Memo to Obama on 'House Parties'

Here we are, a year from the earliest Presidential primaries -- of which New Jersey's will now be one -- and the candidates are in a full court press to line up our support -- and our money.

Was invited to one of the Obama campaign's living-room Internet hookup conference calls yesterday (March 31st) and looked forward to it eagerly.

Obama has brought fresh air to the contest for President.

And Hillary is certainly taking him seriously.

But should TBM, and the thirty-five or so people who he was with yesterday afternoon?

These living-room events can be very good, but the devil is in the details.

When TBM responded to the email invitation, he was whisked away to the Obama campaign's servers where he had to create an account. Fine. They captured email address and ZIP code. All well and good.

The response said the program would start at a certain time and last an hour. So TBM banked on it.

Like millions of other suburbanites, Saturday is chore day. Add to that a general crankiness at being pushed to decide on a candidate THIS early, and you know that I was expecting performance as promised.

Didn't happen.

After nearly half an hour of schmoozing, the show finally got under way.

An hour and a quarter later, with no indication of an end in sight, I bailed.

So, for the Obama campaign, here are some observations from a tire-kicker:

• If you make a promise (one hour), keep it. Or don't make it in the first place.
  
  
• Start on time. Or if you can't, let people know what's going on. (Take a cue from Jet Blue.)
  
  
• Put someone in charge, and make sure the local contact people are briefed on what they are to do.
  
  
• Know what you are doing with this event. Are you rallying the troops? Introducing the candidate to a broader public? Soliciting volunteers? Raising money? "If you don't know which road you're taking, any road will get you there."
  
  
• The candidate should...ummm...have another...ummm...tactic for...ummm...gaining 'brain time' for answering a question...than saying...ummm. It is always good to restate the question, both to make sure it is understood and to make sure that everyone has heard it -- and to get a few seconds to frame an answer if you don't have one ready. But...ummm?...ummm doesn't hack it.
  
  
• Short answer? Long answer? There are different schools of thought, but TBM comes from the 'power of threes' school. That is, no more than three points delivered as follows: tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em. Tell 'em. Tell 'em what you told 'em. Move on. Learn from Al Gore 2000: windy wonkishness glazes eyes.
  

TBM wishes the campaign well, but these living-room thingies don't seem to be quite ready for prime time.

Meanwhile, Hillary will be in Jersey Monday, picking up the Governor's endorsement, along with those of some of the county chairs and legislative heavyweights.

You can't win without building grassroots support, but it can't look like a Children's Crusade. Remember McGovern '72.

-- Dan Damon

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