Obama for President

The Challenge — Grow Participation by 50%

Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in mid-2008. But in early 2007, the prospects were different. Then-Senator Obama started with a minimal staff and no national organization. The Iowa caucus in particular loomed as an almost insurmountable obstacle. Based on our early research and modeling, we were able to calculate that we couldn't win unless there were at least 180,000 people in the caucus. One problem — the all time record for caucus participation was 125,000.

Forming a Strategy

We settled on a two-step strategy. The first part required us to build our support to an acceptable level among traditional caucus-goers. The second part required us to build on that base of support by identifying discrete groups of voters and giving them a targeted message on an issue of importance. With enough information in hand, we then hoped to convert regular voters into actual caucus-goers.

Introducing Barack Obama to Regular Caucus-Goers

We determined that the best way to raise our numbers was to give traditional caucus viewers an extended exposure to Barack Obama. Therefore, our challenge was to get Barack in front of caucus voters in longer form than the standard 30-second spot.

The solution became an early test of our caucus operation. We identified 100,000 core caucus attendees and party stalwarts. We built a voter contact program around a trio of unusual mailings — a 20 page "storybook" piece, a piece featuring an Obama DVD and a piece with the entire text of Obama's 2002 anti-war speech.

For three weeks, our door-to-door canvassers then focused on encouraging recipients to watch the DVDs. We used the mail out of Barack's anti-war speech to say something bigger about Barack Obama — again, reinforcing the message with door-to-door contacts.

This operation lead to an uptick in the amount of "1's" (strong supporters) in our database, allowing us to comfortably turn our attention to bringing in new participants.

Expanding the Pool of Caucus-Goers

Based on thorough research, we identified several categories of nontraditional caucus-goers who would be excited enough by Obama to consider participating in the caucus. Among these potential caucus-goers were young voters, seniors, independents, and veterans. Each were targeted separately.

To reach younger voters and potential voters about to turn 18, we purchased the same lists used by colleges to market to college bound high school students. We filtered this list through the voter file and emerged with a pool of potential caucus-goers.

We then reached these younger voters by using direct mail and reply cards to drive text messages and emails, branding the entire program with the "BarackStars" label. In fact, with younger voters, our ability to merge old and new technologies became part of the message itself.

We also saw potential for Obama among veterans who had grown dissatisfied with the war in Iraq. Building on our experience of targeting veterans in 2004 for Kerry's Iowa caucus operation, we used Obama's early stance against the war to convey his judgment and courage. Seniors, independents and rural voters were also targeted with a precisely tailored message. We even mailed narrowly targeted health pieces to nurses and doctors who had never caucused before.

In every case, we chased mail with phone calls and canvassing — a seamless integration that let us cut through the clutter.

The End Result

Most state and media projections suggested turnout would be no more than 150,000. Instead, over 227,000 people participated. And Barack Obama took his first step to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.