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Saturday, May 29, 2010

My Talk With Kevin Lawler Of Reshma 2010

I am going to be a super engaged volunteer. That is my default mode. But I have considered going to work full time for Reshma 2010 for three and a half months. And I shared that with Kevin. He is an Obama 08 veteran, and Campaign Manager to Reshma 2010.

Reshma 2010 Get Together In Little India

I shared some thoughts. I explored a possible role for me. I shared some stories from my work into Nepal's democracy movement a few years back. I had a few things to say about the campaign.

(1) Can't Get Into On Autopilot To A Grand Loss Mode

I saw that happen to the Fernando Ferrer campaign in 2005. You showed up at the campaign headquarters. And there were these tens of super busy people. They were going to put in their hours, even work hard. But there was little experimenting, little of trying to come in from a few different angles.

First of all, Maloney is no Bloomberg, not even close. She leads in the polls now, but Obama too lagged in the polls the longest time. Reshma has raised the most money in the first two quarters like Obama did.

Got to stay in the victory mode. How do you do that? You keep having fun. You keep trying out new things. You keep working the things that work. You feel the growth of the snowball of support.

Carolyn Maloney is never going to run for president, she is a spent force, Reshma could. Maloney has done some good work, but she has had her turn. She is pre-Obama at many levels. Reshma is post-Obama. Maloney is not known nationally for any kind of thought leadership, Reshma is oozing with new ideas. Reshma deserves to win, she is going to win.

(2) Produce Plentiful Video Clips

It is free to do. Produce five minutes of video per day. Produce a video clip for every event small and big. Getting 50-100 hits on a video clip is good enough. You do this for the core team, for the staff and volunteers. Text does not do what video does. The video format has greater emotional appeal. Use a flip camera. Let some staffer volunteer to do the editing.

(3) The Subway Stops: Where It Is At

Showing up at rush hours to hand out small flyers would be a great way to reach out. My first day canvassing in Astoria was 100 knocks, 10 talks. At the subway stops you might approach 500 people in an hour, give out perhaps 200 flyers/post cards/business cards. Even if you net 20 potential voters, that is a lot. All you want is to get people to visit the site.

How many subway stops are there in the district? They are in the 20s. How about having someone at each stop every day during rush hour for the 30 days before the primary? This is about volume.

Kevin told me they already have a cropped map of the NYC subway system that shows only the stops in the district.

(4) Build A Brain Trust

Reshma has to come across as a thought leader. Got to start collecting a brain trust of people from academia and think tanks who will offer advice on all the key policy areas. What would a 2016 platform look like? Build towards that.

(5) Phone Marathons

Modern campaigns are able to pin down the potential primary voters. Being able to call them all would be a thing to do. Working the phone has to be something all staffers do, regardless of expertise.

(6) Community Press, Community Leaders

I saw this with the John Liu campaign. John Liu ended up with more votes than Bloomberg even, but during the primary he was shunned by the establishment press. John Liu reacted by aggressively courting small, ethnic newspapers. Their circulations were small, but loyal. They were flattered by the attention and often talked glowingly about Liu.

Identifying and courting community leaders fall in a similar category. In every community there are people who make it their business to reach out to members of the community on a regular basis.

(7) Pro.Act.Ly

The first time I heard about it was in the TechCrunch Disrupt video, and it promises to be a great tool. (Reshma Saujani, Scott Heiferman, Chris Hughes: TechCrunch Disrupt)

(8) Debating Maloney

Maloney is going to try and not debate Reshma. We have to keep nudging her, and we have to make political hay out of her not saying yes, and then we have to beat her at the debates when she finally says yes. The campaign has to do a super job of helping the candidate with the best possible preparation for the debates. Those debates will be the turning points. Start watching videos of Maloney on YouTube. Google her up. Read up on her. Know her strengths and weaknesses.

(9) Money

I am not going to say much about money, except that it is money, message, organization. Those are the three pillars.

(10) Social Media

I am hoping to blog profusely. It can be a tool to boost team morale, and more.

Reshma 2010 Get Together In Little India

Image of Reshma Saujani

Yesterday I emailed my information man Jon Gardiner. What's the plan for Saturday? He emailed me back.

*Saturday, May 29th from 1:00-3:00pm at
Mad Hatter Saloon (360 3rd Ave., btwn. E. 26th St. and E. 27th St.)*

Jon is from Nashville. He went to school in Michigan. I have been to Nashville. He is on the Reshma 2010 staff.

Reshma is a great political brand name to have. It even rhymes with Obama.

Last Saturday he had talked of a barbecue in some park. Instead it was a get together in a bar.

I showed up dressed in black. It was nice and warm out. I had a steamed dumplings lunch right before I took off. The first thing I asked for was water. Other than stealing a few nachos and a few jalapenos from Reshma's plate, I stuck to the water. I stayed away from the beer. When all was said and done, four of the leading staffers stayed back inside the bar to play a game on the screen - Megan beat them all, it was a shooting game - and they got yet another pitcher. I said no, thanks.

I watched them play. Then I left. They kept playing, pointing the plastic gun at the screen. I walked over to Curry In A Hurry on Lexington and 28th. I ordered two samosas and went upstairs and sat down to a great view of the street below.

I walked over to Union Square where I hopped onto the train. Kevin Lawler, the Campaign Manager is on the L line, I am on the L line. Kevin is from Portland, Oregon. At the Farmer's Market in Union Square I bought a big bag of apples for a dollar, and some banana bread for another dollar. (Farmville Farmer's Market: My Idea)

I got to meet and talk at length to Kevin for the first time. He was on the Obama 08 staff for a year. He is impressive.

The gathering was fun. It did have a lull before the storm feeling. The entire team is getting ready to soon collect signatures to get Reshma on the ballot.

Jon's "football lawyer" elder brother showed up. So you guys are from Nashville? I asked.

"Actually I was there only yesterday," he said.

My talk with Kevin was in depth. I hope to follow up on that. I guess I am still exploring the idea of going to work for Reshma 2010 full time for three and a half months. I smell victory, and I want to make sure it does happen.

@a_buchanan showed up. Last/first I saw her was at the Al Wenger tech event.

In all 15-20 people showed up. A few were come and go. I had a great time. I was relaxed before I got there. I was relaxed while there. I was relaxed when I left. There were some great conversations. I noticed Megan and Reshma have a telepathy thing going on. Megan Simpson is the Field Director. She has more people reporting to her than anyone else on the campaign staff, I think. She is a sharp shooter too.

Megan is from Iowa. I have been all over Iowa, I said to her last Saturday which is when she revealed her Iowa roots. Now that is one political state.

The final scene of the day stayed in my mind. There were these four staffers, five, taking turns at a video game. Really getting along, having a fun time together, cracking jokes. That was small proof the campaign is in a great shape. The internal dynamics are in top shape.

Reshma Saujani is a Gujarati like Mahatma Gandhi. Never underestimate a Gujarati, especially when it comes to politics. Churchill underestimated Gandhi, and look what happened to the British Empire. Empire Maloney, watch out.

She is usually on a tight schedule. So around 2:30 she left. She came back for her sunglasses.

"We were going to put it out on eBay," I said.