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Turning the “Red” states --“Blue”

Explore the strategy behind Barack Obama's success in flipping traditionally Republican states to Democratic, focusing on the impactful case of Indiana. Learn how voter registration, grassroots organizing, and strategic campaigning led to groundbreaking results.

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Turning the “Red” states --“Blue”

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  1. Turning the “Red” states --“Blue” The strategy for change A look at the Indiana Case Study

  2. Barack Obama won 9 states that George W. Bush won in 2004 including: • Iowa • New Mexico • Colorado • Nevada • Virginia • North Carolina • Indiana • Ohio • Florida

  3. So WHY did the Obama campaign change the way things where run? And what did these changes look like? • Simple – Only change would win the campaign for them. • The changes appeared in all aspects of the campaign: Overall strategy, Message and Communications, Field and Fundraising.

  4. ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE • Early decision to expand electoral playing field. • Built new campaign model that empowered volunteers • Invested heavily in new technologies • Huge investments in field, organizers, offices and alternative advertising • Cultivated largest small-donor base in political history • Seamless integration of all campaign components • Every component campaign with an organizers focus and prospective.

  5. How Did Obama Turn These States Blue? “We would not have won the election without focusing so heavily on voter registration. The nine states we flipped from Red to Blue are a perfect example of this. In each of these states, the number of voters we registered accounted for our margin of victory. Without a massive voter registration drive Obama would have received fewer than 240 Electoral College Vote and John McCain is President today.” -- Steve Hildebrand, Deputy Campaign Manager on key to landslide victory.

  6. Case study: Indiana

  7. HOW DID BARACK FLIP INDIANA? • Outperformed John Kerry by more than 450,000 votes by: • Choosing to compete in a state Dems haven’t won in 40 years • Registered over 150,000 new voters • Opened field offices in every major city and many small cities too. • Committed 200 field staff to the state • Committed resources to early voting minority and youth voters • Committed early money for media buys in Indiana and outspent McCain 2 to 1 on air. • Targeted upscale, suburban Republicans for persuasion • Maximized minority turnout

  8. SEIU’S EFFORT IN INDIANA • Registered nearly 18,000 new voters • Fought a legal battle with Republican Party to protect early voting in Northwest, Indiana • Ran a massive early vote operation that gave Obama a 22,000 vote edge over McCain • Drove 1,067 individual voters to early vote • Turnout out over 90% of the registered voters in Gary, East Chicago and targeted precincts in Hammond. • Unprecedented commitment from our Locals

  9. RESULTS OF THIS CHANGE: • Elected Barack Obama president – with a 10,000,000 vote margin is the largest ever for a non-incumbent. • Changed the rules of the campaign • Registered and mobilized people who haven’t ever been involved in the process both young and old.

  10. Quote from President-Elect Barack Obama “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

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