RK ARCHIVE - The Webb Campaign: Before the History Gets Set in Stone

Starting with, as Jim Webb likes to say, "zero dollars and zero staff," the Webb campaign - assisted by the 1,000 online signatures and $40,000 in pledges gathered during January and early February by the netroots "Draft James Webb" movement - proceeded to win a tough primary election, despite being outspent 3:1, and then a general election against an entrenched incumbent who was already looking past 2006 towards his planned run for the White House in 2008.

With all due respect to those who believe this was all a result of George Allen imploding, I would argue strongly that the Webb campaign has been greatly underestimated and not given nearly as much credit as it deserves. Let me explain, before the "Allen imploding" version of history gets totally set in stone by the media.

Let's start with money, since that's what most political analysts and pundits seem to care about. As of October 18, the Webb campaign had raised $6,087,052. As of that same date, George Allen had raised $13,827,747, twice as much as Webb. This 2:1 ratio sounds bad on the surface (although it is far better than the 3:1 or 4:1 that Chuck Robb was outspent by Allen in 2000) is highly misleading. According to the Washington Post:

In other words, at the start of the general election campaign, Jim Webb trailed George Allen in cash-on-hand by a seemingly insurmountable $6.2 million (a 16:1 ratio). Yet, in the end, Jim Webb was not only financially competitive with George Allen, but in the concluding weeks of the campaign, actually was able to OUTSPEND an Allen campaign that was running on fumes. How did this happen?

Certainly the "macaca" incident helped to fuel a surge in Webb fundraising during the third quarter, when the campaign raked in an impressive $3.5 million. However, to attribute this influx of cash solely to "macaca," as if the Webb campaign just had to sit back and do nothing as the money rolled in, is a huge mistake. In fact, the Webb campaign had an aggressive program to raise money both online (between 50% and 60% of all Webb fundraising came over the internet, including nearly $900,000 on ActBlue alone) as well as offline (with fundraisers by Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Mark Warner, John Edwards, John Grisham, Stephen King, and many others). In addition, Jim Webb spent countless hours doing what he has admitted he hates to do - calling people and asking them for money.

In addtion - and this is a point I can't recall being made by the media - "macaca" and other Allen gaffes most likely never would have happened at all if Allen hadn't been placed under pressure by his "worst nightmare," Jim Webb. As most of us know from sports or chess or whatever, your opponents are most likely to make mistakes when you put pressure on them. And that's exactly what the Webb campaign did to George Allen, flushing him out of Iowa, where he wished he had been born, and forcing him to campaign hard in Virginia. My argument is that without a strong challenge from a Jim Webb or a Mark Warner, George Allen never even would have been in The Breaks, where he made his "macaca" gaffe, at all. Instead, he would have been in Des Moines or Concord, running fluffy TV ads, and maybe popping into Virginia occasionally for a "hoedown" or some other event with a friendly crowd.

Aside from money and gaffes, it is also important to point out a few other things the Webb campaign did quite well.

1) It put out a tremendous amount of information about George Allen, letting reporters and ordinary Virginians alike know who the "real" George Allen was, as opposed to the genial cowboy image of George Allen that he had nurtured for years.

2) After an admittedly rocky start, the Webb campaign got its field program together with a vengeance, organizing 18,000 talented and enthusiastic volunteers, managing successful events all over the Commonwealth, and working hard - and successfully, for the most part - to reach out to groups and individuals that might not have been enamored with the Webb campaign during the primary.

3) Unlike the overpriced and overrated Allen campaign staff (Dick Wadhams and the rest of the supposed "A Team"), the Webb campaign did a great job in its relations with the media, garnering generally excellent press - and editorial endorsements - from across the "mainstream media." Sure, there were exceptions to this rule, but all in all, I wouldn't trade the press Jim Webb got with the press George Allen got any day of the week.

