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Politics, public relations and internal communications: a look at the DNC

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Politics, public relations and internal communications: a look at the DNC

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Content POLITICS, PUBLIC RELATIONS AND INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS: A LOOK AT THE DNC by Emily Schwartz _____________________________________________________________ A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) May 2007 Copyright 2007 Emily Schwartz ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank and acknowledge all of the primary research interview subjects for their time and candid responses to my inquiries, without which this would have not been possible. I am grateful to my friends and family who helped me see this project to fruition with their patience and guidance. Finally, to my parents, Bob and Shelley, who inspired my interest in politics. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii Abbreviations iv Abstract v Preface vi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 The Democratic Party 2 Chapter 2: Historical Overview 7 Today’s Democratic Party 14 Chapter 3: Literature Review 17 Methodology 17 Literature Review 19 Chapter 4: Public Relations Background 39 Chapter 5: Strategic Communications Analysis 42 Statement of Problems and Challenges 43 Situation Analysis 45 Chapter 6: Public Relations Strategy Proposal 57 Proposed Goals and Objectives 57 Strategy Proposal 59 Chapter 7: Conclusion 64 Bibliography 67 Appendices 76 Appendices A-B: Interviews and Interview Questions 77 Appendices C-I: Interview Documentation 78 iv Abbreviations ASDC Association of State Democratic Chairs DCCC Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee DGA Democratic Governors Association DLC Democratic Leadership Council DNC Democratic National Committee DSCC Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee PAC Political Action Committee PDA Progressive Democrats RNC Republican National Committee US United States v ABSTRACT This thesis explores the current challenges and future opportunities for improving the internal communication practices of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The author explores the organization’s structure and how the DNC imparts effective communication to its stakeholders. Research methodologies included primary source interviews with internal and external sources and multiple secondary sources in the areas of practical and theoretical application. The main conclusion of this thesis is that by moving quickly to improve its internal communications system, the DNC will become efficient and transparent, ultimately having a positive impact toward achieving the party’s mission and organizational goals. The DNC should address its current communications challenges by implementing a more bidirectional communications strategy with its internal audiences, to achieve the organization’s goals by uniting, motivating and organizing internal actors. With this call- to-action, the author proposes a detailed public relations strategy to improve the internal communications within the organization. vi PREFACE “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” - President John F. Kennedy 1 Many have discussed the impact that President John F. Kennedy had on the US, American politics and the American national identity. Regardless of the debate, it is unquestionable that President Kennedy was an inspiration for a generation of Americans who wanted to enact change in the US and on politics and policy. And, although I was born after Kennedy’s presidency and assassination, his influence and motivation resonate with me today. This project stems from the resounding effect on me, and many others, of the above quote, which calls on and empowers all Americans to become involved in the greater good and in something bigger than which they are. My passion for politics, which has been long brewing, is fueled by the ideas behind this quote. Politics was not something that I always knew I had an interest in, but was a constant pillar in my life while growing up in a very politically active and aware household. My journey towards politics started with my parents. Not only did I find my political identity based upon the ideals with which they raised me, but also on the constant influence of their personal stories. I can remember my parents telling me stories of growing up in Chicago in the 1960s, President Kennedy’s assassination, and the Vietnam War draft. 1 President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961. vii Of their stories, two in particular have always stuck with me. A political activist to this day, my mother told me about participating in women’s liberation rallies, protesting the Vietnam War on her college campus while facing National Guardsmen with drawn bayonets, and watching the draft numbers scroll on television. Her passion for women’s rights, the common good and fairness influenced my personal worldview. Meanwhile, my political junky father repeatedly told me about sneaking out of his mother’s house when he was 15 to go to the 1968 Democratic National Convention the day after the demonstration and police riots, where he spent the day talking with wounded protestors. My parents’ continued interest in politics and influence on me did not end when I moved out of the house to attend college in August 2001. It only became more meaningful and dynamic. In 2002, my father ran for the Arizona state legislature. Although his campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, the experience he went through -- and took the rest of my family through -- energized my personal enthusiasm for politics. Following his campaign, both he and my mother became very involved in the Arizona Democratic Party. This led my father to initiate and pursue a successful November 2006 Arizona ballot initiative to increase the state minimum wage. Helping on his campaign and in the early stages of the ballot initiative are experiences I will not forget. Those experiences, combined with an internship at Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn’s press office during the last four months of his term as well as a political campaign and communications class taught by Dan Schnur, a political consultant and strategist based in California, cemented my passion for politics and political communication. 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat." - Will Rogers Was Will Rodgers right: is the United States (US) Democratic Party disorganized? If the party is notorious for this tendency, can the application of principles of strategic public relations make a significant improvement in that organization’s achievement of its goals? The American voting public is constantly exposed to political campaigns, be they local, state or federal. These campaigns are completely about communicating effectively to achieve a goal. But, what about the political parties behind the campaigns? How do they communicate? How do they use communications and public relations tools to form and maintain a cohesive and active organization? Studying and practicing communications, journalism and public relations for the past five years has influenced my approach to be focused from a Democratic perspective. In this project my aim is to examine the internal communications practices of the Democratic Party, specifically the communication systems of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). From a public relations and organizational communications standpoint, this project explores how the party as an organization can improve the engagement of and communication with its members and key stakeholders. In doing so, it is important to first examine the two major political parties in the US at the present time. Today, the divide between political parties is stark, separating Democrat from Republican along the now-famous “blue” (Democrat) and “red” (Republican) ideological and cultural lines. As Stanley B. Greenberg states: 2 “The loyalties of American voters are now almost perfectly divided between the Democrats and Republicans, a historic political deadlock that inflames the passions of politicians and citizens alike. This is a deepening divide, giving us the Two Americas, with immense consequences for our politics.” (Greenberg, 2004, p2) This division stems from the basic premise on which each party was founded and defined in recent history. 2 The Republican Party generally follows a more conservative (or right) perspective. According to George Lakoff, a University of California Berkley professor and Rockridge Institute senior fellow, the conservative philosophy generally centers on issues of “authority and control, both self-control and control over others” and principles of moral authority, individual responsibility, a free market and pulling oneself up by one’s own bootstraps (Lakoff, 2006, p59-61). Conversely, the Democratic Party generally adheres to a more liberal (or left) philosophy. Lakoff characterizes the liberal viewpoint as based on ideas of empathy, responsibility and principles of common good, expansion of freedom, human dignity and diversity (Lakoff, 2006, p53-57). It is important to note, however, that today’s political reality, and our pluralist society, includes many other viewpoints inside and outside of the core Republican or Democratic perspectives. The Democratic Party The Democratic Party is nationally represented and governed by the DNC, which is responsible for overseeing the process of writing and promoting the party’s platform every four years. Additionally, an important focus of the DNC is on campaign and political activity in support of Democratic Party candidates, particularly on the federal 2 See Chapter 2. Recent history means post-President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 3 level, with an emphasis on fundraising and election strategy coordination. Through these efforts, the DNC provides leadership to the Democratic Party. The structure of the DNC and other Democratic organizations and institutions is fragmented, but the DNC does serve as an umbrella organization to many others. At the helm of the DNC is the current chairman, Howard Dean, who was elected February 12, 2005. Previously, Chairman Dean was governor of Vermont, founder of Democracy for America, a political action committee (PAC), and a candidate for the 2004 Democratic nomination for president. The DNC’s constructed from the chairman’s position outward. The DNC includes 447 members elected by each state’s Democratic Party organizations. There are also 75 at-large members of the DNC who are nominated by the chairman and approved by the full organization, which meets every four years at the Democratic National Convention. Under Dean, there is a 64-member executive committee, which oversees the affairs of the party between meetings of the full group. In addition to Dean, there are eight other elected officers within the party, including five vice chairs, a treasurer, a secretary, and a national finance chair. Within the DNC there are numerous committees and caucuses. The three standing committees consist of the credentials committee, resolutions committee, and rules and bylaws committee. The eight caucuses are: the Eastern caucus, Midwest caucus, Southern caucus, Western caucus, Women’s caucus, Hispanic caucus, Black caucus, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) caucus. (DNC Committees-Organization, 2006) 4 In addition to the internal groups within the DNC, there are other organizations that interact with the party on a national level. The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) are two such groups that have had a significant impact within the DNC. The DLC is the more moderate-leaning wing of the party while the PDA is the more liberal-leaning. What is important to note is that these two groups work within the party as a whole, representing both the moderate- leaning and liberal-leaning approaches to policy, respectively. Chairman Dean is perceived to be more aligned with the PDA, approaching the party from a more liberal perspective. Another significant organization is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), formerly led by Representative Rahm Emanuel (D – IL), who tends to align with the DLC. Additional organizations of note are the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic Governors Association (DGA). The DNC and the Democratic Party had recent success with the 2006 midterm election, successfully taking majority control of both the Senate and House and winning six net new governorships. However, prior to this election many political pundits, journalists and strategists discussed and debated why the Democrats had trouble on a national scale winning elections in the last several years. Lakoff, along with Joe Trippi, campaign manager for Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, and Martin Kaplan, USC Annenberg associate dean and former White House speech writer and deputy campaign manager for Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign, agree that the Democrats have had trouble operating as a cohesive organization, while attributing this 5 disorganization to the nature of the party as an umbrella organization (No. 2, 10/18/06; Kenneth Owler Smith Symposium, 2006). The DNC operates as the national face of the Democratic Party. In doing so, the DNC has within its gamut different interest groups that each put forth strategies and ideas on how to accomplish the national agenda. Interestingly, Lakoff and Schnur have both commented on the differences between the DLC and PDA, specifically referencing Emanuel and Dean’s approaches to campaign politics, and their impact on the DNC. It is not that the DLC and PDA have effectively split the party, but that they represent different parts of the party, and pose a serious potential risk to party unity (No. 2, 10/18/06; No. 7, 12/22/06). Lakoff depicts this divide as an internal fight between Emanuel and Dean and the ramifications their strategies have for financing campaigns around the country (No.2, 10/18/06). However, there is also a policy and platform difference between the two organizations that is outside of the realm of the Emanuel and Dean rift. Both schisms are important to note due to the implications for the DNC. Schnur gave a similar depiction of the situation as Lakoff, but he made an important observation that is crucial for the DNC leadership to remember: “The DNC needs to ignore the DLC and progressive split. The DNC is the umbrella organization and needs to not favor one or the other faction, but respect both in order to accomplish its national agenda” (No. 7, 12/22/06). With this project, I do not presume to address all of the issues facing the Democratic Party, but specifically those related to communication within the DNC. This project will not overhaul the party nor will it be a Band-Aid for its problems. However, 6 by looking at the party from this perspective there is hope that it could be the first step on the road towards a cohesive, united party. In approaching this project, my theory is that the DNC is floundering due in part to a lack of internal communications. I expected to find that the party is not doing enough to communicate internally and that the majority of communication disseminated to members is strictly election-based. I expected that this finding would give rise and reason for the party to move forward with a proactive strategy to communicate internally, which will, in turn, help unify it as an organization. 7 CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW “The common thread of Democratic history, from Thomas Jefferson to Bill Clinton, has been an abiding faith in the judgment of hardworking American families, and a commitment to helping the excluded, the disenfranchised and the poor strengthen our nation by earning themselves a piece of the American Dream.” - Ron Brown, former Chairman of the Democratic Party 3 Today, the Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the US. Of the two major parties, the Democrats are the left-leaning party, whereas the Republican Party, the other major party, is right-leaning. On the political spectrum, the Democrats fall to the left of the middle ground, but are not as leftist as the “traditional social democratic or labor parties” that are seen in other parts of the world (Reference, 2006; Democratic-Republican Party, 2006). To better understand the Democratic Party today, one must first examine the key events in the party’s history, from the very beginning, starting in the 18th Century. The Democratic Party was formed on May 13, 1792, and was originally named the Republican Party (Kent, 1928, p13). It was the brainchild of Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State, who officially formulated the organization through a letter he wrote to President George Washington (Kent, 1928, p13). In 1800, the party, which developed into the Democratic-Republican Party in 1798, elected Jefferson as President, and with him the party “assumed control of the government” for the first time with majorities in both the House and the Senate – effectively beginning a “new political era” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2006; Kent, 1928, p37). 3 See DNC Web site, Democrats.org. 8 It was not until 1810 that the “the word ‘democrat’ was accepted as meaning the same thing as ‘republican.’” The election of John Quincy Adams in 1824 gave rise to Andrew Jackson as a national leader, and with him the Jacksonian Democrats. Although the Jacksonian Democrats “destroyed the unity of the party with the formation of the Democratic-Republican faction,” they also, in time, “created the national convention process, the party platform and reunified the party,” and Jackson was elected president in 1828 and 1832 (Reference, 2006, p2). Jefferson’s original party was officially renamed as the Democratic Party at the national convention in 1844 (Kent, 1928, p14). Subsequently, at the convention in Baltimore in 1848, the Democratic Party formally established the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which was charged with coordinating “activities among state committees” and “promoting the Democratic cause between conventions” (Witcover, 2003, p182). In 1860 the new Republican Party, which existed only in the Northern states and was heavily populated with abolitionists (or those that wanted to prevent any further spread of slavery) nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party gained support in both the North and South, as they were split in two. The Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas on a platform that largely ignored the issue of slavery, while the Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge based on a platform of extending slavery into the Western territories. The division of the Democrats during the 1860s was the first demonstration of the political clout and strength of the South (Goodwin, 2005, pp258-9). 