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October 31, 2008 12:19 AM UTC

Dated GOP "96 Hour Plan" Meets Obama Steamroller

  • 74 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Tonight at 7:30PM, Senate candidate Bob Schaffer and conservative radio personality Dan Caplis will kick off the GOP’s “96 Hour Plan” get-out-the-vote drive, breathlessly hyped as an “unprecedented” operation that will turn out “every McCain-Palin voter in Colorado.”

Except it really isn’t that unprecedented, the “96 Hour Plan” has its origins in the 1996 Bob Dole presidential campaign. It’s seen some tweaking and refinement over the years–2004 saw an increased emphasis on consumer datamining and other techniques to “micro-target” favorable voters. The “96 Hour Plan” was last deployed in Colorado for Bob Beauprez and, well, a fine lot of good it did him.

Confronting the GOP’s efforts is what many experts consider to be the most sophisticated GOTV ground operation in the history of American politics. Hundreds of Barack Obama organizers have been working through massive lists of new and inactive Democrats for weeks, and thousands of volunteers are fanning out across the state. They are all seamlessly integrated through state-of-the-art outreach and distributed online volunteer management systems that are the product of years of development, as well as prototype efforts like the 2004 Howard Dean campaign. This GOTV plan actually is different than what the GOP is rolling out.

This isn’t techie fanboy hyperbole: Colorado has never seen anything like it. And if it all plays out the way we’ve seen plans for, the results could truly be “unprecedented.”

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74 thoughts on “Dated GOP “96 Hour Plan” Meets Obama Steamroller”

  1. The Obama campaign has but together a 20 month GOTV plan where in the last month every voter has been contacted every other day. Where it seems like half the Democratic party is out there on the street contacting the other half.

    And now, after about half the people have voted – the Republicans are starting???? This is sad.

      1. Yesterday I printed out a list of 25 names assigned to me by the Obama campaign: neighbors within a couple blocks of my house, many of whom I already knew. (I had a choice of contacting “sporadic Democratic voters” or “persuadable uncommitted voters”; I chose the former. My job: Go door to door and see if they support Obama and have voted by mail. Give them a flier (which I printed out) and some information if they wanted.

        (None of the information was negative, by the way. It didn’t even mention McCain.)

        I took 3 hours vacation this morning and walked around my neighborhood, having some nice talks along the way, my young son in tow watching democracy and neighborly friendship in action.

        Totally unprecedented, and inspired. The Republicans have nothing like it.

      2. Certainly people have asked to be taken off our lists. But it’s usually something like 2%. Enough to make you feel crappy when you’re phone-banking (three nasty people will make you feel awful when you’re calling strangers), but not enough to change votes in any significant way. Even people who hate getting phone calls won’t actually switch to the other side, usually.

        And the number of people you convince to register or vote correctly is worth it.  

        2. Nope! No robocalls.  HAHAHAHAHA!

          I’ll tell ya, there has been walks every weekend for months, with big pushes planned every now and again.

          If you think all we’re doing is robocalls, you’re mistaken!  If you think that in our contacts we have to rely on negetivity, again you’re mistaken!

          Not to mention the fact that you’re underestimating your opposition, which you should never do.

          1. I thought I saw you mention that you’re a Precinct Committee Person? I’m a PCP too, and you’re making me feel guilty because it sounds like you’ve done WAY more work then me.   🙂

            1. Thanks friend-yeah, I am a PCP, but I’ve been at this through the primaries for various peeps.

              How long have you been a PCP for?

              And don’t worry, there is still time!

              1. I just registered as a Democrat for the first time in 2007 so I could vote in the Caucus.

                I became PCP at my precinct caucus (Precinct 921 represent!) and then went to the county and state conventions as an Obama delegate.

                Don’t worry (or worry?) I plan on working hard this weekend and I’m taking election day off to get people to the polls.

      1. It just sounded like you got a woody talking about Obama’s GOTV machine.

        Can’t wait to see 30,000 volunteers walking the streets of Colorado passing out their “Little Red Books” and discussing the The Great Leader.

        Is this your way of marginilizing any attempt by the GOP in this state?  Pretty effective for a non-partisan web site.

        1. that’s the point.  So even if its stupid Pols has to cover it favorably because its from the GOP ?  Its too little too late, regardless of what party would be doing it.

          1. That’s my point, so why not ignore their efforts?  They’ve been doing this for over 12 years.  It’s not something that they just thought up in response to Obama’s “Machine”…so why make it out that way?  

            Last time I checked, Howard Dean actually wanted to copy the GOTV program of the GOP, and he has, to his credit.