4) Jim Webb himself improved steadily as a campaigner, after an admittedly rough-around-the-edges start. By the end, Webb was firing on all cylinders, giving speeches with the best of them (Barack Obama, John Edwards, Tim Kaine, Mark Warner), even plunging into crowds in a way he never would have done back in the spring. This is a testatment to Jim Webb, but also to the people traveling with him and working with him on a day-to-day basis. Remember that Jim Webb had never run for anything before in his life, and was NOT a lifelong politician. For all that, I'd say he did pretty darn well for himself!

5) The Webb campaign produced some excellent ads and videos, including the powerful "Leadership We Can Trust."

6) Webb stayed on his main three-pronged message of reorienting our foreign policy, ensuring economic fairness and social justice, and reining in the out-of-control Executive Branch. As articulated by Jim Webb, this combination proved to be a powerful one that resonated across Virginia. In addition, I would argue that Webb tapped into powerful themes of reform, change, economic populism and patriotism that allowed him to connect with millions of Virginians in a positive, affirmative way. In contrast to the Allen campaign, Webb stayed consistently positive, refusing to lower himself to the level of personal attacks and character assassination. People responded to that as well.

7) Finally, the Webb campaign was well managed by a savvy crew led by master strategist Steve Jarding, and the highly underrated Jessica VandenBerg. This was not, as some people believe, "amateur hour" in the bad sense of that phrase. To the extent that there were "amateurs" involved in the Webb campaign, I would argue strongly for the original, positive meaning of the word: "[a] lover, devoted friend, devotee, enthusiastic pursuer of an objective." That's what we had on the Webb campaign, no doubt about it - devoted, dedicated, talented people enthusiastically pursuing their objective.

Comments

No Spin Needed - Webb Won (Thomas Paine - 11/13/2006 1:01:13 PM)

I agree with many of the points made by Lowell on how and why Webb won and everyone involved with the campaign, particularly Steve Jarding, Jessica Vandenberg, and Larry Byrne deserve big shout outs.

Allen's "macaca" and "Jewish mother" missteps gave the Webb campaign a gift that it seized upon and built the momentum necessary to raise money and woo voters. Once the campaign got into high gear things started moving.

A lot of people worked very hard to secure Webb's victory.

However, Lowell's assessment of the Webb field operation again failed to mention the work of the Democratic committees.

To a great degree, the Democratic committees across the state were the Webb field operation, thanks to the coordination by Larry Byrne. There was no field operation until Larry took over as field director and reached out to party leaders across the state. The fact is that without the field work done by the Democratic committees, Webb could not have won.

Why do Lowell and other bloggers continue to ignore the Webb field work done by the Democratic committees across the state as well as the coordinated campaign and congressional campaigns in the critically-important Northern Virginia region?

In the end, there is no need to spin this victory. Webb won. Period! It was a long and testy journey, but we now have a Democratic majority in the Senate.

I don't know what the deal is with you and Lowell (Catzmaw - 11/13/2006 1:23:17 PM)

but I've noticed that you never lose a chance to seize on any perceived insult or alleged oversight, real or imagined. What is up with that?

You appear to believe that Lowell overlooked the contribution of the Democratic committees, but I've re-read the diary and it's obviously talking about the entire campaign, not just the bloggers, unless you believe the 18,000 volunteers and all the field work he refers to are all bloggers. I mean, I've seen this whole issue of the Democratic committees' contributions and Larry Byrne's contributions discussed, with some rancor and ad nauseum, in other diaries this weekend. What exactly are you asking Lowell to do? Should he always include the phrase "and don't forget the Democratic committees and Larry Byrne" every time he mentions the campaign?

I don't know any of you guys and have no axe to grind. My work on the campaign consisted mostly of blogging, letter-writing, phone-banking, lit drops, and buttonholing, and I didn't get involved in, nor was I interested in, who got credit for what. Seems to me it was a combined effort by a lot of people trying to achieve the same goal, and that we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that it was this unity of purpose that won the election, not a lot of sniping and arguing about who should get the credit. So why don't we all agree that everyone who did their job deserves credit, and that what everyone did together was a good thing? And then can we please move forward?

