Memo

To:

George and Jonathan Soros, Peter and Jonathan Lewis, Herb and Marion Sandler,
Steve Bing, John Sperling, Michael Vachon

From: John Podesta (writing as a private citizen)

cc:

Anna Burger, Rob McKay and Tom Matzzie

Date: October 30, 2007

RE:

2008 COMBINED FUNDRAISING, MESSAGING AND MOBILIZATION PLAN

This memo serves as the follow-up to our September meeting in New York. Coming out of this
meeting, I was charged with putting together a more detailed and structured overview of what the
combined messaging and voter mobilization elements of an independent expenditure would like
in 2008.
Since then, I have met closely with Anna Burger, Rob McKay, Tom Matzzie, Susan McCue,
Martin Frost, Stan Greenberg, Paul Begala and others to discuss these questions and flesh out a
concrete plan for action in 2008. Tom Matzzie has produced a comprehensive campaign plan
and institutional framework for the messaging effort and this memo will draw upon many of his
ideas. This planning is on top of the existing work already under way by the America VotesCatalist-Atlas network on the mobilization side.
I am confident that collectively we have produced a viable and successful model for achieving
victory in 2008 (and beyond) built on transparency and full accountability for everyone involved.
To win in 2008 we will need to mount two large campaigns. The first will use national, state and
local media to define the issues and narratives that will ultimately shape the electiona
progressive Messaging Campaign. The second will be a voter contact and mobilization effort
in targeted states to move swing voters and mobilize progressive votersa progressive
Mobilization Campaign. A successful joint strategy must be developed and executed to
connect the messaging component to the ground game.
We suggest that you keep in mind the following strategic goals as we try to develop a framework
for electoral activity in 2008:

Create the conditions for a tidal wave against the GOP. The stakes of the election
need to fit the historical moment. The country is massively off track. Nothing will
change until Bush and his supporters are out and new leaders are inleaders who will be
willing and able to do what is necessary for the country. A likely downturn in the
economy, the protracted war in Iraq, rising inequality and Republican resistance to
change can help set the stage for widespread gains up and down the ballot in 2008. This

2008 Combined Fundraising, Messaging and Mobilization Plan

must again be a nationalized election in terms of scope and message.

Keep the Presidents numbers down and brand all conservative candidates as Bush
Republicans. Bushs lame duck status cannot be allowed to create space for the
Republicans to claim the mantle of change or conservative principle. The Republican
presidential candidate will attempt to be the true heir of Ronald Reagan and may try to
position himself as an agent for change, Sarkozy-style. We must continually remind
voters that the nominee and all the rest of the Republican candidates are the residual
forces of the failed Bush years.

Exploit the particular weaknesses of the Republican presidential nominee. Beyond

tying the candidate to Bush, we must not be shy about reminding voters of the personal
faults and character limitations of the Republican Party leader. The current crop of
candidates is relatively unknown to Americans and will be ripe for definition through
serious opposition research and media work. This will not happen organically. It will
require sustained pressure and a willingness to play politics by their rules.

Ensure that demographics is destiny. An emerging progressive majority is a

realistic possibility in terms of demographic and voting patterns. But it is incomplete in
terms of organizing and political work. Women, communities of color, and highly
educated professionals are core parts of the progressive coalition. Nationally, and in key
battleground states, their influence is growing. Latinos and young voters are quickly
solidifying in this coalition as well. But many of these voters are new to the process. All
of these groupsin addition to working class voters and independents picked up in 2006
will require significant long-term engagement in order to keep them reliably on our
side.

Control the political discourse. So much effort over the past few years has been
focused on better coordinating, strengthening, and developing progressive institutions
and leaders. Now that this enhanced infrastructure is in placegrassroots organizing;
multi-issue advocacy groups; think tanks; youth outreach; faith communities; microtargeting outfits; the netroots and blogospherewe need to better utilize these networks
to drive the content of politics through a strong echo chamber and message delivery
system.

Set the stage for future progressive actions. All of this electoral activity will be for
naught if we do not simultaneously advance a larger vision for why progressive change is
necessary and how specific progressive legislation will achieve these goals. Should
progressives win in 2008, the next president and Congress will face serious challenges in
both cleaning up the mess of the Bush years and moving significant reforms in health
care, energy, foreign policy and Iraq, poverty and mobility.

