By
editor on
June 9th, 2008
Washington, DC,_ Now that the primary election dust has settled and the country prepares for the fur to fly towards perhaps the highest turnout in history both candidates and their parties are readying for their top performances as well. One former presidential candidate and arguably the brightest ever to seek the office, knows the pitfalls of poor campaign decisions. That is why former Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis is urging Obama to “run a 50 state campaign,” and he should know what it means. In 1988 Dukakis lost 40 states and won 10. He is advising Obama, like he has every candidate since his election, to answer charges quickly and not let anything go without a response. He is also urging an end to the blue/red state paradigm where each party passes on campaigning in certain states either because they are assumed to be for or against you and concentrating on a handful of battleground states in order to win. Dukakis is urging Obama, the only candidate ever to understand community and grassroots organizing, as his primary upset proved, to put together grassroots campaign teams in all 200,000 precincts in the country. Before Obama all campaigns gave lip service to grassroots energy. He is the first to put resources, energy and training into his field operation and that is what Dukakis is urging him to continue in the months to come. Dukakis admits he did not do that in 1988 though some in his campaign attempted to do it without adequate support or resources. Our bet is that Obama is already planning the biggest grassroots effort in US political history. If he succeeds there will be great payoffs.
Categories: 2008 US Elections, Barack Obama, Democrats, Michael Dukakis, Politics, elections
Tags: Features