9 At the end of the 19th Century, the Democratic Party had established itself as a national party. Although the second half of the century was rife with intraparty strife and the Civil War (1861-1865), the party was able to build its political base among immigrants and create a “powerful economic engine” (Democrats, 2006, p1). After the Civil War, Republican-run Reconstruction governments were imposed upon the Southern states. From the end of Reconstruction (1863-1877) until Strom Thurmond was nominated for president in 1948 (see below) and George Wallace in 1968 (see below), the solid South was guaranteed to Democratic candidates. The emergence of the solid Democratic South gave rise to the name “Dixiecrat,” as a splinter party among the Democrats. The Southern Democrats were determined to protect their way of life in the South and sustained their alliance with the Democratic Party through the mid-20th Century. The Populist movement at the end of the 19th Century was effectively led by William Jennings Bryan (Kent, 1928, p238 and 351). The movement was deeply religious and espoused strong anti-bureaucratic values. Bryan, at the turn of the century, was at the helm of “agrarian reformers and supported the right of women’s suffrage, the progressive income tax and the direct election of Senators” (Democrats, 2006, p1). The anti-Republican South and Catholics, many of whom were Irish, Italian and Polish immigrants, joined Bryan’s populist movement and the previously ignored labor movement into a national coalition (Kent, 1928, p238 and 351). This coalition was the heart of the Democratic Party until 1968. With Bryan’s leadership, the positions of the 10 Populist movement gave the party new focus and direction that allowed it to unify after the Civil War. The next major change in the Democratic Party came with the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as the next Democratic president. With Roosevelt also came the unification of the party by giving it a “new and more vibrant identity” and the New Deal (Witcover, 2003, p333, 359-82). A historically significant president, Roosevelt pulled the country out of the Great Depression, with the promise of government assistance to citizens around the country in their time of need, and led the country through World War II. Roosevelt pushed progressive reforms and new programs, giving character to his campaign promise of the New Deal. These reforms and programs included bringing water to California’s Central Valley, electricity to Appalachia and saving farms across the Midwest. He also created new federal agencies, including the Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Social Security program. Today, many of his New Deal programs are still in place. Roosevelt played “a central role in cementing the Democratic Party’s claim to be the party of the people.” (Witcover, 2003, p359-82; Democrats, 2006, p2) The New Deal also gave birth to the New Deal coalition, which was forged together by Roosevelt as a dominant force in American politics between the 1930s and 1960s. According to many historians, “the era of Republican hegemony came to an end during the 1928-1936 realignment period” when the New Deal coalition was established, thus making the Democrats the majority party (Bartley, 1975). 11 The coalition represented a diverse group of minority groups along with other organizations, such as labor unions and Big City machines. “The core elements for the New Deal coalition [were the] native southern whites (11-state definition), blacks, Jews, the working class, union members (in the household), and Catholics” (Stanley, 1986, pp 969-976). The New Deal realignment gave recognition to organized labor and provided urban minorities a voice for ideas by “recreating a countervailing political influence based on federal bureaucracy rather than political parities” (Bartley, 1975, pp 452-469). This alliance of voting blocks helped the Democratic Party win seven out of nine presidential elections, along with control of both houses of Congress during this time period. Harry S. Truman followed Roosevelt as president, carrying on his New Deal programs and establishing his own Fair Deal. He was president during the beginning of the Civil Rights movement and debate and also established the Marshal Plan, thereby creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. Truman also spearheaded the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (Witcover, 2003, pp 422-3, 439-41) After the Roosevelt-Truman reign, the Democratic Party went through tremendous change. Although the Democrats lost the White House in 1952 and 1958 to Dwight D. Eisenhower, the New Deal coalition held together throughout the 50s. John F. Kennedy followed Truman as the next Democratic president in 1960. Kennedy proclaimed a New Frontier, dared Americans to put a man on the moon, created the Peace Corps, and negotiated a treaty limiting the testing of nuclear weapons (Witcover, 12 2003, p 495-515). In November 1963, the country mourned Kennedy’s assassination and Lyndon Baines Johnson took over as president. Overwhelmingly known for the nation- splitting Vietnam War, Johnson also passed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, declared war on poverty and created several programs, including Medicare, as part of his Great Society doctrine. (Witcover, 2003, p 517-30; Democrats, 2006, p2) The key historical events that helped shape today’s Democratic Party end with the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. “Deep divisions arose in the party over the Vietnam War,” which changed the convention, and some argue threw the party as a whole, into chaos (Witcover, 2003, p546). The convention “left a stamp of disarray and bitterness” toward the party by the millions of Americans that viewed the frenzied demonstrations, police brutality and war veterans on national television. According to James L. Sundquist, and other New Deal historians and authors, the New Deal coalition was dominant in the 1930s and 1940s, but lost strength in the mid- to late-1960s. After the 1952 election, Republicans occupied the White House until Kennedy’s election in 1960, and public opinion polls showed declining support for alignment with any political party (Sundquist, 1983, p1-3; Milkis, 1994, pp 999-1000). In light of the 1968 convention, the party’s supporters had splintered: “A common conclusion is that beginning in the late 1960s the policy stands of Democrats on civil rights and civil liberties issues alienated the white working class. Race is presumed to have driven a wedge between the white and non-white working class, and diminished class voting in American politics. The New Deal coalition has eroded, the South has moved into the Republican column, and class conflict is presumed to have steadily declined since the 1950s.” (Stonecash, 2000, p732) 13 There are four events in the 20th Century that moved the South and the working class away from the Democratic Party. In 1948, Strom Thurmond ran as the nominee for the Dixiecrats, which helped Southern Democrats identify themselves as something separate from the rest of the party. In 1968 George Wallace reaffirmed this separation as a candidate for the American Independent Party. Then, in 1972, Richard Nixon implemented his famous Southern Strategy, which was a new overture by the Republican Party to lobby for Southern voters. Finally, in 1980, in spite of Southern President Jimmy Carter’s bid for reelection, Ronald Reagan famously appealed to the Reagan Democrats, the working class voters who were disenchanted with the Democratic Party. While Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton carried some Southern voters to win their respective elections, the Southern voters of today have little in common with those associated with the Dixiecrats and Southern Democrats that nominated Thurmond and Wallace. (Geer, 1992, p45-65) Sundquist argues that the Democratic Party lost the support of the Southern Democrats, and therefore the South, to a variety of issues. Among those issues were civil rights, the Vietnam War and cultural revolution that eventually cost the Democrats the South, after nearly 100 years of almost total control. As Sundquist writes, “Did 1968 mark ‘the final breakup’ of the Roosevelt New Deal coalition, splintered by conflict over such issues as Vietnam, law and order, and the conduct of the young? Many thought so.” (Sundquist, 1983, p2) The Democratic Party today revels in the presidency of Bill Clinton and what are considered his numerous successes in the 1990s. Clinton’s presidency was rife with 14 scandal and an impeachment inquiry, but his administration will not be remembered for those incidences alone. Clinton and his administration made considerable economic successes that benefited all Americans, among them reducing unemployment to its lowest level in decades, reducing crime to generational all-time lows, and paying down the deficit. (Witcover, 2003, p652-80; Democrats, 2006, p2) Today’s Democratic Party The Democrats lost their power over both the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch of government within less than eight years. In 1994, the Democrats lost the majority in the House. The 2000 presidential election, after numerous court battles and public upheaval, did not elect Democratic nominee Al Gore. And, finally, in 2001 the party lost its majority in the Senate. It was not until the most recent election in November 2006 that the Democrats gained momentum to again win majority control of Congress. In the 21st century, the Democratic Party has struggled to unite itself and regain the unity that it once saw under such leaders as Roosevelt, Kennedy and Clinton. With Dean being elected chairman of the DNC in 2005, the party has been working to come together, which it did successfully for the 2006 midterm elections. Since Dean’s election as chairman, he established two major initiatives for the party, his 50-State Strategy and his technology initiative. The 50-State Strategy is founded on the premise of “winning elections at every level in every region of the country” with a “massive effort to fund organizers on the ground in every state” (50-State Strategy Overview, 2006). The strategy committed the DNC to hiring and training over 15 176 field organizers, communication directors, and researchers that were placed throughout the country at state parties to build election teams and launch coordinated campaigns (50-State Strategy Overview, 2006). This strategy helped the 2006 campaign efforts to make marginal races competitive, get the DNC and Democratic message to each state party, and build a team around the country. During the midterm elections in 2006, the DNC’s strategy was implemented. However, as many have pointed out this is a long-term strategy, of which the benefits will not fully be reaped for years to come. Tom Waldman, a public relations and media consultant, author, and tax services specialist at the California State Board of Equalization, agreed with this analysis. “This strategy has a long-term goal, and was the reason Dean was elected chairman by the states,” said Waldman (No. 5, 12/10/06). A further analysis and discussion of this strategy appears in Chapter 3. Inspired by his own presidential nomination campaign and Joe Trippi’s successful and revolutionary use of the Internet for fundraising, Dean has implemented initiatives and technologies that utilize the same concepts. The implementation of a DNC blog and online fundraising on the DNC Web site are recent additions to the party’s election arsenal and efforts to utilize new media. Internet fundraising will not dissipate, however, as predicted by Trippi in a Washington Post article after the 2006 midterm elections, “thanks to changes in communications and technology, one of the candidates on my list will raise $500 million, almost all of it from ordinary citizens contributing less than $100 each.” (Trippi, 2006) 16 With all eyes on the 2008 presidential election, the DNC and most political operatives are working to coordinate party efforts to win the presidency. With this in mind, the party, specifically its national organization, needs to examine its communication practices. Although innately election-focused, in the years leading up to this election communication within the party is crucial, both about the election and other Party initiatives, Congressional successes and challenges, and other pertinent information. 17 CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW “Communication is critical for the Democratic Party and for politics in general. And, ironically, in this new era of communications, the most challenging thing is actually communicating.” - Janice Brunson, DNC National Committeewoman from Arizona 4 In examining the communications practices of the DNC a great deal of information is needed in order to explore how the party as an organization can improve the engagement of and communication with its members and stakeholders. Therefore, a substantial examination of internal communications, communication theory and political communication practices is necessary. The following sections will explain the research methodology and findings. Methodology Primary Research For the purposes of this project and obtaining first-hand information about the DNC’s current communications successes and challenges, personal interviews were conducted to cultivate as much information as possible. The ability to discuss the internal communications of the organization with a DNC representative would have been preferable, but a direct representative was unreachable. However, through the interviews that were conducted, the author was able to gather first-hand understanding and data about the topic, using the information gleaned as an opinion survey among political operatives. 4 Primary research interview. No. 6, 12/15/06. 18 Between October and December 2006, seven interviews were conducted with political activists, operatives, professors, and other experts. All interviewees were assured that no information or specific opinions they presented would be made public in a form that would lead to them being identified. A few interviewees asked for this condition to be respected. With the exception of those who allowed their names to be used, interviewees will not be identified in this project. A number and the date on which the interview took place, for example No. 3, 10/29/06, will refer to those subjects who wished to remain anonymous. All interviews were conducted either in person or over the telephone with copious notes taken during each interview. These notes are saved and stored for reference, and are incorporated into the following literature review. Secondary Research This research included the examination of online articles and Web sites, research institutions, and literature about the History of the Democratic Party, Democrats, political communication theory and research, organizational communication and other relevant areas of interest. There is a lack of research in this area since most resources focus on campaign or issue communication. The author did verify, however, how the Democratic Party is organized and communicates, and that there are multiple issues within the Democratic Party, which do not lie solely with the DNC. For example, the fragmentation and ideological splits, issue evangelists and a lack of party unity are just a few. However, these issues are not new to the party and this project does not presume to address all of the issues within the party. 19 The lack of study in the area of this subject supports this project’s hypothesis. In the same manner, this points to the need for more research about party communications outside the realm of election or campaign communications. It is important to address, and work to improve, any organization’s communications system. Literature Review As previously stated, the purpose of this study is to explore the internal communications practices of the DNC in line with the theories and practice of public relations and organizational communications. The framework for this study is based on an analysis of both practical applications and theoretical concepts. Practical Analysis Political communication and theory will be examined using a two-pronged approach. By analyzing information garnered by research institutes and current communications patterns of political campaigns, a greater understanding of the current research of political communication, along with an understanding of the factors important to the DNC will emerge. Research institutes such as the Center for American Progress, Rockridge Institute and Center for the Digital Future have each studied political communication. These organizations, mostly think tanks, have either examined the current political situation in the US or postulated on what can be done to ensure Democratic victory in upcoming elections. An analysis of each organization’s key research findings with additional pertinent information garnered from personal interviews follows. 20 The Center for American Progress is a non-partisan think tank with a progressive viewpoint. It is a research and educational institute that is dedicated to “promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all” (Center for American Progress, 2006). The Center does a great deal of research about key political issues, while at the same time pursuing its 15 title projects. In regards to this particular study, an interview with a San Francisco-based political consultant, who had previously done research for the Center, garnered the most relevant information. In this interview, the subject pointed out what he/she found remarkable in the Center’s research: “Republicans have an on-the-ground field campaign all year long. They are responsible for party campaigning that is not candidate based, and you never see that on the Democratic side. On the Democrats’ side, you do see that for an issue or a candidate, but not for the party in general.” (No. 1, 10/15/06) The Republican Party is extremely successful at mobilizing its base for elections, as seen in recent elections. One reason for their success is the grassroots campaigning that is done for the party line on a continual basis. From multiple interviews it seems that a successful counter strategy has yet to be fully implemented by the DNC or any other Democratic Party organization. Dean’s 50-State Strategy could be a counter strategy, but, due to its long-term nature, it cannot yet be verified as successful. As discussed earlier, Dean and the DNC’s 50-State Strategy was designed to put nationally hired operatives in each state to work with the state parties and disseminate the DNC’s message. The premise that this is a long-term strategy for the party is of paramount importance. Janice Brunson, an Arizona Democratic National Committeewoman, voiced her opinion of the 50-State Strategy and its on-the-ground effectiveness. While acknowledging that the strategy is sound and needs to be pursued in 21 the general sense, Brunson noted that the approach “should not be at the expense of everything else, including internal communication[s]” (No. 6, 12/15/06). Brunson’s opinion stems from the belief that the internal communications of the DNC have “gone backwards” in recent years, as compared to what it was like with Terry McAuliffe, former DNC chair, at the helm (No. 6, 12/15/06). She believes that the current DNC message is too simplistic and that the organization does not provide her, as a national committeewoman, with enough detailed information and substance to use in the field (No. 6, 12/15/06). In an examination of the 50-State Strategy, The New York Times reporter Matt Bai gives perspective to some of Brunson’s criticisms: “It’s not that Democrats in Congress don’t like the idea of building better organizations in the party’s forgotten rural outposts. Everyone in Democratic politics agrees, in principle, that party organizations in states like Alaska could use help from Washington to become competitive again, as opposed to the rusted- out machines they have become. But, doing so, at this particular moment and in this particular way, would seem to suck critical resources at a time when every close House and Senate race has the potential to decide who will control the nation’s post-election agenda, and when the party should, theoretically, be focused on mobilizing its base voters …” (Bai, 2006) Bai explains that the strategy and investment it would take could cost the organization as much as $8 million in the first year alone. This would also take funding away from campaigns where the Republican National Committee (RNC) is expected to spend close to $60 million (Bai, 2006). In analyzing the 50-State Strategy, Brunson pointed to and explained research that was done about six years ago under McAuliffe. This study encompassed on-site appraisals of each state party in the DNC. What was found was that the state parties 22 could be grouped into thirds: those that did not function properly, those that did, and those that were in the middle. In effect, some of the state parties are stronger and more effectively organized and successful than others. Knowing the different capabilities of each state party, Brunson noted that this would invariably affect the ability for the 