2 cents.. (Kathy Gerber - 11/13/2006 1:50:47 PM)

Whenever I see a picture from shad planking, I remember that day very vividly. For starters there were about 8,000 Webb signs out.

It was a such a magical day, and it was a rag tag crew day. Most of the folks who were there have been on this blog at one time or another.

This is my favorite photo and I am so proud to be able to say that one of those hands is mine. I can only speak for myself - standing up that day took all the courage I had in me. It was already clear that what we were doing was unprecendented, but that day the enormity of the whole thing was palpable.

My first grandchild will be born any day now. It really isn't all about politics. I was privileged to be there that day, and to celebrate and share that event does not not take anything away from anyone else in any way, shape or form.

Everyone has their experiences and memories. And for me, one of these days I will be able to tell my grandchild, yes, I was there back in ought-six when Senator Webb marched into the shad planking.

2 more cents (cycle12 - 11/16/2006 4:19:30 AM)

Precisely, Kathy; there was something very special - almost electric - about this year's Shad Planking, something palpable, just out of sight, but still there.

Yes, we won the highway sign war but were terribly outnumbered by the Allen people at the event. However, as we all marched into the heart of it behind Jim while chanting Jim Webb, Jim Webb, Jim Webb, and wove our way through them toward the bluegrass bandstand, the crowd stood back and watched us curiously as if to say, "Who ARE these people?" As you may recall, Jim gave a short speech and said he wasn't there to campaign, just wanted to stop by and say hello, eat some fish, drink a beer.

My Jim Webb sign and I are in that picture, too, and I carried it around with me all afternoon, making sure to mingle with the Allen people at every opportunity. At one point, a group of five or six of them were standing around me, talking about Allen's run for the presidency. I smiled and politely encouraged them to continue doing so while we worked on Jim's U. S. Senate campaign. Turned out just right, didn't it? Can't wait for next year's Shad Planking - what a difference a year makes!

Steve

Well said! (LAS - 11/13/2006 2:16:56 PM)

Very well said!

FYI, Catzmaw, the deal is that certain people are trying to protect themselves from criticism and, perhaps, rewrite history a little bit while they are at it. And, yes, it's all about getting and taking credit, unfortunately.

But those of us who were thre know that this campaign belongs to the grassroots volunteers, or, as Jim Webb puts it, his "ragtag group of rebels." It's obvious that Webb feels a debt of gratitude and loyalty to his "troops," some of whom, btw, were, in fact, committee members.

I think your final piece of advice is particularly sound. We did a good thing. We should be proud and happy. And we should move forward.

I'm still hoping many of these excellent volunteers will stay energized, stay involved, and go to their next local Democratic Committee meeting. You are needed.

The connection with reality (Caesonia - 11/13/2006 2:17:33 PM)

T.Paine,
I am trying to go back and find the initial comments that forced some sort of a sore spot between Byrne and Lowell about how much work the DC did or did not do for Webb. I am unclear as to whether this was meant for the state of Virginia or on a national level.

However, I have read enough to feel that I have a good grasp on certain opinions, and my own experience as a Libertarian Virginian who frequently votes Democrat- especially in the last 14 years. Its easy to do as the GOP is the antithesis.

Frankly, as HARD WORKING as I know the Dem Committee to be (DC), I have been an active voter and voted Dem in spite of them, and how much they continue to irritate me. They irritate me because frequently they are as out of touch with underlying key issues amongst swing voters, and can be as guilty of using rose tinted glasses as the GOP is over "stay the course." I came face to face with this yet again, when I went to the Webb Office in Charlottesville and spoke with long time Dem canvassers who are DEAR family friends. They tried to lecture me on "how you win," and my jaw dropped considering how they had NOT been winning, for many years.

That thinking is IMHO, a reflection of the mindset from above; the DC.

The Webb campaign showed REAL wisdom in approaching blogging, and the sophisticated content "blog/media" sites like RK that work in tandem with YouTube.

