The Three Pillars of Victory

Money, communication, mobilization: why Barack Obama’s campaign is successful.

Election night is two weeks away in the United States – and unless his opponent can come up with a surprise move, the game will be decided in Barack Obama’s favor. He will become America’s first black President. This is an opportune time for Germans to examine his recipe for campaign success. What will be the deciding factors that result in a black Senator, unknown by many Americans just a few months ago, moving into the White House? Three pillars of victory are recognizable in Obama’s recipe: money, communication and mobilization.

Let’s start with money: Obama has been more successful than any politician before him in motivating an astounding number of private individuals to donate – even minuscule sums – to his campaign. American elections are, when it comes to money, merciless. In primary elections, the candidates have no direct access to government monies. They must finance their campaigns by means of public donations or by using their own personal finances. Early on, Obama put together a broad base of supporters who contributed small amounts but who also contributed regularly. After his nomination, it was to these supporters that Obama could once again turn for financial support. For the first time in history, the Democrats became known as the “big money party,” albeit as the “big money in small sums” party. And this will, in all probability, make the difference in the last three weeks of the campaign, above all in battleground states like Indiana, Virginia, Ohio and Colorado where Obama continues to expand his election machinery.

Obama’s campaign strategists were also quick to understand the importance of the electronic media. A majority of the directives going to campaign workers go out daily – in the hottest phases of a campaign, even hourly – and they go out via the Internet. That’s when high tech meets high touch: after the directives are delivered, those supporters are encouraged to contact their friends to enlist their help. Or they are encouraged to go door-to-door or to attend campaign events to assist in getting the message out and firing up the base. In this way, Obama’s campaign follows the concepts of successful multi-level marketing firms like Tupperware or Amway: each and every person is an independent representative, responsible for enlisting and guiding other volunteers. This results in a pyramid-like communications structure that ensures that every successive level gets broader in scope.

The campaign has also succeeded in harnessing citizens’ willingness to get involved in the political process. Whereas during the presidential campaigning of 2004 only about half of voters were contacted directly by campaign coordinators, this form of communication has now been established as the central strategy element in 2008. Empirical comparative studies done internationally have shown that citizens are totally willing to commit themselves to common causes and above all to organize locally if they feel they are being talked to directly. With these innovative forms of direct communication, many other developments such as media productions emerge that feed other volunteers different offerings via, for example, YouTube and Facebook.

American campaigns have developed new forms of communication to get citizens involved in the political process. The objectives aren’t necessarily altruistic, but the positive effects outweigh the rest. The process heightens public interest and motivates citizens to get involved. If one compares the level of public involvement in previous presidential elections with that of the 2008 campaign, one sees an early and over-proportional participation of those interested in the political process. Citizens are rediscovering a path to participatory politics.

And what happens if all the new strategy fails and Obama loses in November? Is the only good election a winning election, as in the old sports maxim that winning is the only thing? The answer to that question is a resounding “no!” Obama’s campaign has been completely convincing. In the primaries as well as in his disagreements with John McCain, Obama has been successful in generating enthusiasm, above all in young people, for his policies. That will surely be apparent in voter turnout figures, which may reach 60 percent. It will also be apparent in the number of people talking politics even after the election, the number of people moved by politics and the number of people now moving politics.

It’s a win-win situation, and that’s what makes a good election.