50- State Strategy to be completely effective. (No. 6, 12/15/06) Another criticism of the strategy is of the caliber of those that are hired for these positions. Brunson stated that: “There are a lot of Democratic operatives that get hired and rehired, but they are not doing the best job. This is because in politics, references are hard because people spread out fast.” (No. 6, 12/15/06) Furthermore, Lakoff mentioned something in a similar vein as part of an anecdote he shared about a conversation he had with a congressional aide a few years ago. The aide told Lakoff “everyone here won,” alluding to the fact that those that did not win their campaigns are still out in the field working or looking for new positions (No. 2, 10/18/06). This is not to say that all political operatives who did not win their campaigns are untalented in comparison to those who did; that would be an unfair generalization. However, it is an important aspect of the political operative work force, which affects the 50-State Strategy. And, as Brunson puts it, “the 50-State Strategy is good, but it is only as good as each employee out there” (No. 6, 12/15/06). Conversely, Dan Gilgoff, reporter for U.S. News & World Report, has a differing opinion of the 50-State Strategy. In an article from July 2006, Gilgoff writes: “[The] ‘50-State Strategy’ [is] a multimillion-dollar program to rebuild the Democratic Party from the ground up. Over the past year, the DNC has hired and trained four staffers for virtually every state party in the nation – nearly 200 workers in all – to be field organizers, press secretaries, and technology 23 specialists, even in places where the party hasn’t been competitive for decades.” (Gilgoff, 2006) Furthermore, Gilgoff interviewed Howard Dean, who said: “It’s a huge shift. Since 1968, campaigns have been about TV and candidates, which works for 10 months out of the four-year cycle. With party structure on the ground, you campaign for four years.” (Gilgoff, 2006) Dean’s perspective on this strategy echoes the positive aspects of this long-term strategy, which is something that the Republican Party has been doing for years (No. 2, 10/18/06). Charlie Cook, political pollster and author of The Cook Political Report, agrees with Gilgoff’s opinions of the strategy, commenting that it speaks to the heart of the DNC’s principal role: “The primary responsibility of the DNC is not to win the House, Senate, gubernatorial, or state legislative races, but to build and sustain a national party and to oversee the presidential conventions and nomination process.” (Tagaris, 2006) While the DNC’s 50-State Strategy has its challenges, Gilgoff and Cook provide evidence that the benefits of this long-term strategy – continuous year-round campaigning while strengthening state parties around the country and addressing the responsibility of the organization – cannot be overlooked. The successes of the strategy will not be fully recognized until it has been implemented for more than one election cycle. The Rockridge Institute, where George Lakoff is a senior fellow, is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank operating from a progressive viewpoint. Under Lakoff’s direction, the organization focuses on reframing the public debate through applying the discipline of cognitive linguistics to politics, in order to help progressives recognize their 24 values, connect with voters and revive their American ideals (Rockridge Institute, 2006). As part of the research done by The Institute, the subject of framing is an ongoing theme. In a report published in April 2006, a detailed overview of strategic framing was outlined. The article contends that strategic framing can be utilized “in an effort to revitalize progressive discourse” by retooling policies and messages in ways that “speak to shared American values” (The Strategic Framing Overview, 2006). The organization’s Strategic Framing Project is designed to examine this challenge. As part of the Project, the Institute recently published, in conjunction with Lakoff’s byline, a handbook for progressives – Thinking Points: A Progressive’s Handbook Communicating Our American Values and Vision (Lakoff, 2006). This handbook provides analysis and proposals for progressives to reframe the debate utilizing shared American values from the liberal viewpoint previously articulated by Lakoff in Chapter 1. Going through all of the proposed frames and messages provided in the handbook is not particularly relevant to this project. However, what is relevant is some of the overarching propositions in the book, such as the statement that “the secret [to progressive discourse] is effective communication – the use of words and language in the service of our deepest convictions” (Lakoff, 2006, p9) and “be authentic and stick to what you really believe” (Lakoff, 2006, p23). Similar to what is provided in the handbook, The Rockridge Institute provides useful messaging, ideas and comprehensive philosophies to political operatives in the Democratic Party. Finally, the Center for the Digital Future is not a political think tank, but a research center created to analyze the use of digital media in American society. Through 25 its World Internet Project, the organization studied the impact of online technology and its uses. In 2005, this research yielded a result particularly relevant to this thesis. The Project found that “the number of users who say that the Internet can be used to gain political power has increased” (Center for Digital Future 2005 Highlights, 2005). The study showed that 39.8 percent of Internet users agreed that by going online it can give users more political power, which was an increase from 27.3 percent in the 2004 study (Center for Digital Future 2005 Highlights, 2005). Jeffrey I. Cole, the director of the Center, said of this research: “We are now seeing tangible evidence of the increasing role of the Internet in political decision making. The Internet’s growing role in political decision- making cannot be underestimated. More than three-quarters of users who went online for political campaign information sought insight regarding issues and candidates about which they were undecided. Clearly, the Internet’s role in the American political process will continue to grow, and it could have a significant impact during the Congressional elections of 2006.” (Center for Digital Future 2005 Highlights, 2005) The midterm congressional elections of 2006 ended with success for the Democratic Party. Democrats gained momentum and won majority control of both the Senate, with 51 seats in total, and the House of Representatives, with 233 seats in total, along with six governorships around the country (America Votes, 2006). Whether this was a result of the increased use of the Internet for political campaigning, information or fundraising is challenging determine. But, what is clear is that the increased use of the Web for politics has resulted in an engaged, online audience. This audience is an important stakeholder for campaigns and political organizations, including the DNC, which will continue to be essential for future communications. 26 Political communication and theory cannot be discussed without first pointing out that the bread and butter of this field of communications lies within campaigns. As such, it is important to understand campaign communications, as they relate to message delivery and targeting. Campaign messages are delivered to target audiences in two distinct areas, via paid or earned media. This distinction is often made in corporations, when discussing the difference between media relations and advertising. For campaigns, this distinction hinges on how the campaign is financed, and more specifically campaign finance rules and regulations. In this regard, campaign messages can be delivered through any medium of paid media, such as advertising, posters and direct mailing, or earned media, such as news coverage, grassroots initiatives and blogs. Message targeting is based on geographic and demographic data. This data categorizes voters and potential voters into a variety of groups based on characteristics such as location, beliefs, economics, interests, age, race or ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc. The distinctions can determine large groups of voters, for example all Democratic voters in New York. Similarly, these distinctions can be refined and dissected into very specifically targeted key voters, for example, Democratic voters in New York who are Jewish, white, females who read Newsweek. How and to whom a candidate, campaign or political organization targets messages is important. Furthermore, which groups of voters they choose to send their messages to plays a major role in how the messages are received. Dan Schnur, the 27 aforementioned political consultant and strategist, divides the voter spectrum into three types of people – saints, sinners and salvageables. According to Schnur, on average, 40 percent of voters are saints, 40 percent are sinners and 20 percent are salvageables. A saint is someone who agrees with your candidate all of the time, whereas the sinners are those that are never going to agree with or support your candidate. From this reasoning, campaign operatives should not waste time sending messages to sinners because they will never be convinced to vote for the candidate. This is where salvageable voters, another category name for the swing voters, come into play. These voters are typically registered independents or centrists, but what groups them together is their willingness to vote for either major party. 5 Robert L. Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for New Priorities, made comments that support the campaign communications philosophy set out by Schnur. Borosage wrote in 2003 that: “… [the premise that the Democratic Party has to] choose between energizing the base and appealing to swing voters is simply goofy. An enduring majority for reform requires both. Democrats must rally to the causes, organizations, leaders and voters of the party-base – union workers, minorities, pro-choice women and environmentalists – that are under relentless administration attack. But this need does not conflict with putting forth a bold and broad appeal that addresses both real security concerns and a working economy. The base of the party yearns for what the vast majority of Americans want: jobs, health care, retirement security, clean air and water, fair taxes, a voice at work, equal opportunity, freedom to make choices and a country safe from attack. Energizing the base is crucial to gathering the passion that wins elections.” (Borosage, 2003, p13-23) This analysis of campaign communications is vital to understanding communication within and by the DNC, and this information is fundamental in 5 Lecture notes from Journalism 499: Political Campaigns and Communications, March 3, 2005 28 addressing how the organization can better communicate internally. As previously mentioned, the DNC is responsible for sustaining a national party (Tagaris, 2006), and with that responsibility comes the importance of the communication within the DNC, and notably between the DNC and the state parties. The current communication practices within the DNC encompass traditional and non-traditional tactics. Multiple interview subjects commented on these tactics, listing numerous daily news e-mails, conference calls, internal memos, occasional face-to-face meetings and the Democratic Party’s blog, “Kicking Ass,” as some of the most often- used means of communication within the DNC and from the DNC to the state parties (No. 2, 10/18/06; No. 3, 12/6/06; No. 4, 12/6/06; No. 6, 12/15/06). Additionally, one subject commented on the shift in communication by the DNC over the years: “Previously, inside the DNC McAuliffe held monthly calls with all committee people around the country, proving that he and the DNC were extremely transparent. This transparency allowed for the state parties to have buy-in to DNC proposals, making it easier for the DNC to adjust its strategies, tactics, etc. Today, there have been vastly fewer conference calls, and the substance that was previously disseminated among committee people is missing – there are no position papers, polling information or issue summaries that would assist the states in communicating a national message.” (No. 6, 12/15/06) These tactical approaches to communication within the DNC, however, seem to be without “substantial content” or an all-inclusive strategy that would unite the state parties and arm them with information that would help accomplish their mission (No. 6, 12/15/06). The communication practices of the DNC speak to the organizational structure of the DNC, and in effect the nature of the organization. Addressed in Chapter 1, the DNC is comprised of 447 elected members, 75 at-large members, a 64-member executive 29 committee, three standing committees and eight caucuses (DNC Committees- Organization, 2006). The executive committee, standing committees and caucuses, would, in theory, communicate to the at-large and elected members of the party, who would then distribute this information to the state parties. However, as a DNC member herself, Brunson pointed out that there are only about one third of the members fulfilling this duty to bring information from the national party to the state parties (No. 6, 12/15/06). Furthermore, the communication pitfalls of the party are not solely the fault of the DNC members. The nature of the Democratic Party as an umbrella organization is also partially responsible. Another interview subject addressed that organizational structure of the DNC, and its potential for change, saying that: “[It] could have more of a ‘power structure’ where there is more top-down communication, much like the RNC. … Democrats have historically been on their own agendas, as individual contractors if you will, and it is unclear how to change that, or if people would be willing to be more pragmatic in that approach.” (No. 3, 12/6/06) DNC Chairman Howard Dean leads the organization today, speaking for the party in the public eye. However, Dean as the lead spokesman for the DNC, and therefore the Democratic Party, is not the only person speaking to and about Democrats on a regular basis. For the most part, political candidates and elected officials do most of the speaking, which leads to a confusion of message by the receiver because as they are receiving messages from candidates, elected officials and the DNC, which may not always be aligned. Campaigns give the American public messages on a regular basis, for example: “Political candidates communicate to voters directly (e.g., television spots, debates) and indirectly via the news. News releases are employed to convey 30 information to journalists; candidates use news releases to obtain coverage from both newspapers and television news.” (Cho, 2006, p47) Tom Waldman agrees that there is inconsistency of messages within the area of Democratic communication: “When you talk about the Democratic Party – the party’s message and the message of its candidates [or elected officials] are not necessarily entirely different, but they are different. The party message and the candidates’ messages are not always in sync.” (No. 5, 12/10/06) Not only are messages inconsistent from campaigns and the DNC, but there are also additional messages directed toward the same audiences from other democratic organizations, such as MoveOn.org, Center for American Progress, One America, and Democracy for America. In Lakoff’s book Don’t Think of an Elephant, he describes the strengths of the Republican message machine and how they work to keep everyone on the same message (Lakoff, 2004). Frank Luntz, a well-known pollster and head of The Luntz Pollster Companies, trains conservatives in how to think and talk, mostly with his message manual (Lakoff, 2004, p106). Conservatives have spent decades defining their ideas, carefully choosing language with which to represent themselves, through think tanks and companies like Luntz’s, and building an infrastructure to communicate them (Powell, 2003). Additionally, conservatives have been training other conservatives for years, says Lakoff: “Most of the research at the conservative think tanks is done in private, but they all have a public face. They put out reports, their scholars write articles in well- placed journals, they write op-eds, and they write books. All of these are in the public domain, but they’re not marked Conservative Infrastructure. It is as if lots of independent people were simply doing different things. However, there is coordination, and their efforts are linked. The major think tanks have large media 31 operations, round-the-clock TV and radio studios, for example. Eighty percent of the talking heads that appear on American television are conservatives, many of them from these think tanks. They have all been given extensive media training, as well as language training. In some cases half of the budget of a major institute may be dedicated to getting the ideas of that institute into the media. There are agents who get the scholars at the institute onto radio and TV shows, and who get their books published. There are writers who write press releases that can be read directly on radio and TV news programs, or put directly into a newspaper story. ” (Lakoff, 2004, p107) However, the Republican methodology may not be good for the Democrats, who pride themselves on a diversity of opinions within the ranks. The Democrats are not simply an organization that would accept messaging from a top-down strategy; it simply would not work as the only communications flow. With that said, there is a benefit to having a strong two-way strategy for messaging on a national scale. Although there are multiple messages and communication directed at Democrats from multiple organizations, the goal and purpose of this communication tends to be similar. From the DNC’s perspective, the ultimate organizational goal of communication to its audiences is to gain support for the party, in both public opinion and financial arenas. While other organizations or campaigns strive to garner support for policies or an election, they, too aim to gain public opinion and financial support by and for Democrats. Until recently, this overabundance of communication from multiple organizations has occurred predominantly leading up to and during national elections. By comparison, for years the RNC has had a year-round, on-the-ground presence across the country that is incomparable to the DNC’s, making “[the Republican Party]’s ability to communicate unbelievable” (No. 6, 12/15/06). The 50-State Strategy and the DNC’s current efforts to 32 address non-election communication is an important step to addressing this dichotomy between the two major parties. Theoretical Analysis Before moving forward, it is important to examine the applicable communication and organizational communication theories. The communication theories include Maxwell McCombs and Donald L. Shaw’s Agenda-Setting Theory, E. Katz and JG Blumler’s Uses and Gratifications Theory, and Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann’s Spiral of Silence Theory. Additionally, the relevant organizational communication theories include James Gruning’s Two-Way Symmetrical Communication Theory and Irving Janis’ Groupthink Theory. These theories will shed light on how the DNC and the party as an organization operate, as well as how its stakeholders interact with the organization. The idea that the media sets the agenda for what society thinks about is the basis of the Agenda-Setting Theory. This theory explains and predicts that people with similar media exposure place importance on similar issues. In essence, if two people watch “The West Wing” both would find importance in the issues discussed during the show, such as national security. However, the theory does not assume that although the issue is important to both people that they would agree about policies. The theory proposes that it is possible and probable for them to feel differently about the same issue. (Agenda Setting Theory, 2001; McCombs, 1981) Darren G. Lilleker (2006) outlines this theory as it relates to political communication: “In a mediated democracy, politicians often battle to determine what is on the front page of the newspapers, or the leading item on the news. The agenda is the 33 news of a particular day, more specifically the story, and how the news is told. Not only do politicians battle with each other, they also battle with the media, who may have opposing views and wish to treat a story differently to that which the politician desires.” (Lilleker, 2006, p27) Although her explanation is explicitly targeted toward implications for politicians and campaigns, it has repercussions for the DNC, which Lilleker also points out. “Political parties may operate on information subsidies, which can restrict public access to the facts and enforce the notion of the hegemonic model in an information society” (Lilleker, 2006, p28). Additionally, this theory plays a “key role in any political organization’s news management strategy” because it is a significant factor in the goal of shaping external public opinion (Lilleker, 2006, p28). Using this theory as a communications strategy is important for the DNC to manage news stories in the same way a politician or campaign would. Another pertinent theory for an examination of the DNC’s communications practices is E. Katz and JG Blumler’s Uses and Gratifications Theory. The premise of this theory is that audiences, or “media users,” play an intricate role in determining what is portrayed in the media. The theory “focuses on the needs satisfied by individual consumers in using the media, without regard to the effects sought by the media producers” (Real, 1980, pp 238-258). Blumler and Katz say that the audience seeks out a media source that best fulfills its needs, meaning that by choosing a media source, the end user receives gratification for doing so because it fulfills his or her needs. Another important aspect of this theory is that end users can choose what influence media has on them and end users choose media alternatives merely as a means to an end. Conversely, 34 the major criticism of this theory is that it is overly optimistic and does not recognize the power that media has on today’s society. (Real, 1980; McLeod and Becker, 1981) Again, Lilleker (2006) outlines how this theory is applied in the practice of political communication: “… audience members may well watch a political advert to discover only what that party is saying on one issue; say education. They will then use the information in other aspects of their life, for example they may be teachers or school governors, and assess whether that party is offering something that they like or not, and further along decide whether to offer their support to the party.” (Lilleker, 2006, p201) Lilleker goes on to suggest that this theory implies that audiences “select the bits of communication we wish to hear, ignore that which we do not want to hear” (Lilleker, 2006, p201). This is an important connotation because of the stark repercussions for political communication. Schnur touched on this concept, referring to it as “iPod Politics,” explaining, that although the iPod is a metaphor for many things, it also applies to politics. The benefits of an iPod to the end user are that it allows him to listen to whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and not listen to anything else. However, this leads to isolation, where he never hears anything that is unwanted, different or outside of his current tastes. This puts the iPod user in a completely different universe from his neighbor, who also is listening to an iPod but with different selections and within his own cocoon of interests. (No. 7, 12/22/06) Political communication was once disseminated via fewer channels of mass communication, with more people listening, reading and watching the same television and radio channels or newspapers. Today, everyone is more isolated by what they want 35 to listen to, read or hear. There could be significant discussion regarding the current state of media in the US, and its targeting of niche audiences. However, for the purpose of this study, the above metaphor serves as a description of the Uses and Gratifications Theory as it relates to political communication. Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann’s Spiral of Silence Theory postulates about the behavior of public opinion. Suggesting that there is a majority and minority in the public, Noelle-Neumann states that people will be unwilling to publicly express their opinions if they believe they are in the minority. Conversely, they will be more vocal if they believe they are part of the majority (Spiral of Silence, 2001; Spiral of Silence Theory, 2004) People, and therefore voters, experience a fear of isolation and being rejected by those around them. Thus results the dynamics of public opinion, which is the: "… attitudes or behaviors one must express in public if one is not to isolate oneself, in areas of controversy or change; public opinions are those attitudes one can express without running the danger of isolating oneself." (Spiral of Silence, 2001) This theory contrasts with the previous Uses and Gratifications Theory as it applies to political communication and the DNC. It seems that while voters and the general public are ever more isolated into niches of interest and media, they are at the same time afraid of being rejected for not having a majority view. While the two theories do not go hand in hand, they are both important frameworks in which the DNC needs to address its own communications strategies. Communications professionals often refer to Two-Way Symmetrical Communication Theory, citing its benefits in a sound communications strategy. Longtime public relations educator James Gruning devised this theory, pointing to the 36 importance of conversation within the hierarchy of an organization; his theory “establishes a dialogue between sender and receiver.” Gruning says: “In the symmetric model, understanding is the principal objective of public relations, rather than persuasion.” The principle of understanding and Gruning’s overall theory emphasizes the importance of feedback in any communications model. However, it is important to note that in many organizations the use of two-way communications, although seemingly symmetrical, is motivated by asymmetrical goals, convincing the audience of the sender’s message or view. (Wilcox, 2003, p168) Many interviewees agreed that there is currently a two-way communications system within the DNC. However, there was disagreement as to whether it was an effective two-way system. The DNC is, however, effective in the dissemination of information. For example, the DNC regularly communicates with state parties and state party chairs, including the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC), holds national meetings with DNC committeeman, and distributes information on a regular basis. These communications tactics and techniques allow the receivers, the state parties, to give feedback to the sender, the DNC. Yet, some questions were raised as to what feedback information was actually considered, utilized or accepted. If this is true, it poses questions pointing to a disruption to the two-way system, and the important principle of understanding. Looking forward, the Two-Way Symmetrical Communications Theory is an important goal for the DNC organization. The final applicable theory to this study is Irving Janis’ Groupthink Theory, which is based upon the consensus-seeking tendencies in any given group. This theory 37 applies when consensus occurs, leading a group to make faulty decisions because group pressures led to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, realty testing and moral judgment.” Although this conclusion may seem elaborate, the principal behind this theory is important. Groups affected by Groupthink tend to ignore alternatives and take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups. This type of action can be seen during most elections when negative campaigning occurs. Additionally, within the Groupthink Theory, a group is especially vulnerable when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision-making. (Janis, 1972; Janis 1982) Many organizations are susceptible to Groupthink, including the DNC. In recent years, pundits and journalists have commented on the Republican Party’s susceptibility to a “political echo chamber.” According to SourceWatch, a part of the media watchdog Center for Media & Democracy, an echo chamber is a term: “… used to describe a group of media outlets that tend to parrot each other's uncritical reports on the views of a single source, or that otherwise relies on unquestioning repetition of official sources” (Source Watch, 2006) The occurrence of an echo chamber has been seen in the US in recent years, as the Republican Party utilized conservative foundations and think tanks to disseminate messages and talking points to elected officials, party operatives and media (Source Watch, 2006). This caused the same messages to be echoed both by the media and politicians, making it sound to the average American that multiple, reliable sources agreed on key political topics (Source Watch, 2006). The echo chamber is a catalyst for 38 Groupthink, both of which are trends the DNC needs to be aware of, and ensure neither becomes extreme situations. This theoretical analysis establishes many considerations for communications within and by the DNC. These theories also allow for understanding of how the DNC operates in relation to its multiple stakeholders and audiences, and how they in turn interact with the organization. 39 CHAPTER 4: PUBLIC RELATIONS BACKGROUND "Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance." - Edward L. Barnays, the ‘father of public relations’ 6 According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the leading professional organization in the field, public relations “helps our complex, pluralistic society to reach decisions and function more effectively by contributing to mutual understanding among groups and institutions, serving to bring private and public policies to harmony” (Official Statement, 1982). Additionally, the practice of public relations serves a variety of institutions within society, both public and private, to effectively develop and maintain relationships with different audiences and publics important to a particular organization (Official Statement, 1982). For a more condensed definition, public relations’ primary function is communication to impact, and in essence change, behavior. Although very broad, this definition speaks to the role of public relations in politics, campaigns and political organizations, where the goal is to persuade the opinions and voting behavior of others. Public relations is a practice that encompasses both marketing and advertising, as both practices are often incorporated into broader public relations and communications campaigns. There are various aspects of public relations, which is an expansive profession. For example, internal communications, publicity, public affairs, lobbying, issues management, litigation communication, investor relations, development, integrated 6 Wilcox. p44. 40 marketing and community relations are all different specialties and practices within the public relations field. Therefore, the combination of marketing and advertising, along with public relations tactics and different forms of communication, come together to effectively impact behavior. Public relations is a key component to political communications, campaigns and political organizations. Lilleker (2006) describes public relations’ role in politics, what he calls Public Relations Democracy: “Public relations democracy is a term used to describe a pluralist society with a free media and where much of the communication that comes out of the political system is designed to persuade the public that policies are correct, that laws and procedure are legitimate and that one organization is better at representing groups of voters than its competitors.” (Lilleker, 2006, p168) Although this portrayal is described in a somewhat negative manner, the aspects of free media and the persuasive communication tactics used to ultimately impact behavior, which are in line with public relations’ role in politics. Public relations is part of every political campaign and political organization, and of politics in general. Without utilizing the tools that public relations brings to the table, such as persuasion, consensus and relationship building, campaigns and political organizations would not be able to win or develop support. Furthermore, internal communications, publicity, public affairs, lobbying, issues management, litigation communication, development and community relations are all aspects of politics, although they may not commonly be labeled as such. The DNC is a political organization, and as such it uses public relations and communication to address and impact the behavior of its audiences. The DNC aims to 41 change behavior by garnering both public opinion and financial support for the party and votes for all Democratic candidates. To impact its various audiences effectively, the DNC uses public relations, though it may not be called that, on a regular basis. Moreover, when public relations is aligned with the strategic organizational and communications goals, meeting specific objectives, it has the potential to impact behavior. For the DNC, this alignment could increase voter turn out, engagement on issues, and the number of Democratic candidates running for office. When the public relations practitioner has the ability to be in a management position, either in the executive suite of a business or executive board of a non-profit, he is further able to align the public relations practices of the organization with its goals. The inclusion of a public relations department in this way allows for transparency, both internally and externally, in all communication, the ability to get buy-in on new ideas, and to truly be strategic in its approach. This overview of public relations and how it relates to politics, campaigns and political organizations emphasizes the public relations challenges that the DNC is currently facing. Of these challenges, this project aims to address the organization’s internal communications practices and address what the DNC can do to improve in this particular area of public relations. 42 CHAPTER 5: STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS ANALYSIS “What is it that the Democrats stand for today? Is it efficiency and good government or compassion and consensus? … In terms of message, this is perhaps the most crucial time for the Democrats in a couple of decades. But, it is hard to see right now how the party is going to meet this challenge.” - Tom Waldman, author and public relations and media consultant 7 The previous chapter describes the role that public relations can play in impacting behavior, and therefore an organization’s efficiency and ability to achieve its goals. As a public relations practitioner, in order to best address the current problems and challenges of the internal communications within the DNC, one must first assess the current situation. The above quote by Waldman is an example of the current predicament facing the Democrats, highlighting that the party must meet the challenge of what it stands for today. Part of figuring out what the party stands for includes aligning internal audiences while addressing and correcting internal weaknesses to strengthen and unify the party. The following strategic communications analysis provides an assessment of the internal communications practices of the DNC. With the information provided from this analysis, a public relations solution to address these practices needs to be considered. Therefore, the following assessment provides information on what the aim of a public relations campaign would entail. For the purposes of this investigation, the author intends to address the DNC’s lack of internal communications within its organization. To further address this project’s proposition, the author will utilize a strategic communications analysis approach, which 7 Primary research interview. No. 5, 12/10/06. 43 will be accomplished by implementing strategic public relations techniques, including a statement of the problems and challenges the DNC currently faces in its internal communications and a situation analysis with strategic implications. Statement of Problems and Challenges There are four relevant and predominant problems and challenges facing the DNC today: it has a very complex organizational structure for communications with internal audiences; there are a variety of communications channels available to the DNC that are not being effectively employed; there is a perceived lack of effective feedback systems for audiences to voice their opinions and concerns; and, as Waldman expressed in the above mentioned quote, the DNC, and the Democratic Party in general, does not have a clear, unified message. Currently, the communication strategies and tactics utilized by the DNC to communicate internally are based on a complex organizational structure. As outlined in Chapters 1 and 3, the DNC operates as an umbrella organization for the Democratic Party. As such, it communicates to a wide variety of internal message receivers, which are referred to as audiences by public relations practitioners. The DNC’s internal audiences include: Chairman Howard Dean; the 447 elected members of the national committee, who form the core of the party; the 75 nominated at-large members; the 64- member executive committee with the five vice chairs, treasurer, secretary and national finance chair; the three standing committees and eight caucuses; the state parties around the country; the staff at the DNC and operatives working through the 50-State Strategy; 44 and the other organizations that interplay with the DNC like the DLC, DCCC, MoveOn.org and PDA. These audiences are the key internal stakeholders at the DNC. Although an analysis of the current communications paradigm used within the party, from the leadership in the DLC to the field operatives, would be extremely beneficial at this point, substantial information is not readily available outside of the organization, as pointed out in Chapter 3. In the absence of this information, however, it is useful to highlight how the communications structure should be organized. From the information that was available and accounts by multiple interview subjects, we can infer that there is currently a two-way symmetrical communications system in place within the DNC. Moreover, the subjects also agreed that the system is effective in disseminating information, although at times seems redundant or trivial without enough significant, useful information. While there is currently regular communication with state parties, state party chairs and the ASDC, national meetings for the entire membership and e-mail distributions, questions arose as to the effectiveness of the current two-way system. Even though the current communications allow the audiences to give feedback to the DNC, it is uncertain if these comments are utilized (No. 6, 12/15/06). Communications perceived as repetitive or insignificant without an assurance of a feedback system is a critical challenge, whether in reality or perception, that the DNC must address for its internal communications to become more effective. Furthermore, there is a communications quandary within the DNC as it expands its uses of online mediums to communicate with its internal audiences. Although the organization is not neglecting the uses and benefits of traditional mediums for internal 45 communications, such as newsletters, memos and conference calls, it needs to better employ these tactics for optimum success. While there is an abundant availability of communications channels, some are under-used. Some examples of these channels include newsletters, position papers, polling information memos, and new technologies, such as blogs, Webcasts, text messaging and podcasts. These channels could be used more regularly