Buttigieg Bets on Friends-and-Family Tactic to Win Iowa Caucuses

[left-of-center2012]

It’s a campaign tactic called “relational organizing,” and those lists, they were told, should include family, friends, work colleagues, and yes, even, ex-husbands. It’s not a new idea but Buttigieg is relying on it to an extent never seen before.

In a historically large field of candidates and a saturated organizing environment, the Buttigieg campaign is betting that tapping into its supporters’ personal networks will be more successful in locking in support from reliable Democratic voters and will help them better reach independents and disaffected Republicans.

“The potential for someone to come into a campaign office and upload their contacts and even bring 20 new people into the mix could really be the ball game,” said Brad Anderson, Barack Obama’s Iowa state director in 2012 who is unaffiliated this cycle. “If you have a giant number of volunteers across the state and they all add 20 people into the fold and in a caucus where 250,000 people turn out, you’re talking about a percentage that could be impacted by the model.”

The campaign declined to provide a specific number of how many Iowans have used their website, but it said thousands in the state have used the tool to engage tens of thousands of others who are part of their personal networks.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-27/buttigieg-bets-on-friends-and-family-tactic-to-win-iowa-caucuses?srnd=premium

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Sounds like a plan! Go for it, Pete!