            2. Just keep thinking this is a copy of the GOP program.  If this wasn’t a snark, then you have your head in the sand.  Oh, sorry, I guess that’s what Republicans do these days.  I’m a Republican and I haven’t received one piece of mail, one phone call or one visit at my door from any Republican candidate.  My wife, an independent has received all, numerous times.  My secretary, as well, and she just voted today to get them off her back.  Amazing that once you’ve voted (and Obama knows this within hours) you don’t get any more attention.  Do you know that no candidate and no party has canvassed my neighborhood in the 17 years I’ve worked there?  We’ve been canvassed for Obama, Dan Gibbs and Hank Eng.

            4. The GOP plan for the last twenty years has been to throw a anti-choice measure on the ballot and then whip the fundies into a froth believing that this year they are going to finally get to criminalize women.  The GOTV effort is run through the fundamental churches and has a highly rigid voting doctrine.  “Vote to criminalize women or else God with sodomize you!”  The only problem is that this tactic is now being met by equally committed progressives who are being led by those hated “community organizers”.  The built in advantage of running political organizations through fundie churches is going to be neutralized this election by an equally organized progressive movement.

            5. Republicans pay marketing companies for targeted lists, which include information about where people shop, what they buy, what their hobbies are, how churchy they are, etc. etc., which can all be correlated with how likely they are to vote Republican. Since Republicans have tons of money but not that many enthusiastic volunteers, this enables them to target very specific people, saving the efforts of their paid employees.

              Democrats take more of a “shotgun” approach, hitting everyone in a particular region or with a particular job. They register lots of Democrats but a few Republicans as well. They have tons of volunteers, who occasionally duplicate each others’ efforts, and occasionally get votes for the other party accidentally.

              But in a miracle year like this, when there are more volunteers than usual, and the Republicans have less money than Democrats, it’s quite conceivable that the Democrats might actually win.

              By a landslide.

              And then I’ll get my beer.

        2. I’m an old white guy walking around my neighborhood talking with neighbors, using maps and information supplied to me by the Obama campaign. Like Mayberry RFD.

          And not a negative comment in sight – unlike the ugly and tawdry comments from the GOP against Obama.

          1. They both supported the progressive tax system in America. I guess they were just “redistributors” as well.

            The demagogues have taken over the McCain’s campaign. It has become nothing more than an echo chamber of right-wing talk radio, and it shows.  

  3. I just got an email from the Obama campaign reminding me to vote early. Two things — I voted last Tuesday, which their records might reflect (I know someone’s keeping track of that list), but the email also directed me to my “closest” early voting location — 30 miles away and in a different (though neighboring) county, where I couldn’t vote even if I made the trek. Probably just a glitch, but c’mon, the devil is in the details people.

      1. and update daily, but we talk to people who say they’ve already voted. That stuff is kind of hard to keep track of, for whatever reason.

        The early voting locations are generally done pretty well, but I think you found a glitch.

        1. I would guess that depending on the county and staffing, mail ballots might sit for several days before being processed through the first phase.  I presume that would be “Yup, here’s the ballot from sxp151!” and duly noted into the system that you voted.

          Only after that is done would  the updated list show that you’ve voted.

          Even with inaccuracies, this is a whole lot better than 2004.  I was away all day doing the Election Protection thing; when I got home I had 13 calls on the machine reminding me to vote.  Of course, I had done so by mail weeks before.

          On a similar improvement note, in that same year I bought a CD from the county clerk of voter registration information so that I could make precinct lists.

          Not long after came Pat Waak and Mike Weissmann and pretty soon the state party had an internet available (with training and need) list updated every month from the SoS.  You can slice and dice for any kind of sort, put in notes for a registrant, print lists and labels, and a lot more.  One of the reasons the Democrats were successful in 2006, no doubt.  

  4. of when I was in middle and high school and I had a huge project due at the end of the semester. I always procrastinated and said “I’ll get around to it”.

    Well, it looks like the GOP waited too long to turn in their project, and now they have a solid grade awaiting them on 11/5:

    FAIL.

  5. For the first time it looks to me like the wizard of oz behind the CP login just copied and pasted from a campaign staffer email.

    “what many experts consider to be the most sophisticated GOTV ground operation in the history of American politics”

    and

    “thousands of volunteers are fanning out across the state”

    and

    “all seamlessly integrated through state-of-the-art outreach and distributed online volunteer management systems”

    This is infomercial copy, Pols, not analysis.  You just took all the emotional and hyperbolic language out of the campaign and repeated it here as news.  Nice work.

