Draft Gore 2008 PAC

A. Background

In 2000, then Vice President Al Gore ran against Texas Governor George Bush for the position of President of the United States. Although the race was exceedingly close, coming down to the votes in one single state, Florida, Bush eventually prevailed with the aid of the US Supreme Court in a landmark, 5-4 decision, forever known as Gore v. Bush.
Gore, despite his loss, had achieved the highest total popular vote of any Democratic candidate, and surpassed Bush by over 500,000 votes. No other candidate for the Democratic nomination in 2008 can lay stake to that claim.
Since that time, the United States populace has been the victim of a terrorist attack, has seen the Executive Branch, with the complicity of Congress, takes us into an unprovoked and now unpopular war, and learned the President usurped unprecedented power, included the ability to spy on American citizens, including political opponents, and detain foreign nationals, without trial, indefinitely. In addition, corporations have seen their profits grow as regulations protecting the environment and consumers are endlessly scaled back, lobbyists openly bribe Congressmen on the floor of the House of Representatives, and Presidential aides are indicted under suspicion of outing covert CIA
agents as political retribution.
The political landscape has changed over the last six years. Due to public sentiment turning against the Iraq War, as well as the never ending “culture of corruption” which has become part and parcel of the ruling Republican Party. Democrats are set to potentially win control of at least one, if not both, houses of Congress this November (2006) and DNC Chairman Howard Dean’s “50 State Strategy” may allow for Democratic gains on a state and local level for years to come.

B. Overview
The overriding goal of DG08PAC is to obtain a simple majority (2157) of pledged and unpledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in order to nominate Al Gore, Jr. as the Democratic nominee for President.
DG08PAC will:
1) Establish member committees in thirty states in which Al Gore won a majority of the votes in 2000, or in which Gov. Bush obtained less than 51.9% in the same election. With guidance from DG08 staff, these volunteer committees will be responsible for designing voter identification and contact programs for each of their states.
2) Create and maintain an
online venue for Al Gore supporters to find established reoccurring “meetups” or unique, non-reoccurring events, such as house parties and surrogate events. Members will also able to create their own campaign events and invite and attract participants through this venue.
3) Establish advisory committees for core DG08PAC functions, including technology,
fundraising, field, communications, volunteer coordination and web activities. New committees and subcommittees will develop as the organization grows and need arises. Every campaign member/volunteer who has achieved “trusted” status will be invited to participate in an advisory committee.
4) Hire and train field staff, specifically fifteen permanent “Tier One” field directors, five
“floating” field directors, and between 20 and 30 field coordinators. This field staff will work with local grassroots organizations in the thirty states.
5) Hire and train on-line coordinators, who will help establish and sustain the web presence of the state committees as well as advocate for the organization and Al Gore in various online venues. These coordinators will work closely with field staff in the thirty targeted states.
6) Design and implement an extensive voter identification and contact/persuasion program in the thirty targeted states.
7) Design and implement an outreach program for traditionally undervalued groups, including Latinos, younger voters (under 45), environmental voters, etc.
8) While top tier states will have permanent field staffs, the fifteen second and third tier
states will be staffed by “floating” teams; highly mobile and flexible, these small groups will utilize mobile satellite technology, for internet and telephony access, and portable field “offices”, so as to defray costs and reach larger and more remote audiences.
9) Plan and implement a detailed and effective GOVT program for each tier state.
10) Obtaining delegates at primary and caucus venues are preferred, but we will also solicit the support of delegates pledged to candidates who have ended their
campaigns for the Democratic nomination.
C. Rationale
1. Nominating Calendar
Traditionally, candidates seeking the Democratic nomination approach the nominating calendar from the position of winning early and big, and tying up the nomination by the first week in March. This kind of strategy places inordinate emphasis on those states lucky enough to score early berths in the process, regardless of the overall political character of the state. In 2008, this means that of the first four contests, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina, only New Hampshire saw the Democratic candidate in 2004, John Kerry, obtain the majority of the popular vote in those states.
By the first of March, 2004, Senator Kerry was the de facto Democratic nominee, yet only seventeen Democratic primary or caucus contests had taken place. Of those, only seven gave their electoral votes to John Kerry in November, 2004.

