"Iowans will not be the first to vote," Mr. Henry wrote in his memorandum. "Hundreds of thousands of voters will be voting in California, Florida and Texas. We must fund an expensive paid communications and a vote by mail/early vote program in these mega-states.
Indeed it looks like she is doing just that. While tomorrow's big announcement is the endorsement of Mayor Villaraigosa, it is rivaled in significance with the staffing announcement she released a few days ago. She now has a State Director, Political Director, Communications Director, Field Director and Deputy Field Director all in California. They have extensive history working in California, especially down in LA.
Here is my prediction on how she will run her California campaign. It will be a very top down coordinated campaign that relies heavily on voter files to drive in early votes. She has locked up the two highest profile Latinos in the state and will use them as surrogates on her behalf. It is unlikely that she will garner many endorsements from grassroots organizations or labor. This will require her to lean more heavily on the elected officials who have endorsed her. Targeted voters will receive glossy mailers and phone calls. She will likely go up on both radio and do some limited (relatively speaking) television. The grassroots organizing will be limited but still present. They will in short, implement proven methods of turning out the vote in California, with a heavy emphasis on vote rich LA.
This strategy will mean she has hundreds of thousands of votes in the bank before Iowa even votes. Something experts don't seem to quite get yet. |
