Political strategists in the mix

Sometimes one wonders just who is the real candidate.
I have no doubts about Hillary Clinton. She is the old hand. This is not her first time at the rodeo, so to speak. She has now spent decades in among the strategists, handlers, staffers and keen-bean volunteers. She has observed them from varied perspectives and I am pretty damned sure she is a step ahead of them and well aware of their assorted ambitions and motives.
Political strategists are both ally and encumbrance in the electoral process. One sees candidates fall into desperate holes thanks to the misguided directions of their strategists and, oh my, haven't we been seeing some firing, drop-outs and swerves of allegiance among the staffers as the primary plays out!
Hillary's association with the Mandy Grunwalds of this world go far back to a point of mutual understanding - or so I choose to think, having done the archival Hillary reading.
I see Mandy still there, a strong shadow in the scheme of things. Indeed, perhaps a stressed shadow, since last spotted on the campaign trail, she seemed to have put on a few pounds. Fast foods on rushed schedules, comfort foods in late night hotel rooms..?
I had an interesting insight into some of the localised campaign strategising for Hillary and, while charmed by the quality of some of the dedicated Democratic support, I found myself a little underwhelmed by the concepts of strategy. Well, put it this way, I've been to a few rodeos in my time, too, and there is not a lot I have not run into before. Oddly, there was no encouragement for us to put forth ideas. Strategic mistake. But it matters not a jot in this context, since all Hillary really needs to win votes is to be heard. Hardened cynics swing into her camp the moment they have actually seen and heard her on the stump! I've watched it happening!

Barack Obama, on the other hand, is surging towards a huge tumble as he follows the leads of his strategists who would seem to be urging him to "show some balls".
So he is uttering warmongering words - threatening Pakistan, for heaven's sake.
"The war we need to win" he touts - the chase for Osama bin Laden and al Quaeda. His latest campaign push is based on this strategy - and one can only assume it has been directed by strategists who seek to lure votes from the Right.

"Political masterminds have transformed the candidate from a political visionary into an electoral product like every other presidential aspirant", writes Chicago Times op ed columnist Salim Muwakkil.

Mukakkil has known Obama since the early 90s and offers dismal observations on the path that his campaign has been taking. He looks at the strategists. I look at the strategists. These people have their own agendas. They are potentially dangerous.

Indeed, they are a study in themselves - as are so many of the young staffers, each so very anxious to claim a piece of the action, the ingenuous quest for self-aggrandizement posing all manner of subtle problems for the smooth forward movement of the message.

With devotion and enthusiasm comes paranoia and territorial imperative.

The successful candidate will prevail, not because of their staff, but despite them.

Calling for Hillary

Behind the scenes, there is the hard grind of campaigning - none of it harder than working the phone bank.
I was among the few brave hearts of the Hillary campaign out there working through Nashua and Hudson phone numbers on this steamy, stormy New Hampshire night. And I do mean brave. This is not a chore for the shy, faint-hearted or super-sensitive. It is the work of valiant heroes, of true believers, of eternal optimists. Yes, we brave few.

Since the Nashua campaign office is still not quite finished, we were allowed the after-hours facilities of an ophthalmic practice where, with cheat sheet in hand, we four worked our way through the phone lists provided by Kristen, our organiser of the night.
We callers were a wonderfully representative mix: a senior, a college student, a committed Democratic activist and me, the supporter with outsider perspective.
Of course, almost everyone hates unsolicited phone calls and, indeed, they now are illegal. These political calls are exempt from the bans and, the people listed have, at some time, expressed interest in the primary. Not that you'd know it.

There is a fair share of hang-ups and blunt rejections. A lot of the 114 people I phoned tonight were either out or had their phones on answer. They are thus registered on the call sheets and another attempt to speak to them will be made on another night.

Our aim tonight was to ascertain who may be a certain vote for Hillary and, therefore, perhaps willing to be a volunteer. We then worked in incrementals: those leaning towards Hillary, those undecided, leaning away or anti-Hillary. If they were not pro-Hillary, we asked which other candidate they preferred and what issues concerned them. Well, if we got that far.
Mostly it was answering machines and automated responses which rejected calls without caller ID.

