Some Thoughts on Democrats and "Loudness"

Getting Loud – In a new podcast with Joe Trippi, and in a recent Greg Sargent Washington Post article, I return to a big challenge we’ve been talking about for years – the need for Democrats to get louder in an "always on" information landscape. In these media appearances, and in these three essays (here, here, here), I lay out four ways Dems can get louder and hopefully begin to change the current political information landscape, particularly on the economy: 

·      DNC can make it their central job this year to educate the public about how much better things are, using all the tools the national party infrastructure has at its disposal – paid and organic media, in depth issue/language training of party leaders/groups across the country etc.  Brings the Party together, creates a single national goal for all Democrats. 

·      Dem campaigns turn on, start spending money now.  The risk of holding until the fall outweighs the risk of starting to engage now.  Can be low levels of media, but starting campaigns now will excite our supporters, start to draw out the opposition.  Think we just need to put our heads down and start engaging/fighting.  Change the dynamic.  Idea of starting volunteer GOTV phone banks now should be explored, tested.  Dems need to be given something to do, now.  

·      DNC/DSCC/DCCC can start holding a weekly Zoom based national fundraisers for battleground candidates.  Make it festive, celebratory, shoot to raise $1m each week.  Bring in celebrities, make it like a weekly Dem tv show showcasing a single candidate/patriot fighting to save our democracy.  Again, we need to engage our supporters, wake them up, give them something to do. 

·      Finally, we should reimagine the War Room.  The new War Room should be millions of people wired together perhaps to the DNC, amplifying core messages/narratives, making our family louder.  Right is highly networked and amplified.  We can do it in a single core place like the DNC but also campaigns need to start better organizing their supporters to be partners in the daily info war not just donors to the cause.  We have to put our people to work for the good of the country.  

Behind all these ideas is an understanding that the daily information battle is a national one.  Our networks and information flow are not geographically based.  Far more emphasis has to go on winning the daily national conversation, and not believing that localized content – ads, surrogate visits, local media – can overcome underperforming in the daily national back and forth.  Just as Dem volunteers can give money to a campaign and make calls for campaigns outside of where they live, they can also share information across their networks and reach voters outside of where we live.  We need everyone rowing in the boat, together.