1) The opinions of Webb voters MATTERS to the success of the Democratic Party in Virginia immensely. It is an invaluable resource for getting the message out that the Democratic Party is not what the GOP wants to paint it as.

2) The opinions of Webb voters matters to the Democratic Party in Virginia, because the opinions of VOTERS are what matter, not the opinions of a single Chairperson. By reading such opinions in places like RK, the Dems can best position themselves to win, and to meet the needs of their constituents, and they can do it without giving up their core values.

Lowell probably did put his foot in his mouth, but I think Byrn put his foot in his mouth as well.

The reality is:

The bloggers are here to stay as a necessary force of communication. There is a huge wave of intelligent humanity like me that uses that as a primary source of information, ignoring the bought media- NPR, Lou Dobbs, and Larry King are the exception it seems. I don't know the stats, but I would say as a population WE ARE VOTERS.

The DC needs to embrace that as significant, and embrace the opinions, and fully accept them as team players. Even if their opinions aren't lock and step. It doesn't matter that the DC was 110% involved, what matters is the PERCEPTION. Get the perception right, and you win elections.

Unlike GOP blog sites, I haven't really noticed any true ugliness on RK, and related blogs. Thats a good thing, and so the opinions should be considered worthy of exploration and being taken seriously.

Some How I Deleted (Gordie - 11/13/2006 3:09:09 PM)

Some how I deleted my original folder of emails about Jim Webb, so I can not give the exact date, but I am sure it was in Feb. 06, that I signed the petition to draft Jim Webb as the next Senator from Virginia. From that point I was at every Webb and Weed event in the C-Ville area. Asking questions at Miller's on the mall in Downtown C-Ville, when Webb and Weed commited to support each other.

It was quite a climb from those early days and getting the signs out. Working in this area to make sure Webb beat Harris. Putting up the first large converted Kerry sign into a Jim Webb sign and installing it on Route 29 in Lovingston near the end of April, beginning of May. Along with Kathy Gerber, we had Webb signs all over Nelson just to make sure Jim won the primary, which we all know he did.

Why am I saying all of this, well with out the grassroots of Nelson County and other Counties there would not have been a new Senator.

The next thing I must say is a am a poll follower, since I do not have the connections some of you all have in Fairfax and the other larger areas have, so I want to add that until the Macaca incident the polls for Webb were 35, Allen 64 percent, then the "N" word and then the ancestory incidents and the polls jumped to 40 and 42 percent, then the National Party and others started in supporting Webb, which brought every thing closer and brought in the money which produced the ads, etc.

But I will end with this. All of that did not get the 58 percent voter turn out in Nelson County and 59 percent voter turn out in Albremarle county, which I believe is the highest turn out in the state, it was the local people on the ground that wanted change and faught like heck to get the change. Having a good candidate certainly helped and when the money came in it certainly helped.

Sure when I look at the voter turn out in some areas of the state it was disappointing that the percentage was a normal off election year turn out. It saddens, that people did not want change without all of us working our butts off, but that is life.

May I ask anyone in the future to refrain from saying any one incident got Jim elected, those type of comments do nothing to help gather everyone into this game next years 07 election. Such comments are only one sided and do not reflect the primary vote which was just as important as the rest of the election.

I guess being an amateur (Catzmaw - 11/13/2006 1:02:54 PM)

isn't bad as long as it isn't accompanied by the word "rank".

This was my first foray into the political process and all I can say is I wish I'd gotten started earlier.

Agree with your analysis Lowell, that there was far more to this than the media's simple-minded "macaca lost Allen's election" nonsense I'm hearing. Yesterday I looked for the first time at Webb's Colbert interview from March. The audience responded very well to him and he was actually pretty relaxed for a political neophyte appearing on that kind of show. Colbert was clearly impressed.

