Oprah will travel to Iowa to campaign for Barack Obama, and his campaign has come up with a counter-intuitive way of doling out tickets that is either brilliant or foolish:
In a news release announcing the events, Obama's campaign said tickets to the Iowa events will be given first to precinct captains, then campaign volunteers, then to supporters and undecided caucus-goers.
It said volunteers can be guaranteed a ticket by completing a four-hour volunteer shift or attending local caucus training before the event.
I would never have thought to do this. When a big event for John Edwards is planned, I try to get as many undecided voters from my precinct to attend as possible. I figure, it's more helpful to put undecided voters at an exciting event than it is to pack the room with supporters.
Obama's campaign seems to have calculated that if they can get hundreds of supporters to step up their involvement by becoming precinct captains or volunteering for at least four hours, that will eventually bring in more caucus-goers than they would win over by putting several hundred undecided voters in front of Oprah.
On the other hand, isn't the whole point of Oprah's visit to excite and win over women who may not ordinarily be engaged in politics? Maybe having her address a roomful of fired-up Obama volunteers is not the best use of her star power.
What do you think–brilliant or foolish?
UDPATE: Tom in the comments says volunteers will get preferred seating, but that others will be able to attend Oprah's events in Iowa too.
3 Comments
An interesting social capital question
This is a very interesting observation. I like to look at things in terms of social capital. Who has social capital? How is it being expended? Is Oprah’s star power helping Obama? Is Obama’s star power helping Oprah? How is that power being used?
Reading between the lines, is the message that Obama is having problems getting people to take their enthusiasm for him as a candidate and translate it to boots on the ground?
I have a lot of respect for Oprah. The work she does trying to get people more involved in the community around them is very important. It would seem like her strength would be better used in terms of registering new voters and getting new voters to actually make it to the caucuses.
aldon-hynes Tue 27 Nov 7:37 AM
Everyone welcome
The requirements you outlined are for preferred seating. You do not have to volunteer to attend the event. My understanding is that there will be plenty of room and a large attendance by undecideds.
tom Tue 27 Nov 11:28 AM
More interesting is how undecideds get tickets...
This is brilliant, but risky. I believe residents can only get tickets through their precinct captain or precinct field organizer, so it essentially forces residents to acquaint with the Obama campaign if they want to see Oprah. I would imagine that forcing Iowans to speak to an Obama organizer will have positive and negative effects.
This puts a lot of pressure on those who are supporters of Obama to bring their undecided friends. I imagine supporters would be more likely to make the contact with the organizer to get the tickets. This could potentially limit the number of undecideds because undecideds, I would imagine, would be less likely to call Obama organizers on their own to get the tickets and might even be put off by it not being an “open” event.
The other side of this is that it betters the relationship between supporters and organizers. Supporters who want to go will have to come into contact with leadership. Face to face time is increased, and that is always good. Maybe it creates more volunteers out of average supporters.
So, what base are they working on with this Oprah event? It seems they are working on undecideds via the supporters they can count on. Oprah will be a big draw, no doubt. But, instead of say 20,000+ showing up for this, they could end up with quite a few less. Quality over quantity seems to be their initial goal, but I would not doubt that as the event gets closer, the way tickets are given out will change to being geared toward the quantity end of the continuum.
No question Oprah increases social capital for Obama, but this may be the campaigns way of increasing social capital from the most ardent supporters to the most confused or un-informed undecideds.
drinksgreentea Thu 29 Nov 10:45 AM