Creating America: My campaign manager was Roosevelt

Chapter 52 Asymmetric Warfare

"Even if those political consulting firms in Washington send their top analysts to Pittsburgh to conduct research for a year, they will never truly understand the city."

Leo spoke, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.

"Because they're not Pittsburghites. They can't smell the rust blowing from the Mononga Hilla River, they can't hear the old workers grumbling in the bars. They only look at the data, while we live in the data."

"That's our advantage."

Leo walked up to the whiteboard.

"Now, let's take a look at our opponents."

"Morganfield provided funding and 24/7 media coverage, while Cartwright provided administrative resources and a long-established network of interests."

"This is an extremely solid alliance of capital and power."

"They control all the mainstream media channels and also occupy those traditional establishment strongholds."

"If we try to compete with them in terms of screen time on TV or in terms of scale at large gatherings, we are bound to lose."

"We must avoid their direct confrontation and drag the battlefield to places they cannot see or disdain to go."

"We want to fight an asymmetric confrontation that takes place at the grassroots level of the community and penetrates into the living rooms of every family."

Leo picked up the marker and drew the first circle heavily on the whiteboard.

"Our first project was led by Frank Kowalski."

Frank's eyes immediately lit up.

"We must not give up an inch of our workers' communities."

"Our goal in these communities is not simply to maintain our current high approval ratings, but to achieve an unprecedented turnout in Pittsburgh's electoral history!"

"How exactly do we do it?" Frank asked.

"Grid management." Leo drew a grid diagram on the whiteboard. "We will divide our five core blue-collar communities, where we have an absolute advantage, into grids based on city blocks. Each grid will have a grid leader, who will be one of the most reliable core members of our 'Workers' Vanguard Team'."

"Then, we will carry out the 'knock three times' operation."

"For the first time, starting next week, with four months until the primary election, our grid leaders and volunteers will knock on the door of every supporter's home within our grid."

"Their only task is to ensure that each and every one of them has completed their Democratic voter registration and is eligible to vote in the primaries. At the same time, we will send them pamphlets outlining our campaign platform."

"The second time, a month before the primary, we will knock on their doors again."

"This time, we'll ask them if they've received their voting materials from the election commission and if they know the exact location of their polling station. We'll also invite them to a backyard barbecue Q&A session that I'll personally host in their community, to have a face-to-face conversation with them."

"The third and most crucial one is on the day of the primary election."

"From the moment the polling stations open at six in the morning, our team will begin the third round of knocking on doors and making phone calls to confirm that every one of our supporters has completed their vote."

"For workers who are unable to go to the polling station due to mobility issues or work commitments, we will organize a fleet of volunteers to pick them up directly from their homes and take them to the polling station. After they have cast their votes, we will take them back home."

"We knock on a hundred doors and talk to a hundred voters face to face, and eventually fifty people might be willing to go to the polling station for us."

"In party primaries where voter turnout is generally low, whoever can mobilize their supporters to the greatest extent will win the final victory."

Leo drew a second circle on the whiteboard.

"I will personally oversee my second plan."

"Cartwright's support in those affluent neighborhoods and downtown business districts is unshakeable, and we shouldn't waste a single minute in those places."

"But his support in minority communities is based on a quid pro quo between him and a few community leaders he has bought off, a relationship that is very fragile and vulnerable."

"Therefore, we need to bypass those so-called community leaders and go directly to talk to ordinary people at the bottom of society."

"Starting next week, I will be leading a small team of minority volunteers to spend at least three nights a week exploring the Hills, Pittsburgh’s largest Black community, and Brooklyn, a Latino community."

"We went directly to the barbershops, small restaurants, basketball courts, and laundromats in the communities to chat with the most ordinary residents and listen to their real voices."

"At the same time, we will bring with us the renderings and policy documents for the 'Pittsburgh Regeneration Project Phase II' that Ethan has already prepared."

