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Sun, Dec 02 2012 05:57:06

What I Learned at RootsCamp

2,000 Obama organizers and data nerds held their big election debriefing over the last two days in D.C. I showed up. This is what I learned.

  1. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    From NOI, how you run an Election Day staging location. bit.ly/TzjTvQ
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 20:37:53
  2. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Acronyms for roles in OFA Field: RFD, DFD, SLD, RFO, DFO, NTL, CTM. Of their 4,000 employees, 75% worked in Field. #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 20:31:43
  3. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    .@jeremybird: I would double down on voter reg earlier. States would not buy in enough. Need to hire state voter reg directors. #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:46:12
  4. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    "The win felt better" because we didn't have the wind at our back. 2010 loss shaped us. #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:44:47
  5. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    We were making decisions on stated based on the Analytics team. #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:39:40
  6. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    The partisan gap in field may be even greater than the gap in digital #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:37:01
  7. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    "We are training people who are going to run for office down the road" - Marlon Marshall, on the border states strategy #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:36:21
  8. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    OFA had border states teams responsible for sending people into swing states #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:35:32
  9. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Lots of non-battleground state OfA staff #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:34:30
  10. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Should we track "so and so liked Obama's status?" Answer: Yes! Track it. #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:33:56
  11. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Skepticism from field organizers that calls will go away. Q. How do you track new voter contact in the VAN? #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:33:05
  12. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Diminishing returns on output per organizer #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:30:17
  13. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    We spent more money on field in 2012 than 2008. People were on the ground longer. #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:29:27
  14. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    We were not focused solely on voter contact metrics. That leads to massive phone centers. No. It was turf-based. #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:27:35
  15. cbracy
    Catherine Bracy@cbracy
    .@patrickruffini just got called out by @jeremybird
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:26:06
  16. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Neighborhood Team Leaders and Core Team Members were the backbone of the organization #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:25:23
  17. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Analytics have to be simple and focused just on what matters #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:24:23
  18. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Digital Organizing Director and Field Director will be one and the same #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:22:55
  19. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    At some point in the next 2 cycles we will have a hard time figuring out the structure of a campaign #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:22:28
  20. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Contact rates dropped from 08 to 12 on phones... From 23% to 16%. #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:22:04
  21. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    In 8 years, calling people will be obsolete #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:21:29
  22. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Field directors never believed that it made more sense to text people than call them. Didn't get to full integration. #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:21:14
  23. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    We were late getting technology to the field -@jeremybird #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:20:50
  24. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    Takeaway: There are about 15 different acronyms for people with different roles in the OFA field operation #roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:16:42
  25. PatrickRuffini
    Patrick Ruffini@PatrickRuffini
    "Campaigns are list building exercises"#roots12
    Sat, Dec 01 2012 12:13:44

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Patrick Ruffini

Partner @engagedc / Blogger @TNRight / Campaign junkie / Dad / Data geek / Soccer nut

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