Leave something behind. We should think of investments in 2008 as building blocks

for ongoing strategic campaigns and issue work in 2009 and beyond. Simply getting
progressives elected will not be enough to maintain the political pressure and support
necessary to pass progressive legislation and build a long-term, working majority.
2

2008 Combined Fundraising, Messaging and Mobilization Plan

Given the existing work on the voter mobilization side, primarily through the enhanced
American Votes-Catalist-Atlas network and ongoing union efforts, most of our discussion in the
New York meeting centered on the messaging side. The primary questions raised were: What is
the scope of the messaging campaign? and Who is going to run it?
In this memo, I want to focus in greater detail on the messaging campaign, describe the
mobilization effort again, and provide an overview of the governance and linkage between both
efforts plus the joint fundraising through a new 527.
The Messaging Campaign
The strategic mission of the Messaging Campaign (yet to be named) is simple: To define the
Republican presidential nominee around issues and character traits, and deny the Republican
Party the opportunity to present itself and its candidates as agents of change.
This effort is envisioned as a full-scale, independent, progressive campaign designed to do the
following:
1. Execute a communications plan to define the Republican brand and candidates before
they define ours. Undermine the Republican campaign plan and their attacks on
Democratic candidates.
2. Boldly define the Republican nominee as soon as he emerges from the primaries in a way
that will get the attention of the media and impact the whole tone of the 2008 race.
Undermine his perceived strengths and exploit his weaknesses.
3. Put the Republican presidential candidate, his attackers and his surrogates on the
defensive in key states. Implement and localize the opposition campaign in the
battleground states that John Kerry lost in 2004especially Colorado, Nevada, New
Mexico, Arizona, Iowa, Missouri, Virginia, Ohio and Florida.
4. Keep Bush relevant and his job approval low. Brand opponents as Bush Republicans.
5. Set the issue framework for the upcoming election on our termsIraq, health care,
energy/global warming, and declining economic opportunity for the middle class.
Aggressively challenge Republican attacks on taxes, government and terrorism.
6. Advance a progressive worldviewfreedom with economic security, the common good,
investment in national priorities, the positive role of government in improving peoples
lives, cooperative national securityand defend against conservative attempts to devalue
this worldview. Highlight the failures of a conservative agenda.
7. Create a robust echo chamber with progressive messaging that spans from the opposition
campaigns to outside groups, academic experts, and bloggers.
8. Develop a communications nerve center that can serve as the strategic core for ongoing
issue campaigns and political battles in 2009 and beyond.
9. Connect communications and messaging directly to mobilization efforts on the ground.
3

2008 Combined Fundraising, Messaging and Mobilization Plan

As envisioned, we would mount a sophisticated independent effort that is the equivalent of a
national campaign. The Messaging Campaign would employ a diverse set of tactics including:

Assembling a strategic team of political and communications professionals

representing the best talent in politics today including veterans and rising stars.

Developing a Media Nerve Center to align messaging across TV, radio, print, Internet,
single-issue and advocacy organizations, progressive media, surrogates and new media.
This Media Nerve Center would be connected to the Mobilization Campaign and
eventually become a part of the permanent progressive infrastructure to last beyond the
2008 election.

Starting and funding surrogate campaignsincluding advertisingto deliver the

message. An example of this is the work to build VoteVets.org since the summer of 2006.
Surrogates will be developed or strengthened on health care, energy and the economy.

Conducting extensive public opinion research and media testing. We will use new
methodologies for testing advertising and tracking results. These methodologies
including web-testshave been developed since 2004 and significantly increase and
extend the value of the advertising.

Investing in candidate research, tracking and targeted research on key issue areas for
2008.

Mounting media accountability campaigns. There is no doubt that in two successive

elections the media has substantially hurt our candidates. Whether covering fabricated
stories, or publishing invented quotes we need to aggressively fight this behavior in 2008.