The vast majority of people I talked to during the campaign thought "macaca" sealed their perception of Allen as a jerk, but were far more interested in hearing what Webb could do for the country and for them as Virginians. With the exception of some of the young folks I talked to the macaca incident and later "n-word" kerfuffle did very little to influence their voting decision. Personally, I felt it detracted from Webb's message since the media just could not leave it alone. To hear it being mentioned in all the debates and in virtually every interview of both Webb and Allen was the most annoying misuse of air time possible when there were real issues to be discussed. Moreover, the Allen leaners I talked to, especially the more conservative white guys, felt Allen was being unfairly piled on, and when they attributed that piling on to the Webb campaign I think a lot of potential votes from this group were missed.

I don't give (libra - 11/13/2006 11:29:36 PM)

a flying duck 'bout how the credits for the win are apportioned, though agree that, from the moment they seduced Webb into running throughout the campaign, the team has done *stellar* work of getting volunteers energised and the general public informed.

"all in all, I wouldn't trade the press Jim Webb got with the press George Allen got any day of the week." -- Lowell

Agreed; the day I saw the "duelling boots" photo all over the national papers, I began to believe we could win; it was *priceless*.

But, as others have also said... None of this would have been possible if we didn't have Jim as our candidate; there's a limit to how far a spin can be spinned (vide Allen's campaign and implosion). For me personally, it was a *revelation* to be able to vote *for* a candidate, instead of voting for the "lesser evil"...

Webb and His Big Win in Virginia (seamusotoole - 11/14/2006 12:07:20 AM)

We got involved in the Webb campaign in mid-March after receiving a phone call out in LA where we were visiting our son. We flew home, got off the airplane and attended a straw poll for him in Fairfax. Webb won with flying colors. We were instantly impressed and felt that he would be a great Senator to represent us here in Virginia. We attended I don't know how many JJ Dinners, marched in I don't know how many parades and attended fundraisers for him all over the state. The most fun we had was marching in the parade in Buena Vista in the rain with Mark Warner and Governor Tim Kaine. We met people from all over Virginia and were welcomed with open arms. I will never forget the expression on either one of our faces when we pulled into the parking lot in Buena Vista expecting there to be a ton of volunteers to help put up signs for Webb. As it turned out it was Dan Gray and the two of us and every square inch of Buena Vista was covered in Allen signs. We did manage to get up about fifty signs with blisters all over our hands. What a wonderful breakfast we attended with so many residents of Buena Vista and students from the high school.

Senator Elect Webb represents all of us and that's why he won in Virginia. His rag tag corps of volunteers stood by him through thick and thin. He wasn't your typical politician. What you saw was what you got. He sometimes would make comments that might turn people off but he spoke from his heart and that came through loud and clear. Webb is not owned by anyone...he's his own person as I tried to explain to my Republican neighbor who was incensed that Webb would vote with those liberal Democrats.

Everyone who supported him worked in their own special way to get him elected. It was a group effort all the way or it wouldn't have happened. We now need to move forward and keep this effort going for the state elections next year. We have our HOPE back with us controlling the House and Senate. Let's keep it going!!! Thanks to everyone for all of your hard work. I've loved meeting all of you, working with you since March and photographing many of you. We should all be proud. Congratulations to Fairfax County for increasing the vote for another year!!! As always I'm particularly proud of Sully District and my Committee for all their hard work. We've come a long long way........

Mary Lee and Andy

Now that it's over... (Kathy Gerber - 11/14/2006 7:31:07 AM)

I got to meet Mary Lee and Andy in Buena Vista. She called me the night before the parade to let us know what it was like down there. She had also brought Webb balloons, and I had picked up a helium tank in Cville after work. Sounds so simple... :)

We were meeting everyone in the parking lot of a real estate office on one end of town in the a.m. Reen and I got there early and no one was there. We couldn't go to the breakfast event since we knew we'd be busy blowing up balloons.

We waited in the parking lot for a really long time and didn't see anyone except the cowboy who was riding what turned out to be Allen's horse Bubba up and down the side street to warm him up. At that time we thought he had on rubber shoes rather than just being barefoot. And we waited. We didn't have wires, so we stuck a couple of Webb sign up on some pine sticks in the ground so we wouldn't be missed.

Then the floats and vehicles started coming. There was a huge semi with hay on it and Allen signs - it was just bizarre and overdone. People began arriving to get their place to watch the parade. We decided to go find Mary Lee and after asking several people we discovered that the high school was at the other end of town so we drove over there.

I went in a door that was to the side behind the speakers and Mark Warner was talking. I could see Gordie way in the back, and I recognized Mary Lee from a photo right up front. All eyes were on Mark Warner and I couldn't get Mary Lee's attention. Even if I had been able to do so, it wasn't like she could just get up and walk over at that particular moment.

Then when the speakers were done, there was a crush of people coming out the door and not only did I lose sight of Mary Lee, I was nearly swept out the door. Finally, we did get together and got our hands on those balloons. We drove back down to the starting point with Gordie following in his car.

By this time traffic was becoming dense and police were blocking off the side and parallel roads and guarding the intersections.

I got out of the jeep about 3 blocks away from our destination and ran/walked with that blasted helium tank all the way. Reen was able to make it there with the jeep right when I did, so all of this running around with a tank was just a wasted effort.

Now the parade was assembling in earnest. We frantically began filling the balloons, and the drums and marching bands started up. We managed to fill FOUR balloons when the parade stepped off without us! We tossed the tank and the balloons in the car, and tried to catch up to the group about 1/2 block away.

What we didn't have in balloons and signage, we really did make up for in spirit and we passed out piles of brochures. Dan Gray held up a Webb sign over his head the whole way as he rode on the back of a motorcycle. Martha and several of her Lynchburg friends were leading in cheers. Gordie was talking to groups of people along the way telling them about Jim Webb.

As I wrote before, someone asked me for a lapel sticker to put on his Allen balloon. And Democrats were well-served by having Mary Lee and Andy - especially with his veterans' t-shirt - in that parade!

George Allen was right behind us and that's how we heard so many people yelling out macaca. They were angry citizens, NOT Webb volunteers. Lots of them.

After the speeches at the end of the parade, we drove home with our four balloons tied down in the back. Gordie came over and we dug holes for the posts of a large sign. The next week he came over and put up a hand-painted Al Weed sign.

I hope Mary Lee and Andy come back down next year for the parade. It was my first one there, too. We didn't have it together because we didn't know the lay of the land, but now we do. That's the kind of "institutional knowledge" that we need to preserve and pass on going forward. Next year Mary Lee and Andy won't be alone down in Buena Vista in a parking lot.

We'll never forget our "rag tag" roots :) But now it's time to back and fill by learning from what we did right and what went haywire. The best model that we have is Jim Webb himself as he transitions so well from campaigner to senator. It's our responsibility to grow in a similar fashion in our own little corners of the universe.

There is More Than Enough Credit to Go Around (Rob Krupicka - 11/14/2006 11:00:29 AM)

This election made me proud to be a Dem in many, many ways. Despite a wide range of opinions during the primary (I include myself among a long list of Dems that didn't know Webb at all early on and as a result was not sure about his ability to succeed), the party, the net roots and countless independents and new Dems did an impressive job of coming together to make Webb's narrow victory possible.

I think there is a lot for the party to learn from this process. We had a competitive primary which helped to mobilize interest and energy in the campaign. It also established clear credibility for the winner. The Net roots played a critical role in spreading information and recruiting converts (I know that I got to know Jim Webb the best through blogs like this one). The party demonstrated that it had the capability to work together and win three big state-wide races in a row. The Byrne's and Labor made it clear that economic justice is an issue that resonates in Virginia -- we should all pay close attention to that. I, for one, was won over by Jim's call for greater economic fairness.

There are always going to be places for improvement, but all in all, there is a lot to be proud of and to learn from. We have new members of the party, a strong voice in the Senate, a party apparatus that is growing stronger and stronger and a solid group of net activists that help ensure information reaches all corners of our State and that healthy party debate is never stifled.

The greatest risk to the future success of Dems in VA is our own ability to grown and learn from this past year. I, for one, am confident that we will grow stronger from here.