Field Organizing September 26 th, 2009 Paid for by Democracy for America, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Gettysburg, PA

2 Your Blueprint for Victory Contains your campaign’s Goals and the Strategies, Tactics, Timelines, and Benchmarks to achieve them Person to person voter contact Delivers a campaign’s message to targeted voters Tactics: Canvass, phone calls, mail literature drops, etc. Builds a grassroots volunteer base A strong Field Organization can help you gain between 3-5% on election day.

3 What’s Your Win Number? Step 1: Project the turnout: Win Number = (Projected Turnout / 2) + 1 Vote Goal = Projected Turnout x.52 Step 2: Set Your Goals Step 3: Write them down! % Turnout in last similar election(s) Current number of registered voters x Projected Turnout =

4 Targeting Your Resources Why target? Limited People, Money & Time Gets the right message to the right voters 3 Ways to Target Voters Geographically Voter History & Identification Constituencies Research Suggestions Secretary of State County Elections Board Party Voter File NCEC US Census data

Calculate Your Vote Goals Current Registration Turnout % in last similar election Turnout Estimate for current election Win Number = 50% + 1 Vote Goal = 52% Precinct # % Precinct # % Precinct # % Precinct # % Precinct # % Precinct # 6 1,00248% District Totals 3,93644% 5

6 Democratic Performance Index ‘Percentage of the vote an average Dem can expect in an average election’ Based on voting history NOT voter registration How to calculate D.P.I About NCEC Democratic % in similar election # 1 + Democratic % in similar election # 2 + Democratic % in similar election # 3 / 3 = D.P.I. {}

Dem Performance % Est. Dem. Turnout Vote Difference Persuasion % Swing Voters Precinct # 1 69%12% Precinct # 2 21%8% Precinct # 3 36%33% Precinct # 4 43%19% Precinct # 5 38%39% Precinct # 6 48%21% District Totals 43%22%

Final Vote Goal Persuasion Ranking GOTV Ranking Precinct # Precinct # 2 Precinct # 3 Precinct # 4 Precinct # 5 Precinct # 6 District Totals

8 Field Targeting Strategies DEM BASE PRECINCTS - D.P.I. = greater than 65% - Identification, voter registration, volunteer recruitment, GOTV REPUBLICAN BASE PRECINCTS - D.P.I. = less than 35% - Lowest priority, highly targeted contact only SWING PRECINCTS - D.P.I. = between 35% and 65% - Identification, Persuasion & GOTV

9 Targeting with Voter History Voter Contact Priorities A.Undecideds likely to Vote (ID, Persuasion) B.Supporters less likely to vote (ID, GOTV) C.Undecideds less likely to vote (ID, Persuasion, GOTV) D.Supporters likely to vote (Base building) FEE Never Vote (0x4) F C Persuasion #2 B Sometimes Vote (2x4) (0x0) F A Persuasion D Base Always Vote (4x4) Strong Opponent (5) Undecided (2, 3, 4) Strong Supporter (1) Partisanship ID Voting History

10 Look at your candidate and message Meet with community leaders early Build bases of support Seek endorsements Target niche media Targeting with Constituencies

11 Conversations win Elections Phone Calls & Canvassing: Deliver a campaign’s message to targeted voters in a personable way Give the campaign valuable information about the voter’s preferences Allow for a targeted field campaign Yard signs belong in Yards, NOT street corners Voter Preference Targeting

12 Canvassing Know your turf Prepare your canvass Packets Train your volunteers Provide ‘context’ Explain the Canvass Packet Materials Review scripts, responses and coding instructions Role Plays! Sample Canvass Packet Scripts Walksheets Maps Campaign Lit Candidate FAQ Goodie bags (food, water, stickers, etc)

13 Phonebanks Your most versatile voter contact tactic High number of contacts Two way communication Ideal for voter identification, persuasion, & GOTV Drawbacks: Lower impact than canvassing Increasingly difficult to reach voters

14 Yard Signs and Visibility Shows supporters and donors your support base Reminds supporters of their support No more than 1% of budget spent on visibility Drawbacks: Signs don’t vote (just ask Ron Paul) Often overemphasized at expense of more effective tactics