We are not planning to recreate existing issue advocacy or media accountability efforts (e.g.
energy work by LCV or media monitoring by Media Matters) and will work closely with these
efforts within legal boundaries.
This all adds up to the model for a modern campaignand the process of integrating and
coordinating all of it will require a team of modern campaigners who know how all these pieces
work together.
The Mobilization Campaign
The strategic mission of the Mobilization Campaign is as follows: To fund and execute stateby-state plans to increase the number of progressive voters, deliver coordinated and targeted
messaging to key demographic groups, and ultimately turn out record numbers of voters to
deliver progressive victories up-and-down the ballot.
In order to achieve victory in 2008, and set the stage for issue gains in 2009 and beyond, the
Mobilization Campaign will make the best use of existing strengths in voter contact and
mobilization and continue to develop innovative techniques in organizing, campaigning, and
message delivery. Primary strategic goals include:

2008 Combined Fundraising, Messaging and Mobilization Plan

1. Expand support among base voters including women, professionals, African Americans,
union households, less religiously observant voters and those in the Northeast and upper
Midwest and West.
2. Solidify groups that are trending Democratic including Millenial and Gen Y voters and
Independents. Undertake aggressive, strategic Latino voter registration and contact.
3. Expand the battleground states to include, at minimum, Virginia and Colorado.
4. Build on progressive assets and increase campaign innovation and experimentation. In
particular take advantage of the lessons learned through the DNC large precinct leader
development program, advances in micro-targeting and online organizing and netroots
activism.
5. Deliver coordinated progressive messages to state voters and more narrowly targeted
messages to important constituencies.
The primary vehicle for this work will be the America Votes-Catalist-Atlas network:

America Votes is the umbrella organization playing the coordinating role for roughly 40
national organizations and 260 state/local organizations focused on voter registration,
contact, persuasion and mobilization. Most of those groups are building community
based or membership based structures to avoid the ACT pitfalls. The organization is
looking to be active in 15 states in 2008 (AZ, CO, FL, IA, MI, MN, NH, NM, NV, OH,
PA, VA, WI, WV, with one more to be determined)..

Catalist is building a robust voter file to drive the micro-targeting and mobilization
efforts in these states.

And The Atlas Project has collected and is analyzing data in15 states for the purpose of
developing detailed state voter contact plans for both the party and outside organizations,
work that will be completed for legal reasons in two phasesby November 15th for
outside organizations and 120 days later for party committees.

Combined, this network will be the core of the Mobilization Campaign. The America Votes
partners will determine which organizations will lead components of the mobilization plans,
developed with the Catalist data and the Atlas strategic planning, on a state-by-state basis. The
most substantial funding needs will be for the America Votes groups operating on the ground to
carry out these individual state voter contact plans.
The newly created 527 (described below) will provide the funds for these state mobilization
plans and will move resources as needed. The resources raised by the 527 will be redistributed
through the states to existing organizations doing to work to accomplish an effective ground
game and also target and identify weaknesses early working with other groups to fill in the gaps.

2008 Combined Fundraising, Messaging and Mobilization Plan

Governance and Structure
The overall effort is divided into three independent but overlapping parts: a combined
fundraising and fund allocation component through a newly created 527; a messaging and state
planning component through an existing 501(c)(4) organization; and a voter mobilization
component primarily operated through America Votes and its affiliate organizations. (Please see
the Appendix for a schematic of the organizational structure.)
Each of these components will have direct linkages to one another to ensure coordination. The
Fundraising, Messaging and Mobilization campaigns will work cooperatively to integrate
message, media, and state voter contact efforts and to determine the necessary resources for each.
This structure is designed to maximize accountability for donors by creating centralized
governance structures within each component and then creating checks and balances across each
of the elements through overlapping but not identical or controlled boards.
The 527
The joint financing for the overall campaign will be handled through a newly created 527, still to
be named. Anna Burger and Rob McKay will oversee the 527 and there will be representative
board members on the 527 from both the messaging and mobilization components. Christine
Varney, who is doing the legal work to set up this 527 is preparing a brief overview of this effort
which we will forward to you upon receipt.
The 527 will be controlled by a board of directors assisted by an outside advisory board to help
guide fundraising and resource allocation decisions. At the outset, the 527 is expected to allocate
funds equally between the messaging and mobilization components. As the campaign gets going
and operational flexibility becomes more important, the 527 board will work with the boards of
both the (c)(4) and America Votes to determine resource needs. The 527 board is ultimately
responsible for managing all decisions about fund disbursements.

The 527 will be run by an Executive Director with a Fundraising Director and other staff
below this person. Anna and Rob are actively recruiting senior level people with political
fundraising and organizational experience to serve as ED for the 527.

The ED will be responsible for hiring established finance professionals to run a 12-month
fundraising effort. This effort will focus primarily on the list of donors to 527s and 501(c)
(3) and (c)(4) organizations from the 2004 and 2006 elections plus key donors to major
candidates.

