Yesterday's election showed an important fact about American politics. TV advertising, while it was able to win Mitt Romney the Republican nomination, was not enough to win the presidency. That took people working together with a common goal in mind. The billionaires who funded the Republican candidate could just as well have thrown their money into a blazing fireplace for all the good it did them. Not to say that money is not important in politics, but it was determined individuals, like myself, who gave their time who won the election. Follow me bellow the orange scrambled eggs as I briefly expand on this notion.
This was the first political campaign that I have ever took a more active part than voting in. What got me off my ass and into the ring? I can honestly say that it is more for avoiding what might have been than how I thought working to reelect the president would benefit me. But what I have learned from the experience is that, in the motto of my favorite baseball team, together we are giant.
The reason that Barack Obama won a second term is the work that was done on the ground by volunteers. During the campaign I worked my cell phone and over the course of the campaign talked to voters in my own state along with voters from Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Together with thousands of others who also made calls, knocked on doors, and gave voters rides we were able to make a difference, winning all of the swing states.
The lesson of this election can be summed up in misquoting James Carville, "It's the ground game, stupid". It was by talking to voters, over the phone and in person that we were able to overcome the titanic amount of money the other side spent on advertising. It was conversations with voters, like one I remember talking to a student in Colorado about what Mr. Obama had done in removing banks and making student loans more affordable, that I think won the election.
In the future politicians would be wise to understand that advertising is only so effective. It is people connecting with each other that is what wins elections. And yes, I am probably just coming down off the high of being involved in a successful political campaign, but I do think there is a lesson here to be learned from what happened yesterday.