What can WE do NOW to help Barak Obama get elected?

This blog is my response to the question I've heard again and again in exchanges I've had with friends and colleagues--mostly women--since John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate: How can we do our part to make sure that the Republicans don't hijack another presidential election based on "wedge" issues?

The collective elation we felt on the final night of the Democratic Convention gave way to the feeling that we were on a runaway train of shock and disbelief the next day when the Palin pick was announced. "Sarah Who???" (Check Wikipedia.) "No way, you've got to be kidding me! He can't be serious!" (Watch the announcement in Dayton, with pregnant Bristol covering her then-still-a-secret baby bump with baby Trig and his large baby blanket.) “Okay, surely the MSM will call him out on this hasty, obviously political pick.” (Nope.) “Bristol’s PREGNANT??? Surely the “family values” folks will have a problem with this!” (Nope.) And on and on…

Since then, many of us have been tempted to reach for the "panic button" as we read the poll numbers and scratch our heads wondering why, day in and day out, the silly "diversion du jour" floated by the McCain campaign dominates the news cycle and Palin keeps flying under the radar.

I’ve worked on a political campaign as a senior staffer (with many of the folks who are currently advising/staffing the Obama campaign), so I try to remind myself that the Obama campaign is looking at internal polling numbers that probably look a lot more promising than what we are seeing. And they’ve run a GREAT campaign thus far. While they’ve obviously been temporarily thrown for a loop by the Palin pick, I have every confidence that they will successfully recalibrate and pick up steam again.

In the meantime (and there isn’t much time!) here is my suggestion as to what we can do: Let's work together to craft some simple, compelling messaging designed to persuade the folks WE know who are still undecided--especially women--to vote for Barak Obama. Hence the name of this blog: Word Of Mouth (WOM) is POWERFUL!!! I saw a woman interviewed on CNN, who appeared to be a working class mom, probably with a high school education, and she had the McCain/Palin talking points down and could repeat them easily to the reporter (and will do so to her friends and relatives, no doubt). Why? Because the language was clear, simple and easy to connect with on an emotional level.

You might say "I don’t know anyone who is even considering voting for McCain! " You never know… Talk to your neighbors, co-workers, relatives, babysitters, casual acquaintances, total strangers. RISK IT—BREAK THE ICE!!! What have you got to lose? The answer is, a LOT if McCain & Palin win.

GROUND “RULES”:
** I am sharing the link to this blog with folks I know who are supporters of Barak Obama and who want to use their talents as persuasive networkers to make a difference in this campaign. I hope you will do the same!
** I am NOT interested in inviting McCain supporters to debate the issues here—there are plenty of places on the Web better suited for that kind of dialog.
** Nor am I interested in using this page to call out the McCain campaign on their daily barrage of lies—there are other sites dedicated to the fact-checking effort.
** Lastly, we all need to “vent” our frustration/anxiety about this election, but on this page, let’s keep a laser focus on this and this alone: Sharing thoughts on how we can talk to other women who may be “sitting on the fence” to persuade them that the Obama/Biden team has more to offer them than McCain/Palin do.
CALL TO ACTION:
** What I’m asking all of YOU to do is: Share with the rest of us what you are saying to “undecideds” you know that seems to be making an impression on them. And let us know if you’ve tried approaches that don’t work. Here is a great example of a powerful approach that my friend Michele used to talk to a Republican-leaning woman she knows: "How does it make you feel to know that John McCain passed over many more qualified Republican women like Christine Todd Whitman and Kay Bailey Hutchison in picking Sarah Palin?"
** Please also share links to articles and blogs that provide great talking points. Here is an example from today on Huffington Post entitled “Is It Sexist to Want the Person Flying the Plane to be a Pilot?”: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-reardon/is-it-sexist-to-want-the_b_126021.html

P.S. We should all ALSO be volunteering for the campaign to register new voters, work the phones, and get out the vote!