communities or older people don't use the Internet. They are busy emailing their grown kids, looking at pictures of the grandchildren, and shopping online! They just don't surf the net like younger people and unless someone tells them why they need to be on My.BarackObama.com - they aren't going to know! So they have never heard of social networking - who cares? They just need a "why" to be sufficiently motivated to go out there and connect with their friends and neighbors.

I honestly see this as a major weakness of the campaign. And I am doing everything possible to spread the gospel of online information so people aren't just connected to the campaign, but also connected with other Obama supporters in their own communities. Sometimes it's easier to do things online than to ask someone face-to-face who they are supporting. We all fear rejection and censure. This is a way to find out who your allies are before you ever reveal yourself.

Make it a personal goal to ask this question on a daily basis: "Are you registered on My.BarackObama.com?" Doing small things consistently is what carries the day.

An Army of One

Catherine S. Read — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:56:31 EDT

If we really think about what we have control over in any given day, it's not much. We can't dictate what the media will put in the headlines, or what the columnists will write, or what supporters will say that supports or unintentionally damages the efforts of the Obama campaign.

So why work at it at all? Because each of us is an Army of One. We do hand-to-hand combat with everyone we come into contact with. And what we say, our level of knowledge, our demeanor and grace, our ability to articulate our thoughts - they all reflect on the candidate himself.

I invite this every day by wearing a wardrobe of Obama t-shirts. Early on, it was all flowers and sunshine. I attracted all the Obama supporters. As we get closer to the election, I'm starting to hear from the other camp.

Case in point was a Happy Hour with former colleagues from my former company. It is McCain country over there at the new corporate headquarters - I knew that. And I wore my Obama t-shirt to the bar anyway. These people are friends (sort of) and they've known me for years.

I was astonished at what I heard. The level of . . . ignorance. It was incredible! And they ganged up on me (which didn't bother me a bit.) It's not too hard to pary attacks based on: 1) He's a Muslim and won't take the oath of office on a Bible; 2) What about gun control?; 3) What about partial birth abortion?; and What experience does he really have - what has he DONE?

It was a good thing that a fair amount of beer was involved here. I think we'll all still be "friends" after the election and they've watched him take the oath of office on their big screen HD TVs. They will learn to love their President. The country will embrace him.

Until then, we fight the battle every day one person at a time. And that is enough. It's all we need to do. For the most part, our sphere of influence is the people we know personally or those we meet campaigning. Are we up to representing Barack Obama every time someone engages us in a conversation about him? This is how we will win the election - one person and one conversation at a time.

The only thing we need to ask ourselves everyday is this: What will I do today to convince one other person that Barack Obama is the best candidate for President? (And then) What did I do today that helped convince one other person to vote for Barack Obama on November 4th?

Army of One. We are looking for a few good supporters.

Great Minds Talk About Ideas

Catherine S. Read — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:09:54 EDT

There's a quote that I've seen attributed to the late Eleanor Roosevelt, but which probably originated with an earlier Greek philosopher: "Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds talk about people."

The fact that the McCain Campaign has chosen to attack Senator Obama personally tells all of us the level to which they have been reduced. They apparently have no great ideas to talk about. The Obama campaign does have ideas - about the issues that matter in this campaign and to the American people.

Obama supporters should not get sidetracked by this new tactic or the media's stirring of the pot by giving it so much exposure. The media love controversy because it meets their own agenda. The more controversial the campaign, the more stories they sell over the airwaves, the Internet and through print media. Every form of the media has a vested interest in seeing this election turn as ugly and unsavory as it can possibly be.

We should take our cue from the man himself and rise above these desperate measures intended to discredit Barack Obama personally. He knows there is no basis for any of the statements being made and so do we. We need to focus on what matters to the people and not this ridiculous playground name calling. I hope everyone will pull together to maintain the same dignity, confidence and self-assurance in this campagn that the candidate himself displays every day.

Connecting People to People

Catherine S. Read — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:09:39 EDT

There is an excellent article in this morning's New York Times about Obama's strategy in using social networking to build his campaign: The Facebooker Who Friended Obama. It is also an excellent profile of Chris Hughes, the strategist behind the development and deployment of My.BarackObama.Com.

Chris Hughes is one of the founders of Facebook who left that company earlier this year to work on the Obama campaign. Another excellent article appeared earlier this year as the cover story in the April issue of FastCompany Magazine: The Brand Called Obama. These articles give a great behind-the-scenes look at how Obama was able to come from seemingly nowhere and mobilize thousands of people in simultaneous campaign initiatives stretching across the continent.

