Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Barack Obama: My Plans For 2008






In The News

Martin returns, says UNSC will endorse secretary-general’s proposal this week NepalNews
US welcomes interim constitution
Over two dozen MPRF activists arrested in the capital The MPRF activists including MP Amresh Kumar Singh and MPRF chairman Upendra Yadav were apprehended after they started burning the copies of interim constitution at Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu. The protesters said the interim constitution failed to address the demands of Madhesi people.
Terai bandh affects normal life
UN arms monitors completing final logistics preparations
Citizenship distribution begins
MPRF protest interim constitution; calls Madhesh bandh
Nepal's Rebels Say Interim Constitution Means End of Monarchy Bloomberg Nepal's peace settlement will allow the government to cut defense spending and economic growth in 2007 may reach 5 percent, Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat said in July. .... About 42 percent of Nepalese live below the poverty line and 80 percent of them rely on agriculture for a livelihood. More than 13,000 people were killed during the insurgency.

Obama Forms Committee to Weigh 2008 Presidential Bid (Update1) Bloomberg
Obama begins possible run for president
Toronto Star, Canada
Obama Takes 1st Step in Presidential Bid
San Francisco Chronicle, CA
Obama Takes 1st Step In Presidential Bid
Guardian Unlimited, UK
Democrat Obama enters 2008 White House race
Reuters India, India
Barack Obama joins White House race
MSNBC
Obama takes first step in White House bid
Los Angeles Times, CA
Obama takes first step in White House bid
Newsday, NY
Obama takes first step in White House bid
Los Angeles Times, CA
Democrat Obama enters 2008 White House race
Boston Globe, MA
Obama takes first step in presidential bid
Baltimore Sun, MD
Toward Presidential Bid
Wall Street Journal (subscription), NY
Obama to enter 2008 White House race
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
Barack Obama joins White House race
Financial Times, UK
Obama steps into White House race
BBC Bulgaria, Bulgaria
Obama Takes First White House Step
TIME - 4 hours ago
Obama takes first step in presidential bid
Miami Herald, FL
Obama takes 1st step in presidential bid
MLive.com, MI
Senator Barack Obama Takes First Step Towards Presidential Bid
FOX News
INSIDE OBAMA'S INNER CIRCLE
Chicago Tribune, IL The gravitational pull around Sen. Barack Obama grows stronger day by day, as he and his advisers seek commitments from political operatives and donors ....... encompasses the world of ideas of his Harvard Law School classmates. ...... The political professionals who are Obama's closest formal advisers are careful, deliberate counselors, wary of unnecessary risks and no strangers to campaign street fights. ...... David Axelrod, the strategist at Obama's right hand, perhaps the best-known Democratic consultant working outside of Washington, D.C., equally adept at sensing the right metaphor for high-minded aspirations and at finding the vulnerable spot to savage an opponent. ........ Robert Gibbs, communications director, ... "Northern ruthlessness and Southern charm combined." ....... Valerie Jarrett ..... most influential is his wife, Michelle, a formidable daughter of the South Side who is an alumna of the Ivy League and Chicago's rough-and-tumble City Hall. ...... "He really wants to know all the points of view in the room. He doesn't want to shut people down or force a consensus" ..... Michael Froman, an informal Obama adviser who was a Harvard Law classmate and chief of staff to former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin. ....... The senator periodically assembles informal advisers and his senior Senate staff for freewheeling evening sessions to set strategy and appraise his performance. In November, it was a four-hour gathering with stacks of takeout pizza boxes on a conference room table to talk over the senator's future. ........ Obama and Axelrod speak almost every day. But Obama also often reaches out directly to friends for advice, by e-mail or telephone. ........ he and his advisers are working so intently to put the pieces in place that operatives are starting to tell Obama's likely rivals they are unable to work for those candidates because they are otherwise engaged. ...... Donors and fundraisers are being asked to make commitments, and the nascent operation is pulling in staffers and consultants from throughout the nation. ........ David Plouffe, an Axelrod partner who worked on Obama's 2004 Senate campaign, is the likely campaign manager. ....... Bill Burton, national press secretary for the House Democrats' midterm campaign, is likely to join up ...... Peter Giangreco, a Chicago-based media consultant and veteran of the Iowa caucuses, is on board to do the direct mail as is his West Coast partner Larry Grisolano. At least one pollster is lined up: Paul Harstad, another Iowa veteran, who also worked on Obama's Senate campaign. Julianna Smoot, finance director for John Edwards' 2004 campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2006, will fill the same role for Obama. ......... But the group most tightly circled around Obama is a longstanding one, made up of old friends who share an understanding of how he works. ........... the speech that would propel Obama onto the national stage. ..... practice several times. ...... Obama never asked him for a set of "talking points," which might have been the first order of business for others. Instead, he asked for audio and video of previous convention speeches to make his own assessment. ...... Obama then holed up in a hotel in Springfield, where the legislature was in session, and wrote the speech ....... Chief of staff Peter Rouse, who previously headed the office of Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle ....... Rouse's role would be to remain behind to watch Obama's back in the Senate, where rivals and their allies will have plenty of opportunities to lay political traps. ....... the way Obama relies on his advisers is as conversationalists who explore issues in depth. ......... "He rarely accepts anyone's initial position without any push back," Jarrett said. "He consistently probes deeper and deeper to make sure that you and he both have really thoroughly analyzed any given issue." ....... John Rogers, head of Ariel Capital Management, is a friend drawn into the family circle by Michelle Obama's brother Craig Robinson, with whom Rogers played basketball at Princeton University. ........ Obama deals with his friends much the same way he relates to everyone who crosses his path ...... "He has this ability to connect and bring people together," he said. "I've seen him wow people at the Commercial Club of Chicago, and then I go to New York to watch him with the Wall Street Project, a mostly minority crowd, and they're hanging on his every word." ....... Cassandra Butts, who first met Obama at the financial aid office, said the friends sometimes would spend time "just sitting around and talking about how we were going to change the world. ... How do you take this thing we're learning in law school and make a difference on the issues that we care about?" ..... "With Barack it's much more collegial than paternal" ...... Michelle Obama doesn't play a day-to-day role in her husband's work.. Instead.. she is the "true north" on his compass. ....... "She always asks Barack, `What do you think is the right thing to do?'" said Jarrett. "`Forget about what polls say. Do your homework. After you've done all the due diligence, what's the right thing to do?'"
Barack Obama officially enters White House race AlaskaReport, AK
Obama aims to be first black US president
BreakingNews.ie, Ireland Obama announced his intentions to file a presidential exploratory committee on his Web site, www.barackobama.com. He said he would announce more about his plans February 10 in his hometown, Chicago, Illinois.... Another potential 2008 presidential candidate, Republican congressman Tom Tancredo, an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, said he also is forming an exploratory committee for a possible campaign..... After making a weekend trip to Iowa, home to the first nominating caucuses in January 2008, Tancredo said voters told him other presidential candidates do not share their views. ..... “They believe that there is a void in this race that none of the other candidates are willing or able to fill,” Tancredo said.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Obama: 2007 Gameplan: Money, Message, Organization





