Politics: ?The Socially Awkward Do It Better?

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Politics "The Socially Awkward Do It Better" Meet the hip geeks who outwitted Mitt Romney and the Republicans. By David Weigel Posted Tuesday, Dec 04, 2012, at 12:09 AM ET Near the end of August, when it was stubbornly behind President Obama in the polls, Mitt Romney's campaign released a TV ad about the "gutting" of welfare's work requirements. The killer verb came from a Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial: "Welfare Reform GUTTED," adapted and splayed across the screen in a font size usually reserved for stuff like "Nixon Resigns" or "Japan Surrenders." On Saturday, I sat in one of the Washington Convention Center's dark and anonymous meeting rooms and learned just how badly that ad had failed. The lesson was part of RootsCamp, an annual post-election conference of Democratic/progressive campaigners put on by the New Organizing Institute. My teachers were media trackers from the Democratic National Committee, young quants who repeatedly, politely pleaded with reporters to keep quotes and hard numbers off the record. They did share two maps. The first one showed the media markets where the "gutting" ad ran—Virginia and some spillover in Maryland and North Carolina, colored in faded purple to measure the impact. The second showed the states where media coverage informed voters that the ad was false. Purple-mountained majesty spread from coast to coast, with states far outside the Romney ad zone learning of, then loathing, the Romney message. Why didn't anybody else get that at the time? The titles of the next slide answered my question. We can get outspent and still win.   Media doesn't understand how media works. So, Democrats outsmarted the Romney campaign. The Republican had ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Being Transgender Is No Longer a Disorder "The Socially Awkward Do It Better" Why Is Syria Mixing Sarin?	Advertisement
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