When I scored my target person it was: "Hi there. This is Samela calling for the Hillary Clinton campaign in New Hampshire - just checking in to see if you have yet decided for whom you might be voting in the primary?"
I found that, if I said it very fast, they were more inclined to answer.

There were people who hung up the moment they realised I was a political call. Oh what relish some of them took in that gesture. Only one of my hang-ups was polite about it: "Have a nice day - CLUNK". It was really very refreshing.

Then there was an angry independent who demanded to be taken off the list - and, worst of all, a woman who said she was not interested in Hillary and, when I asked if any of the other candidates interested her, she said "No, I'm a Republican". Ouch!


Of those Democrat voters who chose to discuss the primary, it was the issues of health care and the Iraq War or the Iraq War and health care which concerned them.
Of the other candidates, only Barack Obama and John Edwards were mentioned as rival choices. Those voters who were already firmly decided on Hillary Clinton were really enthusiastic and all to keen to sing the Senator's praises and enumerate the reasons for their choice - intelligence, strength, experience, values, policies...

There are a lot more of these calls to be made as the primary progresses in New Hampshire - hopefully each wave bringing in more and more positive feedback. And, of course, the other campaigns will be doing it, too. These New Hampshire voters are under intense scrutiny. They are still the "gateway" electorate - the vote that matters.


Let's hope their patience holds up.
Certainly, the experience of being the one making the calls has changed the way for ever after that I will respond to any similar callers. Even when I want to hang up, I shall do it with kindness. Now I know just what good people are on the other end of the line.

Hillary's campaign knotches up

ACTION.
Not only are Bill and Hillary hitting Nashua tomorrow but also Hillary's Nashua campaign office has been born - almost.
It was still full of builders and paraphernalia when I arrived at midday today to man the ticket office for tomorrow's big Ready to Change, Ready to Lead tour event at the local university. I was supposed to meet Doug, the new Nashua region campaign organiser, outside the office to receive tickets, office keys and instructions but the door was open and Doug was not there. I was a bit perplexed, especially when people started rocking up for tickets. I scrounged around and set myself up with a chair and a little table and chatted apologetically to the arriving people.


Doug breezed in after about 20 minutes, just in time for a strong influx of ticket-seekers. While he sorted them out, I helped the friendly builder to haul out a desk and a big executive armchair - and suddenly the place took on a more authoritative look.

The people coming for tickets had RSVPed to campaign invitations to the event and were unable to print out numbered tickets from the Hillary website. Hence, they were mostly older people - except for those of the sleek New England bourgeoisie who were coming to pick up VIP tickets which we were keeping in named envelopes to one side. Doug trotted off to lunch and I had a pleasant time greeting, meeting and distributing these most coveted tickets. With Bill in tow, it is a stellar event on the Hillary campaign tour.

So much so that special signs are required.

After 2pm, it was sign time. Doug, who has driven all the way from California to work on the campaign here, produced a box of poster paints in primary colours along with mixing plates, foam brushes, large felt-tipped pens and a pile of large, thin cardboard art sheets. To begin with, there were just three of us - Doug, Kyra from the Manchester office and me.


As the afternoon wore on, volunteers rolled in and joined us on the floor. It was like a political playgroup - mixing colours and painting slogans. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. By the time we were through, there were about 13 of us, an delightfully disparate mix of ages, sizes and races. One very sensible woman chose to clean the windows instead of paint - and soon we had a bright, clean shopfront onto which she taped some of the new signs to complement the Hillary campaign signs and patriotic bunting.


A photographer from the Nashua Telegraph rocked up and snapped a million pix, concentrating on the two cute kids in our midst, of course. As they do. Newspapers love to run photographs of children. It made me a bit sad in this context insofar as this was not actually child's play - it was politics in motion. I would rather have seen people of voting age being depicted. But, hey, what can you do! The idea is to get the message into the paper by whatever means.




The Nashua campaign office is not on Main Street. It is off to the side on Elm Street. But, what it lacks in visibility it makes up for in size and facility. The ground level shopfront is handsome and spacious with a proper semi-enclosed office area at the back. Most significantly, it has a vast and spectacular basement - very smart and modern, freshly painted and wired and ready for banks of phones, printers, faxes, computers...
This will be the beating heart of the Nashua campaign.



Um, yes, one rather unconventional poster slipped its way in..
;)