    1. I’m a Republican.  But I have a Democratic friend working for Obama.  She’s one of two democrats working her precinct and they share a lawyer with a neighboring precinct.  When a person votes, they don’t have to look through the books and keep running back to HQ to give them the information, they simply go to their phone and enter the number of the voter in a database and that voter is shown as voting.  This is good politics.

    2. Copying and pasting without attribution is bad, but making an accusation without any evidence at all based on your sense of what copying and pasting would sound like, that’s floundering.  If you don’t like the angle, don’t like the angle, but you’re overplaying your hand and it undercuts your position altogether.

    3. There’s been nothing like this GOTV operation. Ever. Thousands of people like me are given information to contact our fellow undecided neighbors. It’s great.

      It beats those stupid negative GOP robocalls hands down.

      1. because their base has been reduced the most radical religious fanatics.  Moderate Republicans are sitting this one out.  They don’t have the people to engage in live interactions so they are reduced to spewing the most unforgiving hate they possibly can.  Morally self-righteous extremists endorsing the most crude and despicable forms of dialogue all under the banner of moral superiority.  What a tragic farce the Republicans have turned out to be.  So much for the permanent majority.  

  6. It didn’t work for Iraq, or Katrina, or the mortgage meltdown. These “we’ll fix it all in 96 hours” campaigns don’t just fail, but they look terrible to the average voters who see yet another example of Amateur Hour.

    The Obama campaign has looked professional, steady, PREPARED and strong throughout.

    And voters respect that.

      1. Carla Madison’s husband Paul set up a mini social network so that friends could nag their friends to get in the votes or failing that you could use affinity groups (much like union members do now).

        Right now canvasing and phonebanking is a little ad hoc.  Part of that is that the VAN has traditionally been terrible, but now the Obama ground game has really improved the VAN.

        With an improved VAN there is an opportunity to create personalized “nag lists.”  

        “Hey joe (who I bowl with on tuesdays)have you got your ballot in yet?” is more effective than “Hi I’m Danny calling from the Obama campaign, I am calling to ask you how you are planing to vote and if you’ve gotten your mail in vote yet.”

            1. After we run through the November 4 tape, get drunk in joy or sorrow and take a couple of weeks breather, the next thing we have to do is figure out how to strengthen the county parties.  Denver is under registered relative to its population (el paso and jeffco has almost as many registered)and its turnout is far below Jeffco  and some of the other suburbs.

              For statewide races we need to get a higher yield out of denver and we need to strengthen the suburban+larimer voter ID so that for state house/senate races we can plug democratic candidates in to a pre-existing field operation.

              I know for a fact that no one can afford real field for most of the races in Colorado  (outside CD, GV and Senate).  The Counties (and the state party for that matter) have to get serious about building a plug and play field operation for democratic candidates and causes.

              1. it has built the infrastructure for that. We have Obama precinct captains running the field programs in their neighborhoods instead of the campaign sending people out to their turf. What’s going to be the trick is keeping those people involved.  

        2. Which I just praised (without the VAN moniker) above.  It is such an improvement over the system we had – none – it seems unfair to point out its flaws. I’m not sure how a two year old product can have “traditional” flaws.  

          1. The data set was terrible in 2006.  It wasn’t usable for a team without its own field operation. I think the Obama operation has scrubbed the data and it will finally be usable.

            The VAN had bad data on me and I didn’t bother to correct it until this year.

            1. It was getting much better before Obama’s team came in on it, and the CDP was leading the way in suggesting and making the improvements.

              Obama’s campaign has hopefully put in a lot of the data they’ve been gathering; I think by 2010 it will be a really functional database.

            2. …when I had to beg the Arapaho Dems for precinct lists, which were old and ineffective, and I bought my own CD from teh clerk, I was overjoyed with VAN.  

              I guess most gamers wouldn’t be happy with Pong, either, but it was better than whatever was before. VAN served me well.  

  8. My dog was out barking up a storm at the guy (I’ve tried to train them – bark at Republicans only) but this guy was standing his ground – he was going to talk to me dogs or no dogs. (BTW – my dogs are very friendly golden retrievers – they just like to bark.)

    Checking on my wife’s and daughter’s votes (they went in yesterday) – very nice and personable and he’s going door to door for another couple of hours to work through his lists. And this was at 7:00 pm.

    Last night I got a phone call from a volunteer asking for my wife & daughter to remind them to vote. I promised they would get their votes in today.

    The Obama campaign is now reaching every voter daily – and doing it personally. This is amazing.

  9. I was outside Channel 4 tonight as part of the Udall cheering squad. (I was wearing my dorky DAV hat and wearing a Vets for Udall shirt with some of the Iraq vets in the campaign.)

