Creating America: My campaign manager was Roosevelt

Chapter 47 Diagnostic Meeting

The following morning, in the prefab office, Leo convened the first team meeting.

Leo, Sarah, Frank, and two new members, Karen Miller and Ethan Hawke, sat together for the first time in a formal setting.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was somewhat awkward.

Frank crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair, and scrutinized the two "city folks from Washington" with a critical eye.

Sarah seemed quite excited; she took out her notebook and recorder, like a good student preparing to listen attentively in class.

Karen Miller showed absolutely no embarrassment about her previous attempt to poach Frank and Sarah at the victory celebration.

She opened her laptop in a businesslike manner, as if the incident had never happened.

This is the professional quality of a career politician: there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests and goals.

Ethan Hawke, on the other hand, seemed very easygoing. He made himself a cup of instant coffee and smiled at everyone present.

As the leader of the team, Leo broke the slightly awkward atmosphere by speaking up.

"Karen, Ethan, welcome to Pittsburgh, and welcome to our somewhat far-fetched battle."

"Before we begin discussing specific tasks, I'd like to hear the opinions of two professionals and their assessment of our current situation."

Karen pushed up her glasses and was the first to speak without any hesitation.

She connected her laptop to the projector.

A PowerPoint presentation filled with various complex charts and data immediately appeared on the screen.

That was a detailed data analysis report on the voter demographics of Pittsburgh.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, let's skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point." Karen was quite professional. "I spent an entire night analyzing publicly available data from all Pittsburgh elections over the past decade, as well as the user profiles of your 'Heart of Pittsburgh' channel, Leo. I must say, your current situation is far from optimistic."

She pointed to the screen.

"The most important issue is the base of your supporters."

"The data shows that you have a very high support rate among white blue-collar male voters over the age of 45, which is remarkable and is thanks to Mr. Frank's excellent ground organization work."

"But outside of this group, your awareness is almost zero."

"Your support among middle-class female voters, especially those living in suburban communities, is less than five percent."

"Your support in minority communities such as African American and Latino is also negligible."

"A mayoral election cannot be won by relying solely on the votes of white blue-collar workers."

"Then there's the issue of your media campaign strategy."

Karen turned her gaze to Sarah, whose hand holding the pen was already poised.

"Miss Sarah's social media work is excellent, as evidenced by the success of 'Heart of Pittsburgh.' But your promotional channels are too singular; you've put almost all your eggs in one basket on a single YouTube channel."

"You lack coverage in traditional media, such as local television and radio stations, and you also lack the most basic offline Google Ads campaigns. This means that middle-aged and elderly voters who don't use the internet much simply can't hear your voice."

Finally, there's the issue of your fundraising model.

"Your idea of ​​using small donations to fight big spenders sounds appealing, but it's incredibly inefficient. It's extremely difficult to sustain a multi-month, multi-million dollar campaign with donations of $5 or $10."

Karen's diagnosis is over.

Every question she raised was incisive, which put immense pressure on the entire team.

Next to speak was Ethan Hawke.

He didn't use PowerPoint; instead, he produced a policy framework memorandum that he had handwritten and printed overnight.

The memo is titled "Pittsburgh Regeneration Plan: From Community Building Projects to Urban Philosophy of Good Governance".

"Leo, Karen just analyzed the problems with our campaign from a technical perspective," Ethan began. "But I want to talk about the core of our campaign from another angle, the very soul of our campaign."

"Your current 'Pittsburgh Revitalization Plan' is fantastic. It's concrete, down-to-earth, and allows voters to see real changes, but it's still just a project at the moment."

"To win a mayoral election, you must elevate these specific projects to the level of a 'city governance philosophy'."

"We need to provide all the citizens of Pittsburgh with a complete, quantifiable policy white paper."

"This white paper must cover all areas that citizens care about, from how to create more jobs to how to reform our much-criticized tax system; from how to improve the quality of education in our public schools to how to reform the policing system and build a new relationship of trust between the community and the police; from how to address our city's environmental pollution problems to how to provide a better business environment for small business owners..."

"We can't just move voters with your story; we need to convince them with your proposal."

"We need to convince them that you are not just a community hero who dares to challenge authority, but also a capable and visionary mayor who can manage this complex city of 300,000 people."

Ethan's words made Leo fall into deep thought.

Frank was completely confused and just kept scratching his head.

Sarah's eyes lit up as she quickly took notes in her notebook.

She immediately realized that these two professionals from Washington brought exactly what her passionate and energetic grassroots team lacked.

Systematic strategic thinking and professional policy tools.

The diagnosis is complete.

Karen closed her laptop and asked a crucial question.

"Alright, all the questions are now on the table."

"But to solve all these problems, we need a person in charge to oversee and coordinate everything."

"Leo, who exactly is your campaign manager?"

"I need to connect with him immediately."

Frank and Sarah both looked embarrassed when confronted with Karen's questioning.

They glanced at each other, then turned their gazes to Leo.

Leo calmly took the photo frame from his desk drawer and gently placed it in the center of the conference table.

"He is the person in charge of our election."