Chris Brogan asked his readers to produce a blog post about how story telling is important in their lives. In exchange, you could win an awesome book. The book is probably reason enough to do this, but this post has been on my mind in the months before I started this blog back up so I thought “why not?” Here goes…
Story in a political campaign is everything. Campaigns tell a story. Campaigns are a story. Great campaigns get people to add their stories and relate to their neighbors and get them to support you.
Whether it’s a city council race and you’re talking to people in your neighborhood or you’re running President and you come here to Iowa to speak with people in a cattle auction barn, you begin by introducing yourself to voters and giving them your background. You can have the best 5 point plan on Earth but you’re going to have a hard time selling it to voters if you don’t have a good reason for promoting it.
Give people a story they can relate to.
Barack Obama grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia, went to a private high school, Columbia University and then Harvard Law. That’s not the best starting point for the grizzled Iowa Caucus Goer who sees a bunch of suits fly in every four years and tell them how “my 5 point plan will make you rich and cure your bad breath.” Obama won the Iowa Caucus because he related to Iowans on a personal level. His story centered around his family and specifically his mother and the grandparents who raised him. We all have someone who raised us and that’s where he connected. Health care reform because he watched his mother battle insurance companies while dying of cancer. Reaching out to the Islamic community because his family spent years in the largest muslim country in the world.
Get supporters to tell their stories
Part of what we did on the new media staff was to get people’s stories on camera. The field team always had volunteers start by asking “what brought you here?” We got those people to go door to door and tell their stories and say why they supported Obama.
One of the most memorable stories of the campaign was Ashley Baia. (Photo by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.) When Ashley was 9 her mom got cancer and then lost her job after missing too many days due to treatment. Money was tight and Ashley convinced her mom that her favorite food in the world was mustard and relish sandwiches, a meal that didn’t cost very much. She was working for Barack Obama because she wanted to see everyone in America have access to quality, affordable health insurance. Ashley and I worked together during the Pittsburgh Primary and she can tell you a real funny story about my half tattoo if you ask her. Ashley, if you’re reading this in DC, hi there!.
Charles Alexander was 86 years old when I met him. He started volunteering at the Obama campaign office in Boulder soon after his wife of many many years passed away. It was simple work, cutting up flyers and greeting people as they signed in but he came in every day. He won a raffle to meet Barack Obama and when the rest of the office found out about his story, they rushed me over there to get it on camera. Days later it hit 250,000 views on YouTube. Charles’ story was one of struggle and perseverance and he was working on that campaign because he saw Barack Obama get all these kids involved and fighting for those who are struggling like he did.
If you’re a candidate, your life experience has led you to this point where you’re putting yourself out there and asking for their trust and their vote. You need to be able to communicate that story to the masses and empower your supporters to tell their stories to others.
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