While this strategy may benefit the candidate who has the most momentum (and generally, money,) there is no evidence that it benefits those the nominee is chosen to represent – Democratic voters. The number of Democratic voters within these four states is a small fraction of the total Democratic voters in the US. And while there are some who chose to blame those early states, the real villains are those who view a victory in the majority of those contests to be a coronation of a nominee, a full seven months before the Democratic National Convention.
We have decided to approach the nominating calendar differently:
1. Democratic voters are the heart and soul of the Democratic Party, we know that, and more importanly, they know that too. The early contests in small states are critical to keeping our Party's nomination process open, but the overwhelming majority of Democratic caucus and primary voters know they are disenfranchised by campaigns organized around an early win-lose decision.
We think the overwhelming majority of Democratic caucus and primary voters will value a campaign that values them, and we think that knowing that we expect them to caucus and vote meaningfully, they will caucus and vote for us. We're going to feed the bears, not ignore them.
2. While passive participation is still the norm for most Democrats online, a million
Democrats and Democratic leaners seek to actively engage in the political process on-line, and look to the Net as the having the best potential for successful political organizing, particularly around national issues. These are the early-adopters of messages, process and
practice, who are driven to be active in face-to-face retail party and issue politics.
3. Latinos, Indians, and Arab Americans are marginally engaged by the Democratic Party. We will make significant outreach to these groups and message on language and status coded racism, looting of trust funds and degredation of tribal governments, and national security state abuses.
Urban African Americans are only partly engaged by the Democractic Party, and completely ignored by non-Party environmental issue advocacy groups. We will make significant outreach to urban African Americans and message on environmental
racism, the causes of childhood lead poisioning, pervasive asthma and respiritory diseases.
2. Begin organizing online first, locally second.
While state and local campaigns generally benefit from known activist entities gather around the proverbial “kitchen table”, such is not practical when approaching a traditional national campaign, let alone a non-traditional “draft” campaign. However, the development of “community-building” content management systems (CMS) such as Drupal, Scoop, Joombla, along with turn-key organizing operations such as CiviSpace, have created tremendous opportunities for organizing over great distances.
The number of Progressive activists online has ballooned in the past decade, particularly since 2004. Many left-leaning blogs and websites now attract thousands, if not millions,
of readers in any given week. While passive participation is still the norm for most Americans online, a growing number seek to actively engage in the political process, and look to the Net having true potential for successful political organizing, particularly around national issues.
D. Focus
The campaign will focus on a “viral” strategy of personal contact with as many potential voters and caucus attendees as possible. This will be accomplished via a “distributed campaign” model. The targeted demographic groups are prioritized thusly:
1. Caucus and primary voters in Tier One States
Tier One States are a segment of the states Gore either won in 2000, or which had small margins for Bush and are currently trending more Democratic. There are fifteen of these states, and various determining factors have placed them in this group, including placement in the nominating calendar (Iowa, New Hampshire), significant minority populations (Arizona, Colorado, DC, Maryland), history of environmental and progressive advocacy (Washington, Oregon, Minnesota), electoral justice (Florida) and large Democratic populations (California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan).
2. Caucus and primary voters in Tier Two and Tier Three States
Tier Two and Three States also saw Gore obtain popular vote majorities or small deficits and are trending Democratic. These states, however, have mitigating factors, such as being the home state of other potential Democratic candidates (New Mexico, Arkansas,
Wisconsin, Connecticut, Delaware), complicated local politics (New Jersey, Nevada, Missouri), anti-environmental histories (Ohio, Pennsylvania), are home to Al Gore (Tennessee), or are small and/or remote (Maine, Hawaii, Rhode Island.)