and effectively to motivate, unify and organize the DNC. This, in turn, could lead to the safe result on the party as a greater entity. Situation Analysis Utilizing the research gathered and analyzed in the Literature Review (Chapter 3), below is an analysis examining the internal and external strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats currently facing the DNC’s internal communications practices. Strengths In this breakdown, a strength is qualified as something that is considered a positive attribute or asset that is internal to the organization, which could help achieve its goals. With this definition, the DNC has significant strengths contributing to the potential power of its internal communications, including: the use of blogs, the potential of the 50-State Strategy, the majority leadership in Congress, and an interest in improving its internal communications. The most outstanding strength comes from the successful, continued and ongoing uses of blogs, including “Kicking Ass,” to communicate internally and for operatives to communicate among themselves. By embracing this relatively new medium of communication, the DNC has not only cultivated a captive audience online, which is 46 another strength of its communication, but a grassroots movement that is also a viable resource for volunteers. The blogosphere is a powerful entity for political communication, as demonstrated by The Center for Digital Future’s research conclusions that the Internet can and is being used to gain political power and information (Center for Digital Future 2005 highlights, 2005). It is also a useful tool to collect feedback from stakeholders, a key factor in two-way communication. Since Dean’s appointment as chairman, the DNC has increased its efforts to communicate internally and with the state parties via the use of blogs. Also, as part of the overall goals for alignment of the 50- State Strategy, the DNC is now working to increase its efforts to more broadly communicate. The state parties have been utilized and communicated with previously. However, the potential for the 50-State Strategy to positively impact and increase the internal communications within the party is significant. The DNC’s nationwide strategy has the capability of increasing the dialogue between the DNC’s Washington organization and each state party. The potential result of the strategy could significantly strengthen the internal communications in the DNC. One of the reasons the state party chairs and the ASDC pushed for Dean’s appointment to chairman was the promise of increased, thorough two-way communication. The midterm elections of 2006 provided the DNC with the opportunity to work in alignment with the DCCC to succeed in achieving a majority in both houses of Congress. With the new majority leadership in Congress, the DNC has the opportunity to enhance its communication with elected officials to unite the party. Finally, the interest in working to improve party 47 communication and information sharing shows great potential and is the first step towards successfully improving its internal communications. Weaknesses As the opposite of strengths, weaknesses are negative aspects of the current situation that are internal to the organization. The DNC’s internal communications efforts are challenged by: the nature of the current internal communication; the frequency of communication with the state parties; the lack of an overall Democratic message; and the lack of accountability and transparency currently in place, particularly as it relates to the 50-State Strategy. As Arizona Democratic National Committeewoman Janice Brunson expressed, there are concerns about the substance and functionality of the current communication within the DNC organization. This concern stems from a desire for the communication to be useful while insuring it is not insulting. The distinction between useful and insulting communication is a fine-line and may be construed differently by different people or audiences. As Brunson pointed out, the last thing the DNC wants to do is insult the party members who have been involved for many years (No. 6, 12/15/06). The nature of the current communication within the DNC needs to become more essential to its audience. For example, newsletters sent too often will not be valuable as most involved party members and internal audiences check the news on a regular basis on their own. Although the DNC currently communicates with its committee members, the state party chairs, and the ASDC, additional efforts can be undertaken to communicate more effectively. The DNC does not utilize these essential internal groups to their full 48 potential to share and garner support for a national agenda, message or information. This is not to say that it is not being attempted in earnest. However, a more practical integration of this communication and dissemination channel to other internal audiences is an essential portion of the DNC’s internal communications practices that must be sharpened. As Waldman points out, the Democrats lack an overall message to unify the party. As he emphasized in our discussion, typically this unifying message comes from a presidential candidate’s campaign, when the party rallies behind its candidate (No. 5, 12/10/06). During presidential elections or when a Democrat is in the White House the Democrats are united with a message. However, since President George W. Bush’s election to office in 2000, despite the presidential election in 2004, the Democrats have not had a message to bring the party together (No. 5, 12/10/06). Lakoff in his research and publications about framing has addressed this absence as well. In Don’t Think of an Elephant, Lakoff calls for progressives to unite and cooperate and to “rise above your own mode of thought and start thinking and talking from shared progressive values” (Lakoff, 2004, 33-4). The DNC could step up and become the unifying force for Democratic values by proposing and talking from shared values that resonate throughout the party, and which then can be used by multiple internal audiences. Finally, the current internal communications practices lack accountability, transparency and regular interaction. The benefits of the 50-State Strategy are inspiring, but the ostensible lack of accountability for the operatives and state parties is a significant weakness to this strategy. Absolute accountability is a difficult measure in politics 49 because there is not a direct win or loss in every situation. However, accountability for information distribution, increasing the infrastructure and stability of state party organizations, and an increase in local or state elections where a Democrat is running for the position all amount to positive and meaningful measures of success for of the 50-State Strategy operatives. Transparency in communication with internal and external audiences is a hot- button issue in many organizations, companies and politics in general. An increase in the transparency and frankness of any communication to all audiences is essential to gaining and keeping the trust of an organization’s audiences. There is currently an obvious lack of transparency of the internal communications by the DNC, as pointed out in multiple interviews. However, as one interviewee pointed out, too much transparency and information disseminated broadly could result in campaign and competitive strategy being shared with the opposition, which would then inhibit communication (No. 3, 10/29/06). This consideration should not be taken lightly. Nevertheless, open two-way communication, and the ability to garner buy-in to new strategies, hinges on transparency. In the business world, corporations circumvent this issue with nondisclosure agreements and code names to protect new product information from being shared in the public domain. These techniques along with compartmentalization of information allow corporations to protect competitive information. Although these business practices are hard to implement in the public sector, they serve as examples of how to protect information in competitive situations. 50 In line with a lack of transparency, is the lack of communication between the DNC and the eight caucuses. Whereas DNC Chairman McAuliffe once held regular communication meetings with the caucuses, there seems to be a comparative lack of that type of communication today (No. 6, 12/15/06). Each of the caucuses, the Eastern Midwest, Southern, Western, Women’s, Hispanic, Black, and LGBT, are important internal stakeholders with concerns and issues important to an overall DNC national agenda and message (DNC Committees-Organization, 2006). The importance of the caucuses is not currently ignored, but a more functional use of their expertise is indispensable in aligning the DNC with local issues around the country. Opportunities These trends, factors and considerations are positive attributes of the situation that are external to the organization, which could work to the organization’s advantage if properly addressed and handled. There are four main opportunities for the DNC’s internal communications, including the opportunities to: impact local politics on a state- by-state basis; further unify, motivate and organize the party; leverage supporting organizations and associations; and capitalize on the successes of the 2006 midterm elections. Through the examination of the DNC’s internal communications and the new 50- State Strategy there are many strategic opportunities that the organization can leverage to its advantage. Most significantly, the DNC, through the 50-State Strategy, has the opportunity to more effectively impact local politics on a state-by-state basis by increasing voter turn out thereby assisting Democrats running in local races and 51 increasing Democratic wins nationwide. One of the goals of the nationwide strategy is to improve and increase the infrastructure of every state party in the US, which would dramatically impact local politics in every state. With an improved state party, the local organizers and volunteers will have more support so that they can more successfully enhance voter turn out rates in each state and the number of Democrats running for local races, resulting in increased Democratic wins nationwide. This prospect gives rise to another important opportunity. If the internal communications are leveraged effectively, to unify, motivate and organize the party in a more efficient manner, it will impact Democratic success around the country. Furthermore, the long-term affects of the 50-State Strategy and the current third-party opinions that it is the correct long-term strategy for the DNC provide incentives to continue with this strategy. These incentives also provide the ability for the DNC to grow in strength, both organizationally and financially. The DNC also has the ability to leverage the organizations of supporting associations and groups within the Democratic Party around the country. For example, the DNC’s current working relationship with the DCCC and their successful campaigns during the 2006 midterm elections propelled the party into leadership of both houses of Congress. This majority position, and work with the DCCC, will help the DNC in its internal communications practices. Working with and utilizing other organizations will help the DNC expand its reach and help unify the party. Some organizations that the DNC could work more closely with include the ASDC, DGA, DLC, DSCC and PDA. 52 This unification could further generate the ability for the DNC to broadcast an overall national agenda and message for the party. Finally, the internal strength of success during the midterm elections of 2006 is also an external opportunity for the DNC. The organization has the ability to capitalize on the accomplishment of having a majority in both houses of Congress and the successful election of six governorships. Threats These considerations are again trends and factors external to the organization, which could work to the organization’s disadvantage. There are four threatening considerations, including: the nature of the Democratic Party’s organization; blog activism by the newly engaged online grassroots audience; the lack of consensus on national issues leading to other concerns; and weak state party infrastructures. The most significant threat to the DNC’s internal communications is the nature of the Democratic Party. The DNC is an umbrella organization that is not cohesive and is somewhat disorganized due to the multiple perspectives represented within the party. Within this structure, like other political parties, the DNC has a history of top-down communication that enhances this threat. Due to this organizational structure, the supporting organizations that pose an opportunity for the DNC’s internal communications also pose a threat. Even though the increased use of the Internet and blogs has provided a new audience of engaged grassroots activists and a readily available audience to communicate to, the DNC must be weary of blog activism against its initiatives. Blog activism is a 53 relatively new phenomenon that evolved from the blogosphere. A blogger is someone who maintains a Weblog, can write about any topic of his or her choice, and is typically anonymous. Though they are often referred to as journalists, either amateur or professional, they are not required to adhere to the same universally accepted codes of conduct as professional journalists. Because of the anonymity and lack of adherence to journalistic standards, bloggers are not controllable. Today, blogs have become a platform for activism as a modern grassroots method in contrast to traditional activist tactics. Because the online community is now so engaged, blog activism and efforts that weaken the DNC’s internal communications efforts are a serious potential threat to consider. A lack of consensus from elected officials on certain national issues, such as the current struggle to find an overarching strategy for Iraq, is part of the democratic process. However, it also poses a threat to the DNC’s internal messages and communication being pushed aside for a preference to another organization’s messages. This threat speaks to the importance for the DNC to address only those things, which it as an organization can own. The DNC needs to focus on the national organization of the party and not try to become other organizations such as the DCCC. Finally, the results of the on-site appraisals of each state party, conducted under McAuliffe, are an important consideration for the DNC’s internal communications successes. Knowing that approximately one third of the state parties are not effectively organized or functioning, points to the need for the 50-State Strategy and the potential pitfalls of any communication within the DNC. The 50-State Strategy also has 54 weaknesses that could threaten the efficiency and success of the DNC’s efforts to improve its internal communications. (No. 6, 12/15/06) Strategic Implications From a public relations perspective, an internal communications campaign at a business or organization could manifest itself in many forms. However, there are some common best practices for communicating within an organization. David Krawitz, a former senior vice president in the corporate communications practice at Fleishman- Hilliard and USC lecturer, outlined several key ingredients to successful internal communications. These include: • Rewarding and celebrating internal audiences frequently • Recognizing the value of each person’s work • Demonstrating the organization’s values to all internal audiences • Establishing a strategic framework for communicating • Seeing and hearing the leader of the organization frequently • Recognizing daily work • Utilizing an Intranet, which is the glue to communicating internally • Communicating pervasively and interactively • Having humor and humility An internal public relations campaign might aim to unite an organization around its values by developing internal messages about the organization that would tie internal communications under one strategic umbrella that is tied into the culture of the 55 organization. Having a united organization with effective internal communications creates a common conviction around the core proposition of the organization. With these ideas in mind, after examining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT), there are major conclusions and insights that will affect any public relations approach to addressing the DNC’s internal communications practices. From the previous analysis, there are three major implications from this analysis that are important to highlight before moving forward with a proposal to address the situation. First, any public relations strategy to address the internal communications within the DNC must be respectful of its audiences, whether it is to communicate more substantially or to direct internal audiences with a call to action. It is imperative that communication or direction by the DNC does not insult or pander the receiver. The DNC must communicate with its audiences as valued stakeholders and collaborators, valuing their work and dedication, and realizing that they all have something to contribute and are there for a common goal. This is a very important step. Only by not alienating key audiences can the DNC ensure an effective campaign. Second, from this analysis, the DNC needs to provide and supply more substantial and effective communication to its internal audiences. The phrase “effective communication” implies communication that is useful and meaningful for the audiences it addresses and has the potential to impact their behavior. Such effective communication will quell internal concerns that were expressed in some interviews. Moreover, it will 56 powerfully arm audiences with the ability to share information and act as both as informed representatives of the DNC’s messages and as multipliers of those messages through external communications of their own. Examples of effective communication could include sharing additional and relevant polling data, detailed national agenda information, position papers, national messages and regular communication to address the transparency weakness. Ultimately, the DNC needs to be true to itself and become the best national party organization it can. In doing so, it must stay away from alienating other supporting organizations or delving into areas not under its jurisdiction, so to speak. 57 CHAPTER 6: PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGY PROPOSAL “’Everyone is a victim of their own success,’ that’s my favorite quote. People like to stick with what works when they’re successful. For example, President George W. Bush was successful in the 2002 and 2004 elections when he talked 100 percent about the ‘war on terror,’ and despite everything pointing to the contrary he did the same in 2006 because it had worked before. And, there is a natural evolution of politics, it’s never stagnant, making things that we wouldn’t see today in politics, commonplace in five to 10 years.” - Dan Schnur, political consultant and strategist 8 As Dan Schnur colorfully describes, politics is forever changing. There is always going to be a new development, technology, or tactic that changes how political strategy is enacted and communicated to the American public. With this in mind, it is always important to examine and reassess current procedures in order to update and improve their effectiveness in achieving the goals set out by the organization. From a public relations perspective, this project’s examination of the internal communications practices of the DNC gives reason for the party to move forward as quickly as possible with a proactive strategy to more effectively communicate internally. Successfully implementing this strategy would help unify the DNC as an organization while addressing the strategic implications outlined in the situation analysis in Chapter 5. Proposed Goals and Objectives Before proposing a strategy to address the situation, communication goals and objectives must be defined and outlined. The communication goals will be the overall, high-level outcome aspiration to be achieved by the proposed strategy. In line with these goals will be communication objectives that are measurable whenever possible as 8 Primary research interview. No. 7, 12/22/06. 