The Messaging Campaign

The messaging component will be set-up through an existing 501(c)(4), currently named The
Campaign to Defend America. This name will be changed when appropriate.

2008 Combined Fundraising, Messaging and Mobilization Plan

A (c)(4) board, with overlapping but not identical members from the other boards, will control
the messaging component. Assuming resolution of some outstanding legal questions, I am
prepared to serve as Chairman of the Board for the (c)(4) so long as I can continue to lead
CAP/Action Fund.
The messaging effort itself will be led by a President with full executive authority along with an
executive team of three key individuals described below.

Susan McCue, Senator Reids former chief of staff, has recently left her role with the One
Campaign and is prepared to serve as the President of this effort.

A Campaign Manager and Executive Director of Message and Media will ultimately be
responsible for the implementation of the media strategies of the campaign working with
the larger team of political, field, and communications professionals. Tom Matzzie is
prepared to serve in this role and has already done extensive work to determine how this
effort will work. Paul Begala is also prepared to play a senior role helping to guide this
effort.

An Executive Director of Voter Mobilization will also be hired to provide oversight and
management of the state mobilization plans and to link the messaging and media work to
the ground campaigns. We envision this individual (along with a small core staff) driving
the completion of the Atlas-based state plans, working with the America Votes tables to
ensure discipline and accountability for messaging and voter mobilization and linking the
efforts of the overall campaign.
This Executive Director has not yet been named. In a preferred model, the Atlas Project
organization would move over their staff and consultants to fill many of these roles.
This creates an infrastructure of continuity because these are the same people who have
the institutional knowledge in these states and are the writers of the Atlas state plans.

A Deputy Director for Administration, Legal, and Compliance will also be hired to assist
the President and the (c)(4) board in what will surely be a complex administrative
function including the legal, accounting and compliance and personnel areas.

The Mobilization Campaign

As noted earlier, the voter mobilization effort itself will consist primarily of the existing America
Votes table and leadership, its board, and outside advisors. The core of the mobilization
campaign will be the state-by-state efforts on voter contact and mobilization by the member
groups of the America Votes table.
The Atlas project state-by-state plans, managed under the Executive Director of Voter
Mobilization within the Messaging Campaign, will also be a key component of overall
mobilization strategy and will closely linked with the America Votes state tables.

2008 Combined Fundraising, Messaging and Mobilization Plan

Martin Frost, currently the President of America Votes, will be the head of the mobilization
effort. The structure and governance of America Votes is already in place and operational.
Budget and Fundraising for the Joint Campaign
We estimate the combined budget for messaging and mobilization to be $200 million, roughly
split between the two components (with fundraising overhead included).
The overall cost of the messaging component is entirely contingent upon the states chosen and
the scope of paid media. The core operations of the Messaging Campaign will cost
approximately $15 million. Paid media across a full spectrum of battleground states (AZ, CO,
FL, IA, MO, NV, NM, OH, and VA) plus key Senate races, national media, and Spanishlanguage programming is expandable but should be budgeted in the range of $90 to $100
million.
Importantly, the strategy for the Messaging Campaign requires early moneyto create a brand
for the Republican nominee before they can brand themselves. At least half of the budget will be
needed before March 31st.
The rest of the budget would be reserved primarily for the America Votes groups within the
states to carry out voter contact and mobilization efforts in up to 15 key battleground states.
****
I deeply appreciate your leadership and generosity in focusing on the historic opportunities we
have for progressive gains in 2008. Weve learned much from past successes and failures, and I
feel confident that with the team and plan we are developing, victory in 2008 can be achieved
and important new infrastructure can be created to build on these gains going forward.
I look forward to talking with each of you individually and as a group to discuss this effort.

2008 Combined Fundraising, Messaging and Mobilization Plan

APPENDIX:
Organizational Diagram of Combined Campaign

JOINT FUNDRAISING 527

MESSAGING CAMPAIGN

AMERICA VOTES

527 Board of Directors

501 (c)(4) Board of Directors

America Votes Board

Executive Director

President
President

Fundraising Director

State Tables

Deputy Director
for
Administration,
Legal and
Compliance

Campaign
Manager,
Executive Director
of Message and
Media

Executive
Director of Voter
Mobilization