A Different Kind Of Campaign: A Scientific Campaign
The Matrix, Vision, Spread Democracy, Revolution

Obama has work cut out for him.

The first time George Dumbo Bush shook Obama's hand, he promptly used disinfectives. Obama has to announce one week before the State Of The Union. He is running against George Bush. McCain is a footnote. McCain will parrot the dumb war in Iraq that Bush started.

You got to suck the oxygen out of Bush' room.

Don't get an exploratory committee. Get bodyguards. This is not a black issue. This is a celebrity issue. Madonna has them, Bill Clinton has them. That is a campaign expense.

You need physical bodyguards, you need political bodyguards. The recent media smear of your name is a foreboding. Expect more. Be ready.

You need money, tons of them. Do it both ways, do it online, the Dean 2004 way, but also do many fundraisers. You got friends and admirers.

Message is key. In this day and age of DirectConnect between the candidate and the voter, message is important. Message in all its many layers. There is the stump speech, but then there is also the policy wonk stuff. One thing I liked about Bill Clinton as candidate and president was, good as he is, the guy actually liked to have written speeches. Work on speeches focuses the candidate and his staff like few things do. We are in a unique position to videoblog the policy sessions you might have. 2008 will be a new media election.

It will be a new media election for the junkies, the hard core, the activists, the insiders, the ardent. But for the masses, you are still looking at TV. Half the country today has never heard of Barack Obama. It might not feel that way with all the adulation and attention, but that is the abject ground reality. Be prepared to tell your lifestory all over again, during the primaries, and then at the convention. Assume nothing.

Early start helps in the organization department tremendously. You want both, new grassroots people, and old establishment types. Elected officials stand in a category of their own. They are there for a reason. People elected them.

There will be a lot of travel involved. But I am glad the campaign headquarters will be in Chicago. You need the distance from Washington. You need the proximity to family.

There are four parts to 2007. Pre-Summer. Summer. After-Summer. And the primaries, caucuses. The tempo has to be accordingly.

Pre-Summer focus much on policy wonk stuff. Summer is for shaking a ton of hands in all 50 states. Then you start zeroing in. The primary/caucus season starts at the beginning of September. Between Summer and September, focus on the February states.

I would suggest make one major policy speech each month in a large media market, which are the big cities. Videoblogging will allow you to elevate the national debate. We go beyond one liners. We go beyond platitudes. We videoblog the policymaking process itself. We invite people in. The interested may watch in if they want.

Policy Making The Matrix Way

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Obama Will Announce In January
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A Woman For Running Mate, Perhaps A Governor
Barack Obama: Time For A Generation Shift
On November 7: In Harlem: For Obama
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The Audacity Of Gravitas: Restore Intelligence To The White House
Barack Is A Deaniac
Barack Obama: This Is A New Century
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Switching To Obama