News analysis: McCain NH campaign announces “grassroots leadership team participates in campaign briefing”
Jill Hazelbaker, press secretary for Senator McCain’s New Hampshire campaign, sent out the following press release today (titled “McCain Campaign Rallies Supporters”):
Contact: Jill Hazelbaker
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 603-369-4949
MANCHESTER, NH - As the summer season officially kicks off, John McCain’s New Hampshire team held a grassroots briefing at the Arizona Senator’s campaign headquarters in Manchester.
“New Hampshire is, at its core, a grassroots state. The goal of this briefing was to excite supporters on the ground and give them an opportunity to share their ideas with Senator McCain and his campaign staff,” said Mike Dennehy, senior adviser to the campaign.
Over seventy supporters attended the Monday evening briefing and heard first hand from Senator McCain.
The opportunity to campaign in New Hampshire is one of the greatest experiences of my life,” said Senator McCain. “I look forward to getting back as soon as I can to see all of our supporters and win over some new ones.”
The McCain campaign has asked volunteers and supporters to help build on the organization by going door to door, holding phone banks, and participating in other grassroots activities around the state.
Granite Staters interested in getting involved and learning more about the McCain campaign should visit www.JohnMcCain.com or call the New Hampshire headquarters at 603-369-4944.
The Tower’s analysis:
Individual citizens are motivated to participate in campaigns, for a variety of reasons. One of the most common and significant - and a positive indicator of the strength of society - is the very genuine esprit de corps that campaign participation generates, among all whom are involved. From the lowliest volunteer to the busiest field director, campaign staff and volunteers all have the opportunity to cooperate in a cause in which they all collectively believe.
It is important for campaigns to build an emotional tie between the volunteer and the campaign/candidate. The feeling of being part of a team - and as Senator McCain likes to remark - being part of a cause larger than oneself - is a powerful one. To illustrate-
Obviously, it is extremely unlikely - with the notable exception of Florida in 2000 - that the actions of a single volunteer can send history onto an entirely different course. (Florida, of course, is the grand exception that should always motivate volunteers - it is entirely possible that the activities of any particular Bush volunteer made the difference in the 537-vote margin of victory. Conversely, it undoubtedly haunts the memories of equally committed Gore volunteers, that if they had only turned out a few hundred more voters, that he would have prevailed.)
However, while the vast majority of volunteers will never personally affect the outcome of an election, the sense of camaraderie they develop while serving in one, is a very real benefit. And the McCain campaign is wise to conduct this sort of meeting.
To use the military analogy - and campaigns are structured like armies - it is important for the officers (i.e., the staff) to ask the foot soldiers (i.e., the volunteers) for their opinions on how the situation in the trenches is developing. The staff - which is nearly always a skeleton crew which is overworked - cannot possibly have the time to learn what the volunteers are encountering from actual voters in the field.
Moreover, the conduct of this sort of meeting, indicates to the volunteers, that the campaign values their presence and efforts. That sort of gratitude is likely not only to help in the retention of current volunteers, but in the encouragement of them to recruit additional volunteers, in order to increase the size of the army in the field.
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