The next time you have a campaign strategy meeting with your staff and consultants, or maybe you are a campaign manager or field director sending your troops out for a day of voter contact, conduct the following exercise:

Ask everyone in the room to raise their hands if they hate Republicans.

If anyone of those people you working with actually raises their hands, well then there is a good chance that what they are supposed to be producing for the day will end up in failure - especially if they are one of your senior staff.

In Sun Tzu's Art of War an important takeaway is the following quote:

No leader should put troops into the field to gratify his own spleen; no leader should fight a battle simply out of pique.

Anger and hatred tends to lead to poor decision making, wasted energy, a loss of your command of the mission and when trying to present a thoughtful argument, your best points tend to be overtaken by emotion.

In the months leading up to the six recent state senate recall elections in Wisconsin, I noticed that a number of political organizations who were engaging on the battlefield were not only presenting their argument from a position of Republican hatred, but were then communicating that hatred in such a way that it consumed many of the troops they were trying to motivate. Those organizations raised and spent millions of dollars. Democrats won two of those senate seats (the battle) but lost the opportunity to take control of that legislative body (the war).

I watched the coverage of election returns on MSNBC and heard a continued hatred toward Republicans presented by a few of the figureheads of those same organizations (even after the votes had already been counted) and in turn, when Ed Schultz went to get reactions from all the dedicated activists in the crowd, 90% of their comments seemed to focus on hating Republicans.

You need only look to the recent rise and quick fall of the Tea Party. Yes, I said "fall." More and more voters are turned off by the Tea Party and what they represent.   As a result, because of their close ties to congressional Republicans, the GOP has never seen higher disapproval ratings in their history.

Certainly Democrats must present our ideas, but just as equally we must use the power of the GOP candidates own words and policies in order to win back control of Congress and many state legislature (as well as maintain the Presidency to some extent). It's called political jiu jitsu. Basically, hit them with the truth of what they believe. Nothing could make this argument more clearly than today's "truthiness" from Mitt Romney about corporations being people, my friend.

So as Democratic candidates, staff, stakeholder organizations and consultants take aim at 2012, the lesson is this: Stay focused on what matters to people, not what angers them.

If we do that, Democrats win because at the end of the day, we represent the interests of the masses and the truth will build a longer lasting movement than any flash-in-the-pan hot point.

Since the announcement of Preston Stoutt's candidacy in the British Virgin Islands, I've shared a few of his updates on my Facebook profile and subsequently received a number of emails asking me "how did you get involved with his campaign", "who the heck is he" and "what in the world is politics like in the BVI"? Well I chalk up the first question to one of my life's many Forrest Gump moments.

Following the elections of 2006, my then girlfriend (Andrea) and I took off to vacation on the island of Tortola, the main island of the BVI. We had found a house to rent online and didn't know anything about the place or anyone from there. We just blindly went to decompress from a crazy and successful election cycle. We fell in love with everything immediately. As a result, we decided on the very first day that we were there that we wanted to get married . . . that week.

Not really having a clear understanding of how to do pull this off in the BVI, I called the owner of the house and asked for assistance and if we could get married at the house. Preston was overjoyed and said he would pick us up Monday morning and take us to the appropriate government offices in order to get the paperwork filed.

Monday morning came and as we were in the car heading into Road Town, Preston asked us what kind of work we did in the U.S.  When I replied "political campaigns" he turned and gave me one of the most understated comments that I will never forget. He said: "Oh...I know politics."

At first I didn't know what to expect being that "politics" can be such a loaded conversation starter. Well as it turns out, Preston really did know politics . . .good politics too. His father, H. Lavity Stoutt had been the first and longest serving Chief Minister (now called Premier) of the BVI parliament. So yeah, he certainly knew politics.

Well from that moment on we built a familial relationship with Preston and continued to talk politics over the years. Then, in 2010 we began to discuss more seriously the idea of Preston running for office himself and laying out a vision to change how things work in the BVI. The more I heard him talk and witnessed his passion to get the BVI back on track, the more I knew his campaign was going to shake up the mold for how elections and government had been done within this small Caribbean territory.

For starters, he was the first candidate in the BVI to utilize online communication tools such as Twitter (@stouttforbvi ), Facebook and YouTube to launch his campaign.

As for Preston's policy ideas, I could go on and on about his progressive agenda but that would just make for a long-winded diary. I have provided a link to his site above, but you can also click the link below and check him out on your own time.

http://www.stouttforbvi.com/

I realize that most folks reading this will be in the U.S. but if you have some time and want to learn something new today about a place you may or may not have ever visited, please do visit his web site and follow his campaign. Andrea and I have visited there often and have not only grown in our love for the BVI, but in our appreciation for its people and their potential.

Hopefully now you will get a better sense for Preston as an emerging leader of a place that is very special to me.

