What Political Consultants Don’t Want Donors to Know: How to Win Elections with Data-driven Field Operations
Session Type(s): Panel
Starts: Thursday, Jun. 20 1:30 PM (Eastern)
Ends: Thursday, Jun. 20 2:45 PM (Eastern)
While political consultants in Washington rake in hefty paychecks for multi-million dollar ad buys, many elections in 2012 were won not by way of expensive ad buys, but with sophisticated field operations, the most effective of which were largely volunteer-powered. The panelists will discuss how data-driven field campaigns that use research to determine tactics are not only cost-effective, but have a much stronger impact on influencing voters and winning elections. The panelists will discuss the strategies they employed to identify and move the voters who can actually make an impact on the outcome of an election without breaking the bank.
Moderator
Andy Kroll
Andy Kroll is the Dark Money reporter in Mother Jones magazine’s ass-kicking D.C. office. A University of Michigan graduate, he was named “Outstanding Emerging Journalist” of 2012 by the Society of Professional Journalists Nor Cal chapter. In 2013, Mother Jones won an Izzy Award for Independent Media in part for its dark money reporting. During his time at Mother Jones, Andy has contributed to a James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism and a 2012 National Magazine Award nomination for general excellence.
Other sessions: Lessons from the Least Horrible Super PACs of 2012
Panelists
Biko Baker
Rob “Biko” Baker is the Executive Director of the League of Young Voters, and a nationally-recognized leader. Baker is a pioneer in running city-level, data-driven voter turnout campaigns that dramatically increase the voter participation of young urban citizens. A leading voice on field campaigns targeting young African American voters, Baker serves on CIRCLE’s research advisory board and is a board member of the New Organizing Institute. He is a well known communicator around elections, as well as cultural and political issues including gun violence and voting rights. In addition to being a former contributor to The Source, he has appeared on C-SPAN, Fox News and CNN. A popular and powerful speaker at conferences and events, Baker has interviewed luminaries Cornel West, Russell Simmons, and Howard Dean, and has been on panels with many of the nation’s strongest progressive voices. Baker holds a Ph.D in History from UCLA.
Becky Bond
Becky Bond is the president of the CREDO SuperPAC and the political director of CREDO Mobile. Becky has been at the forefront of the online to offline organizing movement since she joined CREDO in 2000, combining innovative technology, rapid response, measurable results, volunteer engagement and a passionate commitment to winning progressive victories. Organizing with CREDO, Becky has grown a community of 3 million activists who take action on issues ranging from defending choice to protecting net neutrality to fighting climate change and ending unjust wars. She also led the 2004 campaign to register one million anti-war citizens as well as the “Hell NO on 23” campaign, CREDO’s victorious 2010 effort to crush Texas oil and save California’s global warming law. Becky serves on the board of the New Organizing Institute.
Other sessions: Weak Democrats vs. Strong Progressives: Lessons from the Social Security Fight, Lessons from the Least Horrible Super PACs of 2012
Ethan Roeder
Ethan is a failed performance artist who works in American politics. Currently the Executive Director of NOI, he ran the Data department for the Obama presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012, pioneering the use of a large-scale data operation to support individualized, relationship-based organizing. His experience also includes local and federal political campaigns as well as pro-labor and gay rights advocacy. Ethan has also done extensive work in Election Administration including managing the Voting Information Project in partnership with Pew and Google in 2009 and 2010.
Other sessions: The Future of Organizing
Regina Schwartz
Regina Schwartz is the Deputy Director at the Analyst Institute. In her four years at the Analyst Institute, she has designed and implemented field experiments as well as conducted hundreds of trainings across the United States on scientifically-proven methods for increasing voter turnout and improving the effectiveness of political communication strategies. Prior to joining the Analyst Institute, Regina worked in the Washington Office of Congresswoman Gillibrand and was a field coordinator for the 2006 NY-20 Congressional election. Regina has experience with many other political organizations, including Rock the Vote, Dean for America, and Hillary Clinton’s Senate Office. Regina earned a BA in Social Studies from Harvard University, where she received Magna Cum Laude for her thesis entitled “Going Negative with America’s Youth: The Role of Negative Messaging in Attitude Formation.”
She was recently named a 2012 Rising Star by Campaigns & Elections magazine.
Other sessions: What the F*** Do We Know? Applying Scientific Research to Elections, Beyond the A/B test: Using Social Science Theory to Get More from Your List