    At first, the crowd was about equal in size, but about when Udall showed up, a mob of mid-teen kids and their parents showed up with the usual Pro-Bob signs. One teenie girl decided she needed to debate Veterans issues with me, in a nice, perky way.

    After the usual partisan banter, I asked her where she lived. “California – we all came out to help Bob Schaffer win!”

    The whole mob of nice, clean safe teenagers and their parents were trucked in by Schaffer and the GOP to be in the crowd. Conservative Carpetbagger Bob Schaffer can’t even muster enough support to have COLORADO volunteers at his own rallies.

    There’s sad, and there’s Bob Schaffer sad.

  10. Actually the GOP micro-targeted GOTV strategy, including  but certainly not limited to their famous last 96 hour drives, has been far superior to anything the Dems have attempted up until now. So lets not get all smug about those silly Rs and their lame methods.  They’ve been highly effective.  The good news is the days of GOP GOTV superiority are over.  

    1. McCain just slashed his GOTV budget for TV ads.

      The vaunted, 72-hour plan that President Bush used to mobilize voters in 2000 and 2004 has been scaled back for McCain. He has spent half as much as Obama on staffing and has opened far fewer field offices. This week, a number of veteran GOP operatives who orchestrate door-to-door efforts to get voters to the polls were told they should not expect to receive plane tickets, rental cars or hotel rooms from the campaign.

      “The desire for parity on television comes at the expense of investment in paid boots on the ground,” said one top Republican strategist who has been privy to McCain’s plans. “The folks who will oversee the volunteer operation have been told to get out into the field on their own nickel.”

      Me thinks the 30 minute Obama special watched by over 25 million viewers had something to do with this. Obama just cornered McCain, and now the Mac is going Jeremiah Wright Negative for the duration of this campaign at the expense of his field program.

      What a foolish old man.

      1. that have been mobilized neighborhood by neighborhood by the Obama campaign is astounding. And it’s been in high gear for ages already. Not to undervalue piles of money.  The historic Obama fundraising has allowed him to compete everywhere, organize everywhere, open offices everywhere, answer every attack ad instantly and blanket markets with ads etc.   But the kind of enthusiasm that translates into the incredible number of unpaid volunteer hours this campaign has access to is priceless on the ground.    

    2. BlueCat, you’re right on target.  The GOP has kicked our rear for quite a while in GOTV and field.  Gov. Dean and the DNC have recognized this, and what Obama has put together has been built on a foundation set up by the DNC.

      One of the biggest problems we’ve had is underestimating the GOP GOTV machine in past years.  I recall going to a “ThinkPrecinct” training a little over a year ago and hearing one of the trainers go on about how the GOP has all of the money, but we have all of the feet on the street at election time.  It bothered me so much, I stopped her and let the group know that, in fact, we were getting beat “on the street” by a very effective GOTV operation from the GOP.

      I couldn’t be prouder of what I’m seeing here in 2008 for the Dems.

      1. And you are right to point out that this goes back to Gov. Dean and his innovative use of the internet and insistence on a 50 state strategy in the face of withering disdain on the part of the Clinton/DLC wing.  

        True, the Obama machine has succeeded beyond all expectations and wild dreams in taking both those innovations and bringing them to full fruition, freeing us from the chains of the DLC electoral map strategy.  

        Their strategy depended on running the table with a limited number of sure thing and a couple of swing states by having everything break our way by a large enough margin to preclude stealing or vulnerability to voter suppression. Or getting really lucky as Clinton did in ’92 with Ross Perot handing him an election he clearly couldn’t have won without that stroke of luck. It failed for both Gore an Kerry because stuff happens and there was no room for any mishap.

        Now, we are the ones with multiple paths, always the better position to be in.  Once again, knock wood.

  11. 2002 was the first election in which the GOP used the 96 hour strategy.  They had tons of money and hired a lot of people to get out the vote.

    I don’t know what the budget is this time around. But, it worked in 2002.  

      1. That gd Zogby poll haunts a lot of us…..Monday night before the Tuesday election, Zogby said Strickland by six percentage points..

        talk about treat n tricks…

  12. Top 10 Reasons NOT to Vote for Obama

    10. Education and Health Care – Obama’s record in Chicago speaks volumes here.  Chicago has one of the worst educational systems in America and he did absolutely nothing to improve it.  He has no clear policy on Education for America either.  We all know everyone should be able to afford college for our kids but where’s the plan to make that happen?  Health Care is another joke.  Again he did nothing in Chicago to make any improvements in their system.  His policy for America would force small businesses into providing a service they can’t afford or penalize them thru fines for not doing so.  How will that help when you lose your job because costs have now gone up and they can’t afford to keep you.  You’ll be without a job AND health care then!

