The previous discussion about caucus pledge cards got me thinking. Hillary’s camp made a big mistake last week.
Hillary’s first mistake, besides the whole National Anthem part, was not aggressively soliciting pledge cards from the audience. I think I may have seen a sign-up sheet on a table, but that’s not going to do it.
Now, sure, it’s early. And maybe the audience was more “undecided” than “committed.” But the fact is Team Hillary didn’t push people to sign up, at least in my opinion.
There were 3,000 folks there, the vast majority of which were caucus-going Iowa Democrats. And they were there to see Hillary. It seems like a wasted opportunity to let all those future volunteers/precinct captains slip by, especially when Hillary lacks activist structure in Iowa.
At a Vilsack event I attended, the folks were pretty aggressive about getting attendees to fill out the cards.
It will be interesting to see if Team Obama has the materials and the capacity (staff + volunteers) to capture pledge cards from the crowds in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Ames, which I hear will be huge.
Also, FYI, the Ames event has been moved to the Hilton Coliseum.
4 Comments
I don't think many people would have signed
I wasn’t there, but I know several who were out of curiosity. They will go to the caucus but there is no chance they will caucus for Clinton. I know they would not have signed cards for her.
But it couldn’t have hurt her to have pledge cards available, you’re right.
desmoinesdem Sat 10 Feb 8:13 AM
Great Minds Think Alike
On David Yepsen’s blog today, he concludes with almost exactly what we were talking about. Could he be a Bleeding Heartland fan?
So what Obama needs to do in Iowa is pretty simple: Harness all that energy and excitement we’ll see today. This isn’t about the big rallies. It’s about signing up the people at the rallies, getting them registered as Democrats, making sure they know where their caucus is being held, how to get there and what to do once they arrive.
So don’t show me pictures of his crowds. Show me the stack of 3 by 5 cards at the end of the weekend.
I would cry foul, but you know what they say. Plagiarism…er…um…imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
snipehunter Sat 10 Feb 10:56 AM
Cards
Obama himself made reference to filling out pledge cards in the Waterloo and Ames event.
big-lug Mon 12 Feb 10:27 AM
I wonder if pledge cards this early are as effective
I would absolutely get pledge cards signed if I were running a campaign, but I wonder if the attrition rate will be higher than 15 percent or so for people who sign them this early. There is plenty of time to change your mind, especially if you have pledged to support a relative newcomer to the political scene.
One thing I learned as precinct captain for Kerry is that no matter what you do, some people are going to fall away for reasons out of your control. I had a strong Kerry supporter switch to Dean after she found out Kerry belonged to Skull and Bones at Yale!
desmoinesdem Mon 12 Feb 7:23 PM