58 interim steps to be achieved en route to reaching the goals. The goals and objectives fit together to accomplish a task much like scoring points and winning a game fit into a football game. In this analogy, scoring touchdowns, two-point conversions, etc. are the objectives achieved during the course of the game, whereas the accomplishment of winning the game is the overall goal: beating the other team. In essence, the objectives are the steps and multiple accomplishments made during the implementation of a public relations campaign. The cumulative effect of meeting objectives will ultimately combine to achieving the overall communications goals. For the DNC, the communication goal of this proposal is to unite the organization and advance the organization’s mission. This goal is attained through cumulative success in meeting the objectives of optimizing the internal communications within the DNC, making it an effective two-way symmetrical system. Additional objectives include increasing positive two-way communication between the DNC, its committee members and the state parties and increasing the frequency and substance of communication. These communication goals and objectives have been identified and chosen to address the strategic implications identified in this paper, concentrating on improving internal communications practices of the DNC. Measurable objectives are important in creating milestones for a public relations campaign. The most valuable measurement of this proposal will be a semi-annual internal communications audit, which would be an analysis of the internal communications of the DNC with feedback from both those facilitating and receiving the communication. This audit should be completed semi-annually to create benchmarks for 59 which to measure future improvement. The real measure of success for the DNC is winning elections and major elections occur every two years, an annual audit would not allow the organization to quickly react effectively to address the audit and enhance communication. Proposed Strategy Many strategies could be proposed to address the internal communications of the DNC. However, for the purposes of this project and to align with the goals and objectives stated above, one overarching strategy will be suggested, which we will call the Transparency Strategy. This approach is a broad statement about the overall scope of activity to be undertaken. The purpose of the Transparency Strategy would be to instigate, promote and improve a two-way symmetrical communications system within the party. Information within the DNC’s communication structure starts with the DNC in Washington and flows down to the state parties and operatives in the local communities around the country. The more timely, accurate and relevant information that is available to those within the structure, the more able and willing they will be to disseminate it properly to elected officials, community members, volunteers, and ultimately voters. This will help engage the Democratic Party’s voter base by educating them with national information and including them in the process. This strategy will also promote year-round communication within the party and to voters. In line with the 50-State Strategy, this will not be solely focused on the election at hand or raising money. It will be focused on uniting the party with information for 60 volunteers to become more involved, engaging new volunteers and campaign workers and strengthening the DNC’s infrastructure. Ideally, this will provide an avenue so that in election cycles and when fundraising occurs during on and off election years, more people will be willing to volunteer, vote, donate and contribute time and money to the DNC or Democratic candidates and campaigns. Finally, this strategy will promote accountability. Accountability goes hand and hand with transparency. Responsibility and accountability need to be maintained through the use of a reporting structure and specific guidelines. Increasing accountability will also positively impact information distribution, the infrastructure and stability of the state party organizations, and the number of Democrats running for positions around the country. A mixture of tactics can be used to accomplish the Transparency Strategy, and to accomplish the communication objectives and goals. Tactics proposed include: improving substance and relevance of communication; maintaining and cultivating a national DNC database; embracing new trends and technologies; and initiating a two-way information sharing mechanism within the organization to cultivate internal feedback. Most of the following proposed tactics will help increase the openness of communication within the DNC. First, the communication by the DNC must improve in substance and relevance, particularly when it comes to communication with the state parties. In order to know what is relevant information, the DNC should take advantage of the technologies described below to garner input from its audiences regarding their high priority needs. 61 Although this may occur today on an informal basis, a more structured feedback mechanism would be greatly beneficial. Substantively, there is important information that the DNC should share, such as polling data and position papers. Polling data is vital to any political campaign, whether it is focused on a referendum, election or education. This information is fundamental to ensuring successful political campaigns and initiatives. Additionally, state parties can use position papers to educate local field operatives and garner support for the DNC’s national agenda and initiatives. With these two types of substantive information communicated to the state parties, the DNC can serve as a resource for the states while assisting each state’s political organization grow stronger. In order to create a more dynamic two-way communication system, the DNC should allow its audiences to give feedback on what information they think is relevant in order to continually adjust and monitor its information sharing. A structured feedback mechanism like this would allow audiences to request and give input on the information they receive, consequently creating a two-way system. Databases and e-mail list serves exist throughout the political world. These can be accessed through county registrars, the purchase of lists through database companies and many other means. For the most part, databases and e-mail list serves function to communicate with the voting public on issues, for organizations, or for candidates. Each campaign or organization needs to focus on each of their key areas of interest, geography and demographics. Having the support of a national DNC database that is updated regularly and cultivated through ongoing outreach, national conventions, as a list of nationwide supporters would help each organization and campaign communicate 62 nationally. Additionally, it would help the DNC communicate its agenda and message on a national scale, much like the RNC has effectively executed over the past several years. Although this would primarily be a DNC-driven information channel, recipients could complement the national information by sharing their own information. The DNC has begun to use new media in its current communication. Through its “Kicking Ass” blog and online fundraising techniques, the DNC has embraced some of today’s new technologies and medias. The “Kicking Ass” blog could be enhanced to be used as a top information source for 50-State Strategy operatives, state party organizers and other DNC audiences. The blog should provide more commentary, links and information in line with more of the mainstream blogs currently in the political sector, such as MyDD and Daily Kos. Additionally, more should be done by the DNC to embrace new trends and technologies to communicate effectively with its audiences. One additional use could be an RSS or News feed. The DNC should replace the daily e-mails that are sent out with an RSS or News feed on the Democrats.org Web site. Communications can be instantaneous and user-driven. This method will not insult those who already saw the articles, but those who opt-in can get information from the DNC can do so at their own convenience. In summary, a foundational, two-way information sharing mechanism for general and confidential material needs to be initiated. For many businesses, the use of a secure Intranet is very useful for interoffice information, communication and file sharing. Such a technology could be used by the DNC to encourage best practice and information 63 sharing among operatives. By using a secure technology like an Intranet with pass codes and security technologies, there is added value because it will lead to a much freer exchange of information. Best Practices information and continuous improvement are two practices that are prevalent in the business world and would be particularly powerful and useful for the DNC. As an umbrella organization, DNC has access to the successes and failures of 50 different state organizations. States often struggle for new ideas, not realizing that they are, in essence, re-inventing the wheel. By collecting and disseminating information on best practices that have yielded results in one state, the DNC strengthens all its state organizations. Furthermore, being the source of best practices information makes “tuning in” to DNC communications more of a value proposition for state parties, activists, potential candidates, and even state legislatures. Thus, continuous improvement allows suggestions for improvement on best practices and an additional feedback mechanism for those who implement best practices to share what worked or did not work for them. This will further improve the shared information with new results. With the implementation of these two business practices, the internal audiences are will be motivated to seek out more communications from DNC and, therefore, will be more receptive to DNC messaging. 64 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION "You need to take up the challenges that we face as a nation and make them your own. Not because you have a debt to those who helped you get here, although you do have that debt. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate than you, although I do think you do have that obligation. It’s primarily because you have an obligation to yourself. Because individual salvation has always depended on collective salvation. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential." - Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) 9 During a speech made at the Knox College 2005 commencement ceremony, Senator Barack Obama called for graduates to lock onto something bigger than they are to achieve the obligation to themselves in order reach their potential. Similar to President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, quoted at the beginning of the project, this encouraging speech is also relevant to the DNC. This project is noticeably neither a Band-Aid nor a wonder solution for the DNC to address all concerns within and surrounding the party. It never presumed to be the latter, and hopes not to be the former. However, it is a start in the right direction for the party to grow and address current concerns. Improving the DNC starts with its internal organization. If the DNC can enhance its internal communications system to become efficient and transparent it would ultimately positively affect the party’s mission and organizational goals. The author’s theory in approaching this project was that the DNC was struggling as an organization due in part to a lack of internal communications. The expectation was to find that the party was not doing enough to communicate internally and that the 9 See remarks be Senator Barack Obama at the Knox College Commencement, June 4 2005. 65 majority of communication currently received by internal audiences was strictly focused on elections. Also, the author anticipated that this shortcoming would give justification for the party to implement a proactive strategy to communicate internally, in an effort to help unify it as an organization rather than be solely focused on elections. Significant information in multiple areas of practical and theoretical application for this project was gathered. However, for the most part, the author found that there was a lack of study and external information on this subject to either unquestionably support or refute this project’s hypothesis. This points to the need for more research about party communications outside the realm of election or campaign communications. The author was, however, able to infer and conclude from multiple interview subjects that the DNC is effective in the dissemination of information. Although effective in distribution, the DNC faces a challenge of an effective two-way symmetrical communications system where information flows from the top down and back from the bottom up. The DNC needs to address this challenge by communicating more effectively to its internal audiences. In doing so, however, the organization must be cautious to not insult or pander to its audiences. Instead, the DNC’s communication should be used to unite, motivate and organize its internal audiences to achieve the organization’s goals. With this in mind, a public relations strategy to improve the internal communications within the organization was proposed. Goals, strategies and tactics for a public relations strategy were articulated. The Transparency Strategy calls for the DNC to first and foremost conduct a semi-annual internal communications audit. Following this recommendation, the author primarily calls for the DNC to initiate an information 66 sharing mechanism within the organization. The mechanism proposed is the use of a secure Intranet system to promote sharing best practices information and continuous improvement, both of which are used prevalently and effectively in the private business world. Additional tactics within this strategy have been proposed to increase the substance and value of the communication disseminated by the DNC to its internal audiences. With the implementation of a semi-annual audit and the Transparency Strategy, the author expects that results will reflect the goals and objectives outlined in this project. The objectives laid out for this proposal included: optimizing the internal communications; making an effective two-way symmetrical system; increasing the positive communication between the DNC, its members, the state parties and other internal audiences; and increasing the frequency and substance of communication. These objectives can be measured against the semi-annual audit for successful metrics and improvement biannually during election cycles. Ultimately this public relations campaign will address these objectives and accomplish the goal of uniting the DNC as an organization and advance its mission. 67 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bai, Matt. “The Inside Agitator.” The New York Times. 1 October 2006. Accessed 15 October 2006, from <http://www.nytimes.com>. 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Accessed 22 August 2006, from <http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/projects/strategic/framing>. 76 APPENDIX A: INTERVIEWS Seven interviews were conducted with political activists and operatives, and others, between October and December 2006. All interviewees were told that, if they wished, no information or specific opinions they presented to me would be made public in a form which would lead to them being identified. A significant number of the interviewees asked for this condition to be respected. With the exception of those who allowed their names to be used, interviewees will not be identified by name in this project. All interviews were conducted in person or over the phone with copious notes taken on each. These notes are saved and stored, and have been catalogued as follows: No. 1, 10/15/06 Anonymous No. 2, 10/18/06 George Lakoff No. 3, 10/29/06 Anonymous No. 4, 12/6/06 Sara Rosenzweig No. 5, 12/10/06 Tom Waldman No. 6, 12/15/06 Janice Brunson No. 7, 12/22/06 Dan Schnur 77 APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS The following are the interview questions used as a starting point for each research interview. During the course of each interview and the information revealed by each person, additional questions may have been asked to continue the discussion. Each of the of the seven interviews were conducted with political activists and operatives, and others, between October and December 2006. All interviews were conducted in person or over the phone with copious notes taken during each. Interview Questions 1. What current communication patterns are you aware of in the Democratic Party? (e.g. opt-in email, memos, podcasts, etc. old and new mediums. How often, when and what?) 2. In the communications you are familiar with, do you feel the party is speaking to specific audience? If so, which ones? If not, can you explain? a. Examples of campaign communication and what that entails i. What is the goal or purpose of this communication? Do you think it is effective? If not, how what can be done to make it more effective? b. Can you give examples of internal communication to Democrats from the DNC and/or other organizations, such as Moveon.org, Center for American Progress, One America, DFA, etc? i. To the best of your knowledge, how does what the Democrats do contrast with what the Republicans do? 3. Do you think there is currently a two-way symmetrical communications system in place in the party? How/why? a. Importance of feedback – Do you think there is a mechanism for this now? Can you describe what that mechanism is or might be? 4. Do you think that the Democrats can operate as a single cohesive organization? Why or why not? Please describe, give examples if you can. a. What about: i. DLC vs. Progressives ii. Split in the party? 5. What are your thoughts on the effectiveness, on-the-ground presence and overall success of Dean’s 50-State Strategy? a. What has already been done? b. What else can the 50-State Strategy do? What needs to be added to the strategy to make it better? c. What about any other of Dean’s initiatives – blogs, web fundraising? d. How do you think it compares with Rahm Emanuel/DCCC and the Red to Blue Program? 78 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW DOCUMENTATION Interview notes, No. 1, 10/15/06 This interview was conducted under the condition of anonymity. Political consultant in San Francisco, CA The book “What’s the matter with Kansas?” – the parts I read it’s a good place to make inferences of what’s going on successfully with the Republican party and what’s wrong with the Democrats. How I feel, the messaging strategies that have come out for our Democratic candidates are safe. They speak directly to the polls we do. We do a lot of polling for candidates that are running as Democrats … let me start from another place. Initially, a lot of people were coming to the Democratic Party to run as Democrats, mostly because the Republicans had a bad rap, for lack of a better phrase. So, a lot of those running as Democrats ran and were actually Republicans that were in favor of small government and were Democrats at one point in their life. These are a lot of the moderate Democrats we saw. More traditional Democrats have seen an influx of Republican looking Democrats running the middle ground. This shifted the party to that middle arena in order to win elections as “moderates.” Traditional Democrats are now considered “extreme liberals” because the middle ground shifted. Candidates who are very pro guns and pro life, they’re much more “conservative liberals” And, in the upcoming election, we’re going to see a lot of those. There is no more conservative and liberal split. Conservative line split towards the Democrats … Value issues that are not traditionally part of the Democratic Party are now prevalent in Democratic politics For example, one candidate running in Idaho has always been a Democrat, but when we did polling for him, a lot of things came out that people were really in favor of him being religious. Now, we have to run his campaign based on his deep religious values, and not necessarily traditional Democratic values. Today, campaigns are much more focused on values than on issues. We don’t poll on hot-button issues; we poll on language such as family values and religion. 