    9. Foreign policy is a danger sign.  Sitting down unconditionally with terrorist nations is in the countries worst interest.  In addition, he has no foreign policy experience having never been to most of these countries or met their leaders.  Even the leader of Italy recently said after meeting Obama that he had serious doubts about his knowledge or ability to lead the US.  Who has recently supported Obama….Libya said 3 weeks ago that the Muslim community is watching closely in anticipation of their African Muslim brother gaining control of the richest, most influential country in the world.  

    8. Redistribution of wealth policy – why work when you can sit back and receive a check from those that do?!  Redistribution is much different from our current policy.  Our taxes support those in need through the funding of programs meant to help those in need.  Redistribution will assume everyone below a certain number is in need and then give money to them regardless of the circumstance.  So again….why work when you can just get a check?

    7. Tax policy – Obama’s voting record shows he voted 94 times against tax cuts in while in Chicago after promising those constituent tax cuts.  Do you think all of a sudden he’s for them now?  First it was those making less than $250,000 would get a tax cut, then he said it was $200,000, then Biden said it was $150,000, and the latest is from Richardson who now says it’s $104,000.  Which is it?  AND…raising taxes on the upper percentile of Americans will severely reduce our capability to grow the economy.  Who do you think owns the businesses, funds business expansion, hires Americans when business is able to increase?  Like it or not, it’s the upper percentile of Americans!  They take the risk with their money.  If you raise their taxes, they will have less to invest, less to expand their businesses which equates to no growth and less jobs.  Even a 5th grader understands this basic concept!!

    6. Campaign Funding – misled McCain and others after shaking hands and decided to take private funding, much of which has gone unverified.  This was a calculated lie meant to deceive the public and McCain.  And how much has come from overseas from countries that want to sway the election?  Where’s the verification that it has all been legal?  This is exactly why the McCain-Feingold bill was past.  Obama has spent almost $1 Billion dollars in his campaign and will have millions left over afterwards.  And as if he had won the election already, aired his first state of the union address to the nation with a ВЅ infomercial last week.  With this kind of dishonesty, can you trust him with the US Treasury?  

    5. War in Iraq – Obama speaks about how he opposed the war and spoke out about it at the time.  To who?  He wasn’t even in the US Senate then!  In addition, he continues to deny the surge works and will pull our troops out within 12 months of taking office regardless of the conditions, consequences or advice of those in country.  Our troops will come home disgraced and defeated leaving a gaping hole in Iraq for rogue nations to fill, thus destabilizing the Middle East for years to come.

    4. National Security – Obama’s plans for Nat’l Security includes: reducing the military at a time when America needs to continue our war on terrorism, repealing the Patriot’s Act that has provided invaluable information to pre-empt further attacks in the US and other free nations, reducing spending on advanced military weaponry such as our missile defense initiatives and advanced fighter capability.  In addition, Obama has never shown he’s been a supporter of the military community, demonstrated by his one trip to Iraq and Afghanistan after being ridiculed by McCain for never having visited.

    3. Past Associations – like it or not, Obama’s past associations should be a concern to every American.  Consider:  20 years in a congregation with a preacher delivering sermon after sermon full of hate for the white American community, even calling him the father he never had in his book;  having his Chicago campaign launched by a well know terrorist and then gaining and sitting on a Board with the same man for many years; having a long term close relationship with Farrakhan and his organization for years throughout his career; and now we find ties to a known Palestinian supporter who advocates death to Israel. And why is the LA Times not releasing the tape of the event where these two, along with Ayers attended? The latest is also his Aunt who we find out yesterday is in the country illegally.  Of course Obama claims he didn’t know anything about that either.  His own family??  Wake up everyone…..he has been lying about these associations.  Ask yourself this…. who have we not heard about??

    2. Energy Policy – advocates only wind, solar and biodiesel fuels are viable options. Only supported more drilling and the “potential” for nuclear when pushed against the wall.   Denies that drilling will provide quicker relief while other fuels are developed.  Why do we only get his attention and endorsement of considering all avenues when he’s pushed against the wall politically.  

    1. Lack of Experience – ask yourself this question before you pull the lever, check the box or punch the chad through the paper on Tuesday…….if I was the owner of the US and had both resumes side by side – who has the most experience, credentials, and proven results?  It’s not about who had the best speech, was able to pull in the crowds, etc…..it’s about who is best qualified and had the proven experience and on the job education for the position.  You wouldn’t even interview one of the candidates if the resumes were side by side.  The choice is clear…..John McCain should be your choice!

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