How this Happened?Election 2012: Perfecting the Science of Presidential Campaigning

In an economy struggling with high unemployment rates; a sharply divided country; where voters were said to be disengaged from the political system; where the approval rate for the incumbent president was hovering below 50%; and where the media had written off the president from reelection hopes; what made Obama’s campaign become the most successful enterprise in the history of presidential elections? In this book Dereje Tessema discusses what it took to “perfect the science of presidential campaigning” by providing a compelling analysis of how the Obama campaign built the organization from ground up based on a unique cultural and knowledge management system; use of transformational leadership and emotional intelligence techniques to empower team members, voters, and volunteers; use of various information sources and analytical techniques to triangulate the massive data gathered; use of custom tailored messages using social media and wireless technologies to communicate with specific groups of voters; as well as use of agile project and program management tools to initiate, plan, execute, control and monitor the campaign program that led to the victory of what some referred to as an “improbable journey.” Many events have shaped Obama’s first term presidency including the handling of the “war on terror”; health care reform; the auto bailout; financial reform; civil liberties; and the rise of Super PACs and the Tea Party. Tessema examines the positive and negative impacts of these variables on the 2012 presidential election as well as the strategies, tools, and techniques used by the Obama campaign to address them. Looking into the next four years and beyond, Tessema shares his perspective on the two party gridlock, the role of government in the society, the impact of the change in racial composition and demography of the American population; as well as lessons learned from this election.