Daren

I was very happy to see the return of the DailyKos PPP weekly poll. And while at first glance the numbers do not bode well for Democrats, I don't see this as a total disaster.  In fact there is a lot to learn from these results that can give Democrats good direction for 2012 (or maybe that is just my optimistic, lean into it mentality).

Some of the toplines that are most notable:

Q1. President Obama (Fav/Unfav) = 46 - 49
Q2. President Obama Job Performance (App/Dis) = 45 - 51
Q5. Speaker Boehner (Fav/Unfav) = 35 - 28 (37 unsure)

And two others that are interesting:

Q8. Would you rather more Democrats or more Republicans were elected in to Congress in the next election?

Dem. = 42
Rep.  = 46
NS    = 12

and this one that is very telling for where I am headed in this diary:

Q11. Do you think repealing the health care law passed last year should be a top priority for Republicans in the new Congress or not?

YES = 50
NO   = 39
NS   = 11

Winning elections is about building confidence within the electorate.  Simply put, I am from the school of thought that when Democrats don't stand up for what they believe in, whatever they believe in, they lose and lose big.  Make fun of him all you want when he cries, but the average voter knows John Boehner believes in what he stands for (even if we Democrats disagree with his stance). 

I know others have said it before with much amazement, but when Democrats retreated on health care and then after it was passed, retreated on debating it as an accomplishment, the signal it gave off to the American voter was a position of weakness.  Why take on and then pass such a historical piece of public policy and then hide it like a piece of gum you stick under your chair at a movie theater?  Everyone knows it's there.

I am not here to pile on. But there is a difference of approach to this last election cycle when you heard it communicated by those inside the Beltway and those outside, where real America lives.

So do Democratic candidates, both incumbents and challengers have to dig themselves out of a little bit of a hole?  Damn straight they do.  But using a position shift on the political spectrum as a shovel will not gain or regain a favorable position within the voter's minds.  Just think about an elected position in the same way you would think about a normal job that any person would have.  Think about how the boss makes a decision to hire an employee.  They want to know that the person they hire knows what they are doing and will remain confident in their role.  They want to know the person won't get their company into any trouble.  And they love to see a plan.

I've worked for all kinds of Democrats: conservative, moderates and liberals.  And I can tell you that my favorite candidates to work for wasn't because of where they fell on that scale.  I got up in the morning each day wanting to go to work for the folks I believed in and who truly believed in why they were running.

So thanks to DailyKos for starting the weekly poll again.  My take on it all: This isn't the end.  This just shows us where to begin.

Daren ---

When 3D Political was created, we made a commitment that a portion of our profits each year would be given back to charitable organizations.  Well last week I was reminded of that commitment so we sat down yesterday and started sending out our donations to some organizations we like and who do amazing work.

But before we did that, I asked for some suggestions from those I am connected with on Facebook and Twitter.  I received a number of replies, comments and even some e-mails telling me where others were making a difference this holiday season.  By the way, we count volunteering as a contribution.

So instead of just telling you about the organizations we decided to donate to, we're going to include  suggestions we received as well.  These are all great places to put your money and your time if you are able:

Oxfam America Unwrapped
Humane Society
Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation
Goodwill
Kids In Need of Desks
Your local foodbank/Feeding America
Marine Toys for Tots

Certainly there are plenty of other great organizations out there. A really good way to find one that fits with your goals is to join Jumo. There you can select which issues are important to you and be connected with organizations that meet your preferences (Internationally, Nationally and Locally).

So if you are in the position to give a charitable donation or volunteer during this, the giving season, I encourage you to do it today.  The number of lives you change will be immeasurable.

Thanks - Daren
 

Have you ever been around someone who wants nothing more than for others to just get to the point?  I have.  In fact I am probably one of those people who has uttered those words on more than one occasion.

I don't necessarily think it is a matter of having a lack a patience. I think I just prefer to cut out all the B.S. and have more fun diving right into the facts and figures.

In keeping with that philosophy, we decided to redo our web site here at 3DPolitical.  We cleaned it up.  We made it easier to find what you need.  And we cut out the gobbledygook.  When you land on our homepage you get straight into our work.

Also, as a proponent of authenticity in our clients, we advocate for them to post blog diaries and use other social networking tools on their own.  So it was considered somewhat hypocritical that we didn't maintain a blog ourselves.  Well that has obviously changed with the posting of this diary.  Each time we post, you can be assured that the person who signs off is actually the person who sat down at their keyboard and typed it out.  And when it is me I can guarantee you that it may not be coherent, but it's what I am rattling off my brain at that moment.

Speaking of brains, you'll also notice on our homepage a short top section called "On Our Brains Today."  We may not always have the time or the words to warrant an entire blog entry, and staying within that "get to the point" attitude, we will post a word, or two, or three to get the point across about what we're thinking.  If Twitter is considered microblogging, let's call this nanoblogging.

So welcome to the new web site.  If you are interested in talking about working together on a campaign or project, please give us a call.  Our contact information is located at the bottom of each page.

Thanks - Daren