3. Progressive Voters in Non-Targeted States
In the twenty-one states not targeted as Tier States there remain large groups of Progressive voters who will view Al Gore as the most Progressive candidate due to his position on the global warming, Iraq War, single-payer healthcare, etc.
4. Environmental voters
Catastrophic climate change is a core issue for many Americans, and only Al Gore has addressed this issue over the past 30 years.
5. Non-voters under age 45
Sixty percent of Americans under the age of 45 do not vote in general elections: even fewer participate in primaries and caucuses. Al Gore has actively reached out to this younger population through his sponsorship of Current TV, marketing An Inconvenient Truth on MySpace, and his work with Apple and Google (both viewed as somewhat
cutting edge by younger generations.)
6. Underrepresented minorities in Tier States
Latinos, American Indians, Asian and Arab Americans are seeing their numbers increase, but are still often overlooked as political entities, though they have much to offer. An organization which specifically reaches out to these groups and appreciates their
contribution will more likely be viewed favorably by members of that group
E. Targeting
1. Identification process
Within the Tier One, Two and Three States, we will need to identify precincts that had the largest margin of votes for top ticket Democratic candidates in the last two elections. The list will be prioritized and research will be conducted to identify the demographics of those precincts. For each of the target precincts we will solicit a DG08 precinct captain and establish a cooperative committee. We will recruit volunteers to collaborate together on the committee in order to maximize the viral effect. We want neighbors persuading neighbors, colleagues persuading colleagues and most of all, we want this to be a grassroots effort where change happens “at home.”
For the remaining non-target precincts, we will recruit key activists, on the ground and among the netroots. These activists can assist us with the viral networking we will need to break barriers and spread DG08’s message. We will refer these activists to our active local committees (referenced above) for volunteer opportunities and field collaboration.
2. Determining eligible voters
Each one of the thirty Tier One, Two and Three states have different criteria used to determine who may participate in the Democratic nominating process. Before targeting specific voters, it will be necessary to determine the type of contest (Caucus or Primary),
participant requirements (open, semi-closed or closed) and timeframes for eligibility (same-day registration or earlier deadlines.)
F. Field and Online Operations
Organizing support amongst the grassroots and netroots is an integral part of DG08’s strategy for victory. There are important factors which make this race competitive for Al Gore:
1. Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000. Many Democrats and Independents (who can vote in many states)
2. National political climate is in our favor. Conservatives and Republicans currently control all branches of the federal government. The approval rating for President Bush and Congressional leadership is at historic lows (second only to President Nixon). Voters are associating the deficit, the war in Iraq and the energy crisis with the Republican Party.
3. Al Gore is a candidate who can unify behind Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents. Al Gore is well respected and well liked among Democrats and key Democratic-leaning constituencies, including civil liberties and rights organizations,
environmental voters, and Labor.
These factors make this race competitive and prime for a strong grassroots field program. The field plan is centered on one-on-one voter contact.
Since there is now almost eighteen months until the first contests in the Democratic nomination process begin, the field campaign will develop most productively if broken into phases, though some phases will overlap and run concurrently.
Phase One: Formation of Tier State organizing committees (the “Sourdough Project”) and “core function” committees (Mid-August, 2006 – April, 2007)
• Advisory committees for “core functions” will start to form in mid-August, 2006, beginning with campaign planning and fundraising. Each committee will consist of a
maximum of ten members. After the maximum membership is reached, new member may only be added if a committee member leaves. The committees, along with staff from that function area, will be provided website “meeting” area, along with web- and tele-conference capability. Committees will work with staff to further develop and implement the functions and events specific to their designated area, setting benchmarks and assessing operations when necessary.
• Beginning in September, 2006, Tier State committees will be rolled out weekly, beginning with Iowa, and, following the predicted nominating calendar, ending with
California thirty weeks later.
• Tier State committees will consist of 8-12 members, all but two from the targeted state. The remaining two will be from states whose roll-out date is at least one
month down the line. The first four committees will have assistance from paid field staff.
• The committees will obtain and analyze state voter data, and develop a plan for voter
identification and contact. They will also determine how content will be managed on the local website, how volunteers will be recruited and appropriately trained, utilized and valued, and other issues specific to their state demographics.
• Once major benchmarks are met, the committees will be trained in the development and maintenance of a state-specific Drupal-based website, independent of, though
closely integrated with, the national DraftGore2008.org website.
• When training is complete, all but the two non-state-resident committee members will assume control of the state website. The two non-state-residents will join their own state committees as trained “guides” once those state committees are rolled out.
Phase Two: Field Staff Recruitment and Training (October, 2006 – May, 2007)
• DG08PAC will hire a team of field organizers who are skilled activists with grassroots
experience in diverse communities.
• We will bring those organizers together with other staff and key volunteers for training
sessions where they can learn from each other the best practices for getting organized to turn out Al Gore supporters in primaries and caucuses.
• Armed with the knowledge they've shared with each other, the field organizers will return to the targets states and recruit and train organizers at the local level. In
October – early November, 2006, some of these state field organizers will be sent to assist in Congressional races in targeted Tier states.
• Those local organizers and community activists will recruit more activists and volunteers until every single precinct in their area has a trained, effective organization of activists dedicated to winning delegates for Al Gore at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Phase Three: House parties and Meetups (November, 2006 – May, 2007.)
• Beginning in November, 2006, Draft Gore members will be able to organize locally, through “meetups” and house parties.
• Through the national website (http://meet.draftgore2008.org), members will be find tools for planning and executing house parties and meetups, invite and RSVP functions, and search capability via zipcode to locate established events in their area.
• By May, 2007, Draft Gore 2008 meetups will be established in targeted areas of all Tier States, as well as in high-Democratic performing areas in non-Tier States. Meetups are run by volunteers and will generally be a reoccurring event, used for discussion and face-to-face planning, while house parties will be a one-time event, often with state or national theming, usually with specific fundraising goals on top of planning, voter
persuasion and visibility.
Phase Four: Canvassing Program and Summer Visibility Program (June – September, 2007.)
• Beginning in June, 2007, door-to-door and phone canvases will start in June and run through the summer.
• Based upon information gathered and subsequent planning by the original state committees, voter identification and contact programs will be executed in high-performance Democratic precincts in Tier States.
Phase Five: Meetups and house parties resume and cleanup of the Primary and Caucus Attendee Database (PCAD) (October – December, 2007).
• In the fall leadup to the first caucuses and primaries, DG08 will focus on local organizing, with meetups and house parties focusing their energy on training
participants on caucus procedures, GOTV strategies, etc. In addition, an extensive phone bank effort will attempt to reach the potential caucus and primary voters missed during the Summer Canvass.
Phase Six: GOTV Execution (January – June, 2008.)
• In the last few weeks of before each Tier State primary or caucus, we will refocus on Democrats in high performing areas. We will work on persuading undecided voters
and firming up support from leaning voters. The last phase of the campaign will be getting Gore supporters to the polls or precinct caucuses. Our GOTV strategy will be finalized by the end of the summer, 2007.
• An aggressive yard sign and visibility campaign will be conducted in targeted precincts.