"This document will clearly list the renovation of that dilapidated public school in the Hills and the redevelopment of Brooklyn's commercial district as my top priorities within my first 100 days in office. The document will include detailed budgets and specific estimates of how many jobs it will create for the community."

"This drastic approach may not be able to completely reverse our disadvantage in these communities in the short term, but our goal is not to win."

"Our goal is to create chaos and reduce Cartwright's voter turnout in these traditional strongholds."

"If we can successfully siphon 20 percent of his votes, or get 30 percent of people to abstain from voting due to their disappointment with his inaction over the years, then cracks will appear in his seemingly impregnable fortress."

Leo drew the last circle on the whiteboard.

"Our third plan will be jointly led by Ethan and Sarah."

"Those young students and middle-class intellectuals who once supported Alex Cortez didn't care about how the roads in their neighborhood were done; they cared about bigger ideas and the future of the city."

"We need to convince them that Leo Wallace is not another dreamer like Cortez, but a pragmatist who can truly turn progressive ideas into reality."

"Ethan, I need you to be the lead writer. Starting next week, you will publish an in-depth policy white paper on specific urban issues in Pittsburgh every week on 'The Heart of Pittsburgh' and major policy forums."

"For example, our Pittsburgh Green Energy Transition Plan, the Police System Reform and Community Trust Rebuilding Plan, and the Data Science-Based Municipal Services Optimization Plan, etc."

"We want to show everyone that we have an overwhelming advantage in professionalism and foresight over Cartwright's outdated bureaucratic management."

"Sarah, I need you to identify influential young bloggers, university professors, and social activists in the local Pittsburgh sphere."

"Then I or Ethan will personally conduct in-depth one-on-one online or offline exchanges with them to develop them into our external promoters."

"At the same time, we must immediately extend formal invitations to the student unions of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, inviting Mayor Cartwright to have a public campus debate with me about the future of Pittsburgh."

"I guarantee he will absolutely not dare to fight, and his cowardice itself is a huge victory for us."

"Although this group of voters may not be the largest in number, their influence on public opinion is the greatest. Winning their support is equivalent to winning the moral high ground in the media and social networks."

Finally, Leo made the final decision on the use of funds for the entire campaign.

"Therefore, 70 percent of our funds will be invested in Frank's plan. We will ensure that our ground troops have sufficient vehicles, supplies, and food subsidies for volunteers."

"Of the remaining 30 percent, 20 percent will be used for my program to support small events we hold in minority communities and the printing of promotional materials."

"The final ten percent will be used for Ethan and Sarah's plans, as funding for online promotion and policy research."

"We don't waste money on competing with Morganfield for television gigs. Every penny we spend will go towards a volunteer's steps, a leaflet distributed, or a face-to-face handshake with a voter."

This campaign blueprint, which Roosevelt named "People's War" under his guidance, was clear, specific, and interconnected.

It made the entire team feel excited.

They saw the path to victory in this seemingly unwinnable war.

As Karen Miller stared at the intricately linked battle plan on the whiteboard, cracks began to appear in the professional composure on her face.

Her mind raced, comparing every detail Leo brought up with what she had learned in her fifteen-year career.

Frank's ground mobilization, Leo's divisive tactics, and Ethan and Sarah's battle for the high ground in public opinion.

She thought she had only been sent to a remote battlefield to act as a babysitter for a naive idealist.

But now she realizes she was wrong.

She is witnessing the birth of a miracle.

The possibility of personally participating in a classic battle where the underdog triumphs—a battle that could be written into future campaign textbooks—filled her with a long-lost excitement.

Just as the meeting was about to end and everyone was preparing to immediately get back to their work, Leo suddenly spoke up:

"All of our plans are based on the worst-case scenario that Morganfield will fully support Cartwright."

"But before we commit all our resources to this long war, I need to confirm one last time whether this assumption really holds true."

"I want to see Douglas Morganfield again."

"I need to see for myself which way the scales in his heart tip."