79 In 2004, Democrats ignored the issue of family values and that’s one of the major reasons why they lost. Now, being a Democrat having to refer to things like that it’s almost uncomfortable. But, in order for any candidate to poll highly today, they have to talk about their values and ideas of family values. If you are just looking at family values, there is still a lot of stigma attached to that. I read an article the other day that a lot of Evangelical Christians aren’t coming out to vote now that they see the serious ethical problems unraveling in the media. The DNC does a lot of independent expenditures for groups and candidates during the election cycle. That’s done by a lot of other national and state organizations too. There are all kinds and they all do this type of campaign funding. They can campaign for the candidate on the organization’s money, and cannot have any contact with the campaign. Ads and sending out information through channels like direct mail or messages during “paid for by” ads. That’s how they get their message across. For example, we’re working with the DNC in Florida and for some of the state house races; the party works directly with the candidate. The party is paying for the mail, and the state party represents the candidate. In this case, the candidate has given their permission and the party has nominated the candidate to do that campaign. The DNC is a lot more generalized for all Democrats rather than hot races. I think it’s more of a standing with your party communication. Issue based communication from the DNC all year long, like mass emails, fundraising emails, that sort of thing. The people that chose to write them are on super heated issues, they’re boring. I already know how I feel about that type of issue. What I found in doing research for the Center for American Progress was that, interestingly, the Republicans have an on-the-ground field campaign all year long. They are responsible for party campaigning that is not candidate based, and you never see that on the Democratic side. On the Democrats’ side, you do see that for an issue or a candidate, but not for the party in general. That’s why the Republicans can pull out their base – they’re on the ground all year long. There’s something missing in the DNC and in the Democratic Party. The issue of internal Democratic problems is that there’s no solid message. 80 For the Democrats, they are all flying on their own, always trying to fight against Republicans. If you make your own message the fear is that you’ll loose people and support. A lot of it, I think, could start with more local activity. The Republicans pretty much gained back Congress because they started locally by winning school board and local races. The Democrats don’t have a group of experienced people running for the top positions and there is no localized effort. The state parties have a big roll in it all and I don think the Democrats necessarily do it right. For example, the Republican Party in California did so much in the last year, and they’re not even close to being a majority – the recall, election and reelection. The Republicans are savvy and go local level to gain traction. If Schwarzenegger was not Austrian, he would be a good presidential contender. And the Republicans have now managed to potentially put someone in the presidency, again, and that was basically all local. It would have to be someone how wasn’t Austrian, but that’s just a hypothetical example. The national Democratic Party is not as effective as the state based parties. I think the state parties are lacking support and that’s what’s hurting us. Especially in the younger Democrats, that demographic is tough for support. In terms of databases, we have multiple lists we can buy or pull from – register voters, party voters, you can slice it any which way. Most of the time, though, it’s done through individual counties. They have a record of all that information, it’s public information but sometimes you have to buy it. When we create a mail universe that we want to do direct mailings through, we go through a vendor that gets and compiles files from the county. Sometimes, state parties have their own database. The Florida Democratic Party, for example, has its own database with permanent absentees, etc. States have the general information of all total voters, etc. Interesting things to look at in terms of religion and values, and how that plays out in the elections, will be Virginia’s race with Senator George Allan and Jim Webb, and Connecticut’s three-part race with Senator Joe Lieberman. 81 APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW DOCUMENTATION Interview notes with George Lakoff, No.2, 10/18/06 Biographical information: senior fellow and founder of The Rockridge Institute, author of Don’t think of an Elephant and Thinking Points, and professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. There are two kinds of mechanisms that the Republicans have to disseminate and ensure that they are all on the same message. Luntz’s book, you should get a copy by going to DailyKos.com and download a copy of last years. It’s used in leadership institutes and trainings throughout the Republican Party. There will be another one published in January to incorporate lessons from this year’s election. There are more local sources, it happens every day via email lists to hundreds of people. Talking points are sent out to everyone and they have a booking agency in Virginia of every television and radio talk show with all of the conservative experts and pundits. You can call the booking agency any time a topic comes up. It’s like ‘dating’ and they set it up. It’s a very effective way to get the conservative message out through multiple channels. There are no moves to implement this type of strategy in the Democratic Party. This is because of many complicated and conflicting issues. Although they are aware of what Republicans do. Some of the problems include … About four years ago (about 2002) Rob Stein the Democratic Alliance founder, and former treasury official under President Clinton, did a study on what the GOP does, which you can find on the Democratic Alliance Web site. Democrats haven’t gotten it together to do something yet. No one has the authority to make up the talking points. There are a lot of disagreements. Grover Norquist lead the GOP Wednesday morning meetings with activities, GOP columnists, pundits and others. DCCC and Rahm Emanuel have been war, of sorts, with Howard Dean over his 50-State Strategy. Rahm and Dean have totally different strategies. Rahm is part of the DLC. There is a right wing of the Democratic Party. The DLC is a big part of that and this is a piece of the issues. 82 Here’s a feel for the systematic problems facing the party: First of all, Newt Gingrich and company took over in 1994 where they signed and passed a bill to cut congressional staffs. There were two reasons for this. First, the think tanks and lobbyists that were conservatives, it gave them more power and weeded out the moderate and Democratic ones. Second, it got rid of moderate and Democrat staffs. They also changed the rules of legislation. Legislation used to be drafted by committees so that both Democrats and Republicans would know what was coming up. The legislation changed it so that only Republicans, or the majority, were drafting. Democrats now get the draft and are always kept on the defensive. They don’t have the staffs as a minority to do research on the legislation that’s being proposed. There isn’t a message machine by the Democrats where as there is one from the Republicans. That also harms the Democrats. Harry Reid set up a group of people to act as the Democratic message machine and put out the defensive messages. But, the best of the people are there and they end up spending their days writing five press releases a day and coordinating with the House. The Senate group coordinates the defensive with both the House and the DNC. It’s done really quickly and is all based on the upcoming election. There is no time or room for them to be forward thinking or strategic because of this focus. There are no general messages about the party or from the party going out. The second part … I once asked a congressional aide about this. He said everyone here won. You get here with a team – pollster, writers an ad company. There are 250 members in the House and Senate. There are about 20 teams available. Those that didn’t win, their teams aren’t working for those in Congress. There are financial and political incentives to be the same. New candidates only have certain teams to choose from. The money given from the DCCC, DLC etc. is only really gotten and kept by the organization dictating teams and strategy. Also, there’s a split in the party between the DLC and progressives. What you find is that there is a tradition in the DCCC where every congressman should give 10 percent to the general fund. With Rahm only recruiting and giving money to moderate candidates, progressives have forgone giving the 10 percent to Rahm and the DCCC. The DCCC hasn’t raised as much as they thought and is getting more aggravated. The DLC tends to be afraid of the base rebelling they want to keep control. So the DLC 83 attacks organizations like MoveOn.org, or Howard Dean, or even me. This is just a fraction of the internal craziness and fighting inside the party. Democracy Alliance is an alliance of billionaires raising billings of dollars, some pushing towards the DLC while others split and side with the Progressives. Rationalism in Thinking Points … Leads people to crazy views of polling and ideas are not identical with programs. No discussion otherwise. That’s the class of problems going on with the party. In order to get this type of information you have to get in the center of it all. Or you’ll ask why aren’t they doing anything. It took me about three years to get all this information. In terms of strategy, there really isn’t any. There’s no forward thinking and there’s a distrust of the voters. Typically, Democrats don’t try to lead the polls instead they follow them. Republicans on the other hand, lead the polls. In Thinking Points I talk about biconceptuals, where values and trust are important factors on why voters vote. You should see Dean’s blog and the 50-State Strategy. Haven’t really been implemented or effective because some don’t want it to be. 84 APPENDIX E: INTERVIEW DOCUMENTATION Interview notes, No. 3, 12/6/06. This interview was conducted under the condition of anonymity. In respect of this desire, the interview documentation has been withheld. 85 APPENDIX F: INTERVIEW DOCUMENTATION Interview notes with Sara Rosenzweig, No. 4, 12/6/06. Having worked for the Democratic Party in New Mexico, it’s interesting how it works. There are a lot of organizations involved: The National Democratic Party committee, Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC) and others. The ASDC oversees all state parties and state party chairs. It works in conjunction with the DNC. It has its own goals and strategies to promote state parties. Each organization, especially the ASDC, communicates regularly with the state parties and state party chairs through conference calls, emails, etc. To the states, in addition to the DNC and DNC committee members. The chair of the state party chairs – there’s elections for that. They lobby within that organization too. There’s a top-down tier structure of communicating with membership. The DNC’s unique to having a parallel structure. It starts at the national party and gets pushed down. When I left the state party, they were electing a new chair at ASDC conference. At the conference Dean was presenting what he was going to do – the 50- State Strategy. The staff in each state, field organizations and talk up to party and state chairs direct the field organizations. The national party is sending down from the top a message that they do internally. Through weekly conference calls and communication, folks with talking points from the talk with the states dictating to the national and state party chairs what the message should be. A lot happens through the state parties. We have a national platform. That’s supposed to be composed of states submitting resolutions to the national party meet at big conferences. The conferences send a platform to the national party. In theory, these are integrated into national platform. I think it’s communicated, but I’m not sure it actually happens. There’s definitely two-way communication, without a doubt. And, under Dean things have gotten better, I think. I believe in the 50-State Strategy. That was the state party chairs saying this is what we want. I think the strategy has a long way to go, but it’s a good start. And at the same time, Rahm did an excellent job and did the right thing. Dean was able to become the chair because he made the 50-State Strategy part of the party. Paid for by the DNC and hired by state party chairs. 86 When it comes to issues and agendas, and how things happen, I think it’s a lot of the national party leading. Through the 50-State Strategy, the DNC has hired operatives, trained them in Washington D.C. and then deployed them. It’s been effective in some states and not effective in others. It varies and is dependent on the current state infrastructure. Benchmarks? As an outsider to the DNC internal organization or the strategy, but as an operative I haven’t seen any. I was so impressed with the strategy. I joined Democracy for America. I get regular communication from them, but I’m not seeing anything tangible. There’s a lot that the DNC could do. The blogging community is huge and the national party has started to do this. The DNC hired all these people from Juicy Digital that ran all of Dean’s email and blogging strategies. The DNC is effective at communicating through its Web site. The best way to do this is what they are doing online. Bloggers are the way that a lot of this is communicated. DailyKos.com or Democracy for Arizona or New Mexico is examples. Volunteers do most of this. Blogs are the really big tools of communicating what’s going on at the state parties. Most activities are concerned with party structure and the process. Democrats for New Mexico hosted a sample resolution online; it’s a unique how blogs work. Blogs get more people engaged in the actual process. Talking about the issues is good. One of the best state party models is Michigan’s Democratic party. Looking at the best of the best is what’s happening there. You should look into them and see how they work. I think the national party could do a lot more. The problem is not the national party. Their role, the way I see it, is supposed to be a message and direction for the country. I look for my message from my state or county party. And, the national party is supposed to be activating their base and having that implemented in the state. If you have weak structures in the state, then you don’t know what’s going on. Arizona is a good state party structure. I have seen where we have and have not accomplished things, through my work in the South Carolina and New Mexico state parties. I left because things tend to be inefficient. 87 The DNC committee members tend to be appointments out of honor, to recognize work of some of the state organizers. The 50-State Strategy could change that to make the members more effective. And I’m hopeful it will. It also could be what makes communication work in non-election years to help change each state party. When Howard Dean spoke about the strategy, it is all about implementation. In theory it is about electing local officials in non-election years. So, that in the really big election years you can have things running smoothly. Because there’s not a national election, it doesn’t mean there aren’t local elections. The 50-State Strategy requires a four-year commitment from its operatives for those who get hired. My friend was hired by DNC to do fundraising was supposed to have given a commitment through the 2008 election. 88 APPENDIX G: INTERVIEW DOCUMENTATION Interview notes with Tom Waldman, No. 5, 12/10/06. Worked for Congressman Howard Berman for seven years in his district office. I now work for California State Controller John Chiang, writing press releases, arranging conferences, serving occasionally as spokesperson, advising on stories, among other things. [The democrats] are just coming off an election where the Democrats did pretty well. How much of that was the national party’s message, and how much of it was the DCCC, in terms of the party message right now? Can speak to this, I’m finishing up a book on liberalism and message in voters over the last 30 years. It’s not very clear what the party’s message is. And, when they go take office that’s going to be a problem. To the extent it existed in the last year it’s been negative. It’s time for change. In terms of policy mandate, when the Democrats take office in January the first month or so will be very harmonious. This is because it’s going to be about the economy, raising minimum wage, and probably offering a bill that will repeal some of the tax cuts. Consensus for that, workers rights maybe and work place safety. This was probably the most right wing Congress in history. Once those basic economic issues are out of the way and satisfied, the consensus to do those, then I’m not sure what the party’s going to do. There’s not a consensus on Iraq. It’s going to get really dicey on social issues. Some Democrats have almost Republican views on social issues. In terms of what the party stands for it’s going to be a very difficult process to come to an idea of what it stands for. DLC – not sure how relevant it is at the moment. In the Clinton administration it probably had its hay day. Not sure if it’s a force at the moment. Among the leading Democrats right now, if they are listening right now to the DLC, it’s hard to figure out. Frankly, on economic issues the Democrats look pretty good. It’s interesting. Now the Democrats are seen as the party of fiscal responsibility. That’s a 40-year shift in thought, which was just the opposite back then. And that’s one of the Democrat’s overarching messages now. 89 And, it’s the Clinton years that turned this around. Better at fiscal responsibility to Washington. They’re doing a good job, but could do better of communicating it. On the other things, national security and the social issues, probably health care too, but that gets complicated via doctors, organizations that they want health care reform and giving funds. I haven’t seen anything. But, there’s always conference calls, meetings, internal memos, etc. It’s tricky. When you talk about the party – the party’s message and the message of candidates are not necessarily, entirely different. But they are different. And, what they’re focusing on right now is media driven. In terms of Congress, what the Democrats stand for is going to be very important. What does Pelosi stand for? She’s not seen as a DLC democrat on the economy. And, the DLC’s positions on the economy are all that matter in the long run. And, what the candidates are going to stand for in national campaign for president is a big part of the larger message. When you talk about the Democratic Party – the party’s message and the message of its candidates are not necessarily entirely different, but they are different. The party message and the candidates’ messages are not always in sync. And then the focus, we tend to identify particular candidates with the party. For example, Clinton, those that don’t like Clinton will say she’s a typical “xyz” democrat or an “abc” liberal. And they do the reverse to republicans too. How Democrats get the message out, they use traditional media. But, again need to delineate in research – who are the Democrats delivering? Dean or Pelosi? Clinton or Obama? These are all people that don’t necessarily … What is it that the Democrats stand for today? Is it efficiency and good government or compassion and consensus? … In terms of message, this is perhaps the most crucial time for the Democrats in a couple of decades. But, it is hard to see right now how the party is going to meet this challenge. That would be consistent today with all those people. Economic issues, most, leading ones. Still the Democrats are still basically a pro-choice party. With pro-gay rights, but not necessarily pro same sex marriage. For example, Kerry and Edwards’ campaign was that it was a state’s issue. On Iraq, there is no consensus. What unified in 2004. I don’t think I’ve seen a President despised as much as this one in my lifetime, but the Democrats capitalized. So, despised 90 the current administration. We were willing to run candidates that would have been heavily supported before like this one. In terms of message, this is perhaps the most crucial time for the Democrats in a couple of decades. It is very hard to see right now how the party is. Going to see a lot of, more than usual looking very closely at concerns of getting a feel of the party. You need to define what you mean by message. Two sentences that capture the message. A whole bunch of position papers? How does this got communication, need to come up with something and that’s hurt the democrats for the last couple elections. They have the opportunity to communicate and have responsibility. Theory that democrats weren’t holding people responsible for elections and community. There are a couple of ways the Democrats can go. They can stand for efficiency and good government. This government hasn’t been, hasn’t responded quickly or efficiently to disasters. They can be known for understanding and having a coherent foreign policy and fiscal responsibility. They can come in and know how to run the government better. And these have efficiency, competence. Managerial skills should be a component of that message is has to be with compassion, particularly in economic and health care consensus. There’s a sense that this current government, and it did, were so contemptuous of other points of view in a very undemocratic way. The idea that the Democrats will seek to build consensus is good. The key to message is that it’s different from positions. This says how you view people, situations and issues. Consensus defines how you view government and effective government; secure sense in self that soliciting other points of view is a good thing to do. Compassion is also a great message. Efficiency, but if I could think of a c word to make it three it would work, shows that people can feel confident and comfortable the government is well run. And, that’s a good opportunity for what’s previously happened with the outgoing Congress. 