The long view.

MEMO

TO: All Campaign Staff FROM: TM

RE: This morning's meeting

TO ALL STAFF:

Many thanks to those of you who attended this morning's brainstorming session. Both the Senator and I thought a lot of really excellent ideas were generated, and I know that she appreciates everyone's willingness to stick an oar in and row. As you know, the Senator feels passionately that what we need in the next week (or less!) is a really strong YouTubes video to get out there on the Internet and the world wide web. It goes without saying that the Senator feels that we've let her down--and she's right! We have!--by allowing Senator Obama to get a jump on us with his web video offering. Everyone at this morning's meeting is aware of how passionate the Senator is on this topic.

You'll all be glad to know that the lamp did not actually hit our director of internet strategy when the Senator momentarily lost control of it during her rousing "let's do it" speech. It hit the back wall and shattered against the whiteboard, and no harm was done. Those of you who have worked with the Senator before know that she's a tireless and passionate advocate of open and free communication, and so it would be a grave disservice to her enthusiastic style of leadership to read about this incident on Wonkette.com. Especially as no one was actually hurt by the lamp, although Estrella our wonderful office maintenance/ cleaning person did accidentally get a tiny shard of glass embedded in her right eye during the post-meeting cleanup.

Meanwhile, though, we've got our work cut out for us!

To recap, some of the ideas generated today were:

1. Barack Obama as the AFLAC duck--bringing up "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck"-type messages. Not clear, though, what we're saying about him. He isn't an actual duck. Can we see a rough version of this by the end of the week?

2. Barack Obama in a recut and reedited trailer for The Shining--note that the Senator really sparked to this idea. Need this ASAP.

3. Speaking of Macintosh ads, maybe we could do a side by side version of the Mac Guy and the PC Guy ads, with Senator Clinton as whichever one she is. Ask younger staffers who they see her as. Report back on what each staffer said. Give me a hard copy.

4. Some people suggested morphing the Senator's face on top of various other faces in movie clips. This idea needs to be fleshed out. We need to avoid any use of copyrighted material, of course, and in general the idea of morphing Senator Clinton's face onto Princess Leia's face is a good one, though some concerns were raised about the potential Darth Vader variation that may be inspired by this. Needs work.

5. LonelySenator60. Like it very much. Possible to do this as a daily post?

These are the five top ideas that we generated before the lamp incident, which, again, really was an accident that occurred due to a too-enthusiastic and supportive rallying cheer by the Senator. The lamp incident came right after a suggestion by the former director of internet strategy for the campaign that she just talk directly and honestly into a webcam.

Some great ideas were generated in the meeting, and I know that you all appreciated the Senator's declaration of that session as a "safe space." Truly, as she put it, there are no "bad" ideas. The important thing is to keep the creative juices flowing, to keep thinking "outside the box," and to remember that this is going to be a long, hard campaign and we're all going to have to think creatively. That said, there were some ideas that we all felt--not just the Senator, although she was the most vocal, which is appropriate--were just not in keeping with the current direction of the campaign. Suggestions to "loosen up" and "have fun with your image" and "be more flexible" were not terribly helpful in a discussion of how, exactly, we can leverage the AFLAC duck into an anti-Obama viral video.

The Senator really enjoys these "fun" sessions, and those of you who have worked with her in past campaigns know that she really values full and honest discussions.

The following employees have been terminated. Please see me ASAP to have your ID badges and key swipes deactivated: Tom R., Chris DeG., Marilyn Y., Johnny F., Martin P., Kelsey H., and Rick L.

Onward!