Two key points that come from these articles: first, that good technology doesn't matter if it isn't something that people want to use; and secondly, that the key to the success of this campaign was not simply creating a way for the campaign to reach the people - but to give people a way to reach each other. And that is a revolutionary idea in politcal campaigning.

These articles are a great way to introduce people to My.BarackObama.com who may not be using this really valuable tool at present. The more connected we are to each other, the more effective our collective effort becomes in getting Obama elected in November.

The Power of the Traveling T-shirt

Catherine S. Read — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:55:19 EDT

I bought my first Barack Obama t-shirt on Feb. 3, 2008, at a shop in Union Station in Washington, DC. I wore an Obama t-shirt every single primary day no matter where I was or what I was doing. Here is the power of the Obama t-shirt: it's an open invitation for people to talk with me about Barack Obama. And they do.

That first t-shirt has been to San Francisco on President's Day, on a tour of the Napa wine country, to a business dinner in Fairfax City, VA, and to Rolling Thunder on Memorial Day in Washington, DC.

My second Obama t-shirt was purchased at a kiosk at Reagan National Airport on my way to Boston for the weekend. I bought an Obama hat too. The hat made it to a re-enactment of the Battle of Concord on April 19th, and then the hat and the shirt attended (as a spectator) the Boston Marathon that Monday. This past weekend that shirt made a visit to St. Simon's Island, GA, where my extended Republican family showed great tolerance about my wearing it around the island. (It's not like I would mind them wearing a McCain t-shirt . . . I've just never seen anyone wearing a McCain t-shirt.) Last night that shirt made an appearance at a Unite for Change event in DC.

My third Obama t-shirt was purchased right outside Busboys & Poets at the corner of V & 14th Streets in Washington, DC. Ironically, that was the one I was wearing the night of June 2nd when I sat with an old friend of mine right in Busboys & Poets and watched Barack Obama make history on the television screen in the company of wildly enthusiastic fellow supporters.

It's a long way from now until November and I've decided that I can't manage with just three t-shirts. So last night I went to a website called Zazzle.com and looked at over 1,500 different Obama t-shirt designs before selecting 6 shirts to round out my Obama wardrobe. Two of them proclaim Virginia's support of Obama - which is the state I live in and a state that Obama needs to take in the general election.

I can't begin to tell you the people who have stopped and spoken to me everywhere - waitresses in restaurants, the guy behind the deli-counter, business owners, sales clerks, school kids in the park. I'm wearing an invitation to talk about my candidate and it's a powerful thing. Sometimes I forget I'm wearing it until someone shouts at me from across a busy street, "Hey I like your shirt!"

Don't overlook the really simple things. Consistently doing the simple things can have a tremendous impact on the results in this campaign. And I've very much enjoyed the people I have met across the country as a result of simply wearing a t-shirt that says Obama in '08.

Team of Rivals

Catherine S. Read — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:27:50 EDT

There is a wonderful book that I would highly recommend all Obama supporters read called "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It's about Abraham Lincoln's nomination and presidency. You will be floored by the similarities between then and now. Lincoln not only came out of nowhere as an unknown Illinois lawyer, but he snatched the nomination away from the candidate who was considered the de facto nominee by almost everyone in the country, including the media - a senator from New York named William Henry Seward. Lincoln was confident enough in himself as a leader that one of the first things he did was to give his greatest rival the top spot in his cabinet as Secretary of State. He then went on to give cabinet spots to the other two Democratic rivals for the nomination. They were an amazing team and the story of how Lincoln brought these men together is a story for today's campaign. These men not only disliked Lincoln, they disliked each other. But Lincoln was a confident and self assured leader and understood that these men all had something to offer. This "team of rivals" brought the country through it's darkest period in history and held the union together.

I believe Barack Obama is more like Lincoln than any other stateman I've seen him compared to. How he is dealing with the Clintons shows not only his own confidence and leadership skills, but demonstrates how he is staying focused on the issues, looking at needed results, and building the relationships he needs to in order to secure the White House in November and to lead the country in the next 4 years. I don't ever second guess Obama's strategy. I trust the source of his decision making because I believe his greatest strengths are his character, his conviction and his integrity. He has also surrounded himself with excellent advisors and strategists. Whatever he has chosen to do in moving forward in alliance with Bill and Hillary Clinton is because it is the best of the options he has.

Team of Rivals is also available as an audiobook read by Richard Thomas and you can download it on to an iPod from iTunes. It's a very moving work of history that will leave you confident than that Barack Obama is truly the Lincoln of our generation.