91 APPENDIX H: INTERVIEW DOCUMENTATION Interview notes with Janice Brunson, No. 6, 12/15/06 National Committeewoman from Arizona Briefly: there was a cleaning supplies company in the 70s, sold house to house. Financed the GOP headquarters, a complete technology center. DNC didn’t start matching that until about eight years ago. GOP’s ability to communicate is unbelievable, about four or five years ago – two with Dean and before with Former Party Chair Terry McAuliffe. McAuliffe was the first to really have concise communication in the Democratic Party, what he did, implemented and made happen was extremely valuable. In 2000 and 2004, prior to campaign finance reform McAuliffe purchased property to compete with the GOP on the communications front. He rebuilt the DNC National Headquarters, built a state of the art radio and TV station with instant replay. This was dynamic for us. It was an enormous step ahead for communication (around 2001). McAuliffe scrubbed voting slits throughout the country. At the 1996 DNC National Convention, you came and gave your name and e-mail address with a T-shirt. The same year, the GOP got your e-mail and gave you something, a substantial gift and they collected tens of thousands of e-mail addresses. So, we’re behind the eight ball in every way. McAuliffe brought us into the 21st century in terms of communication. In my opinion, under Dean the DNC has gone backwards in a sense. Previously, inside the DNC McAuliffe held monthly calls with all committee people around the country, proving that he and the DNC were extremely transparent. This transparency allowed for the state parties to have buy-in to DNC proposals, making it easier for the DNC to adjust its strategies, tactics, etc. Today, there have been vastly fewer conference calls, and the substance that was previously disseminated among committee people is missing – there are no position papers, polling information or issue summaries that would assist the states in communicating a national message. Issue ethics and committees, caucuses all are basically a joke at the moment. The caucus meetings don’t get anything done. They’re not producing position papers or substance for the rest. 92 I used to bring everything from the DNC meetings home. I got position papers, a lot of substantive information from the DNC and brought it back to the state. And now, under Dean I don’t have anything to bring home anymore. There is almost too much coming from the DNC and there’s nothing substantive. Daily, there are about three to five emails each week, but all of them are summaries of news articles and there’s absolutely no value in that to me. Most democrats who are involved are watching, reading their own news anyhow. In my opinion, at every level there needs to be sharing, more information and more transparency and the ability for more buy in. Share information to get buy in so that everyone can suggest and make recommendations. There needs to be a lot of transparency. Conference calls are a strong way to connect with people because it’s effective. More polling data is necessary. We need to ensure the seats we have are kept. And, a lot of things to get done. Political information is critical. Under McAuliffe there was a lot of summary of issues, fewer emails by the DNC, analyzed Democrats and more. We could also use a lot and be benefited from new modern technology. We need it. Podcasts would be a good idea. It would be great to engage some of the younger Democrats and a great way to communicate. I don’t think it’s going on but it would be effective. The 50-State Strategy is well and good. About six years ago, McAuliffe there was an on site appraisal done of each state party in the DNC, including abroad. Summary showed that a third of the parties did not function, one third kind of did and another didn’t function. Paid employees for the first time in parties, it depends a lot on the employee for effectiveness of the strategy. There are a lot of Democratic operatives that get hired and rehired, but they are not doing the best job. This is because in politics, references are hard because people spread out fast Dean has hired a lot of state operatives and of our worst and reflects some poor staff. The strategy has good use and long-term strategy. But, only if there is money to use for it. Very good thing he had done. Long-term strategy. Should not be at the expense of everything else and the internal communication – this aspect of the DNC is frightening. DNC message is too simplistic. 93 There is not enough depth, detail and information for the field. The 50-State Strategy is good, but it is only as good as each employee out there. And then tend to be very lame. A lot of caveats for it. Need people to rely on too, pure week so far. Not at expense of the party. Two-way communications: there’s no communication at all within the DNC. Become very vocal at last meeting in September. At the last meeting in September, no one would open mouth. So many people believe it is so lame, now and there is no depth to the communication. But, no one will say anything. I have seen on occasion. Dean presented religious outreach, but it was so simplistic people complained and we haven’t heard about it again. It was too simplistic for any value. On second hand information, the money spent on states is guided by restrictions that are seemingly childlike and almost insulting in their distrust. I started attending DNC meetings about 10 years ago, first as a guest. Then I did four years under McAuliffe. He was a delight; he elevated the party to a new light. Don’t get me wrong; I have profound respect and admiration for Dean. In the beginning, DNC officers weren’t initially thrilled with Dean. He didn’t have meetings with the officers for a long time. Communication is critical and the most challenging thing in this era of communications is communicating. You have a really ready audience with the DNC and state parties – they are craving information. Pretty well known that you’ve got some state parties at the DNC that are good and some that are bad, it’s really in thirds. There are old timers that never leave and then there are the committed people. More than a third bring nothing back to state parties from the national meetings. I believe they need a training session for the DNC members, but that’s really hard because you don’t want to insult anyone. So, I’m not sure if would work. But maybe for the new people … There’s no accountability in the party. It’s a popularity contest. Conversation of what to do and can do, there’s no accountability. 94 One thing I did do when I started was that I had to define what the job meant. I did that for the first time about twenty years ago. I used to travel a lot and explain, talk around the state. My term is up in 2008. What I identified was that I needed to listen to everything and gather as much information, take copious notes and bring it back. I’ve noticed that there aren’t many other people taking notes. I needed to bring information back to the state and disseminate it as much as possible in Arizona. Otherwise, no one has it. Work with elected officials too to get the information to them too. Sharing of best practices (idea) is good. A while ago they did try to do this. There’s fine line between sharing information and insulting people. There is a LOT of people with a LOT of egos, and you don’t want to insult anyone. There are big delegations in the big states like California, and there’s a hierarchy where many people don’t have the opportunity to speak. Clubs and caucuses – loved and got it at the national level, the caucuses can work nationally, and they can work in the state level This idea to implement in the state came from a meeting at the DNC from another state representative. I met chair of the club system in California and took ideas from him. The idea is to develop clubs in as many areas as possible – it would be so effective if it were in every zip code in the country. Best way to communicate to people is through the local area and through the clubs with like-minded people in the same area. It’s a system that’s now taken off here – clubs are a resource 95 APPENDIX I: INTERVIEW DOCUMENTATION Interview notes with Dan Schnur, No. 7, 12/22/06 See class notes from Spring 2005 for reference. What Dean is arguing for is money invested in the 50-State Strategy and that is really along the lines of your topic. Look at article by Matt Bai in The New York Times or it’s magazine for a large article about Dean. If it were up to me, I would split the different between Dean and Emanuel. Both have and had good strategies. Emanuel can’t get an inside straight every election and make that big of a win all the time, like in the midterm elections 2006. Dean needs a fall back plan in case Ohio goes the other way. This strategy is like insurance to Emanuel’s plan. This strategy has a long-term goal, and was the reason Dean was elected chairman by the states But if you’re simply spreading money around it does no good. There needs to be incentives for the funds and support. Incentives are important. State parties, directors need to say what we’ll do and that’s what they should get funding for. Each state is different. The national party needs to recognize that. Accountability is important. There could be an application process for the 50-State Strategy funding from each state party. The application would be on behalf of each state, giving a plan for what they would do with the funds. The national committee would make the assessment of who gets money based on smart on-the-ground strategies and tactics. The DNC needs to ignore the DLC and progressive split. The DNC is the umbrella organization and needs to not favor one or the other faction, but respect both in order to accomplish its national agenda. More organization and better preparation is what is needed. Organization of what the DCCC does in terms of the hard decisions that have to be made day in and day out for which campaigns to fund. This would be a longer-term one, two or five year plan for the state, whether it is to run a democrat in every state election as an objective, or to mobilize volunteers for campaigns. 96 Talking about the DLC and MoveOn.org split: at a dinner party I was at I spoke with the founder of MoveOn.org, and asked if he was the “Ralph Reid” of the Democratic Party. (Ralph Reid was the head of the Christian Coalition before it split the Republican Party.) He had no answer but had no intention to do what Reid had done. When you have an empowered grassroots, like the Democrats do and they do through MoveOn.org, it’s important to recognize and be aware of it because it could get away from you. You saw this in the GOP more and more density, like we saw with Reid. The DLC vs. MoveOn.org issue will be settled by the next Democratic nominee for president … This goes back to the classic argument in the two party system, and to the 80/20 strategy, or 40/40/20 strategy we talked about in my class. If you’re looking for and trying to gain a critical mass of support within the organization, campaign, etc. that type of strategy is what you have to use. There’s something I like to call the “politics of hunger.” The longer a party has been away from the state dinners at the White House, the more they’re willing to compromise to get back at the table, they’re hungry for it. An example of this is the Democrats in 1992. The willingness to compromise increases. This probably works to Obama’s detriment but benefits Hillary, but that’s just speculation. This goes back to the biographic vs. personal credibility we discussed in class. The two things a candidate has to campaign on. I have to recommend two books: Politics Lost by Joe Klein and The Way to Win by John Hearns and Mark Helprin. Accountability: You can’t have absolute accountability, it’s not a win and lose situation with elections and politics. Good progress develops its own sets of measurements, this goes back to applications and programs as we just discussed. Peter Walsteen and Tom _______ wrote a book, I just don’t remember his last name, about micro targeting. This technique is seen throughout politics for targeting voters. There were absolute standards at all levels during Rove’s on the ground strategies during the last two presidential campaigns. Every step of the way, from the block representatives to the state representatives, there was reporting and high standards, they were fired if they didn’t make enough contacts. The primary benefit of the use of the Internet is the value of organization and motivation. Organization also mobilizes workers. It is hard to persuade via the Internet because it’s hard to reach new people. An example of the power of the Internet is how Wal-Mart changes and recharges its merchandise orders based on online chatter. Discussion of information online … 97 Online motivation is just as important as organization. Blast e-mails, blogs and private information like talking points shared creates motivation. Internet and this kind of information gives operatives and people working on the campaign something to focus on that’s not in already all over the media. This allows them to get something out of it, a reason to do their job. Because so much online talk is who wants to listen and talk to you already you’re talking to your saints (see class notes and 40/40/20 strategy). This leads to what I like to call “iPod Politics.” It’s a metaphor for a lot of things. Positively, whatever I want to hear, I can hear it when I want to hear it and only that. Negative of the iPod is that I’m isolated and I never hear anything “unwanted,” “new” or different. Because I can listen to whatever I want I am in an entirely different universe than you are. In the old days everyone got the same pool of political information when the family was watching television. Today, everyone’s isolated into what they want to listen to and hear. There are no “outside” voices “disagreeing” with you. An example of this is all of the different ESPN channels I have to choose from on cable. This is seen today as a trend in media too. What that means for politics is that we’re not all experiencing the same thing. In politics it is much harder to form a consensus. There is no interest in doing something outside, and it’s against your self-interest to do so. It’s polarizing. This goes to the media conflict concept we discussed in class. But, empowering and motivation outweigh the polarization. The Internet allows the ability to deliver different messages to different types of Democrats and therefore different “iPod listeners.” This leads to more and more targeting and micro targeting. This also works to motivate a complex base of voters. The hope is that people are starting to look for some more of commonality. The way my generation versus the way your generation uses the Internet is astounding. Your use of Facebook and MySpace, you have something in common with more people than you think. ‘Everyone is a victim of their own success,’ that’s my favorite quote. People like to stick with what works when they’re successful. For example, President George W. Bush was successful in the 2002 and 2004 elections when he talked 100 percent about the ‘war on terror,’ and despite everything pointing to the contrary he did the same in 2006 because it had worked before. 98 And, there is a natural evolution of politics, it’s never stagnant, making things that we wouldn’t see today in politics, commonplace in five to 10 years. Another example is my generation and how they use the Internet or my first boss not wanting to integrate rock and roll music into campaigns. The Internet is a mechanism to do a lot. It’s a mechanism to motivate and organize and one day maybe it will persuade.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This thesis explores the current challenges and future opportunities for improving the internal communication practices of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The author explores the organization's structure and how the DNC imparts effective communication to its stakeholders. Research methodologies included primary source interviews with internal and external sources and multiple secondary sources in the areas of practical and theoretical application.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Schwartz, Emily (author)

Core Title Politics, public relations and internal communications: a look at the DNC

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 04/16/2007

Defense Date 04/02/2007

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Democratic National Committee,internal communications,OAI-PMH Harvest,Politics,Public Relations

Language English

Advisor Floto, Jennifer D. (committee chair), [illegible] (committee member), Cray, Edward (committee member)

Creator Email emilynora@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m402

Unique identifier UC171959

Identifier etd-Schwartz-20070416 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-479700 (legacy record id),usctheses-m402 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Schwartz-20070416.pdf

Dmrecord 479700

Document Type Thesis

Rights Schwartz, Emily

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu