Creating Community Conversations - Gallomanor

Your Buddy, the President(ial) Candidate

Michelle emailed me again.  She wanted to tell me a little story about her and Barack backstage at the Democratic Convention in 2004 and how she'd broken the tension with a private joke.

Barack likes to tell a story about the two of us standing backstage before his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention.

The way he tells it, he was too busy in the days before the convention to feel any pressure -- but about an hour before the speech, I could tell he was getting a little nervous.

To break the tension, right before he went out on stage I leaned in close and said, "Just don't screw it up, buddy."

We laughed. And then Barack brought the house down.

What's more I (if I were a US citizen) could be backstage at the 2008 convention if I were to donate $5 or more by midnight on Thursday.

Seeing it in person will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'm excited about being there, and if you make a donation of $5 or more before the deadline, you could join Barack backstage:

Damn, it's good.  Coming from Michelle Obama and in personal one to one language, the email makes me feel part of the campaign and makes me want to be part of a historic "once-in-a-lifetime experience".

There is a lot to learn from the Obama'08 campaign.

The Sharing President (ial Candidate)

The Obama08 campaign doesn't stop amazing me.  Today Michelle Obama emailed me to show me a video (shared via YouTube of course) from The Bronx High School for Performance and Stagecraft in a tough part of the Bronx (are there wimpy parts of the Bronx??).

The video is incredibly natural.  The teacher in his fetching argyle jumper speaks from the heart, the students are articulate and straightforward.  There is a slight discontinuity because Obama isn't at the school, but the students watch a recording of a speech and the two are intercut.  Overall though it is great.

It gets better though.  On the Obama08 site where the video is embedded the team have used an email importer so that you can load your webmail contacts or simply paste their address en bloc and send them the video.  Purists may have issue with security issues, but the simplicity and lack of hurdles make the process very simple and probably effective.

Your Personal President(ial Candidate)

The Obama08 campaign have always made a big deal out of the fact that they raise all their funds from ordinary citizens whereas Clinton and McCain have taken millions of dollars from lobbyists and political action committees.

The latest sales promotion that the Obama campaign are using is the chance to have dinner with the candidate himself.  And a nice dinner too by the looks of it.

Also very powerfully they are using personal stories from those who have already dined with him:

"It was an awesome experience -- Barack spent hours talking to us, and at the dinner table he was just like any other guy. It really felt like somebody invited friends over for dinner and good conversation.

My dad is a paralyzed vet, and his health care costs are huge, so I talked to the Senator about how he planned to provide for our veterans. He gave a thoughtful, detailed answer, and I could tell that taking care of our veterans was a big concern to him.

But we didn't just talk about politics. He talked about his children, and his wife, and how much he misses his family when he's on the road. And those of us with children shared stories about our families, too. He was a funny guy, and there was a good amount of joking around. All in all, it was a great conversation.

Ever since the dinner, I've remained active in the campaign. I was the precinct captain for my neighborhood here in Fernley, Nevada, and we won our caucus. I also went to the county convention, and we won there too.

I'm grateful to have been a part of this, because I know that beyond winning an election, we're also changing the way politics works in this country."

[via email]

Sadly this wouldn't be possible in the UK.  Unless the rules have changed from my Sales Promotion days on a game of chance like this promotion you need to state that no purchase is necessary.  That might suppress donations!