Subject: RE: Counter convention sketch
From: "Wei, Shu-Yen" <[email-masked]>
To: "Palermo, Rachel" <[email-masked]>, Regional Press <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 May 2016 14:46:14 -0700

More Ohio ideas:

-          Hold a presser on the climate change/the environment somewhere near the Cuyahoga River, calling attention to Trump’s vow to dismantle EPA - according to OH history-

11. The Cuyahoga River has caught on fire at least 13 times;<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/cleveland-facts-2016-republican-convention-108664.html> it’s aptly nicknamed “The River That Caught Fire.” The river was one of the most polluted rivers in the country and would catch fire after sparks from the train would fall into the water. After a highly media-covered fire in 1969, Congress was inspired to clean up pollution across the country and established<http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Cuyahoga_River_Fire?rec=1642> the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

-          Hand out placards with Trump’s face superimposed on the World’s Largest Cuckoo Clock (housed in Sugarcreek, OH) http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11894

-          Still fleshing this one out, Thomas Edison was born in Milan, OH. Hand out lightbulbs.. b/c the “lightbulb” hasn’t gone off yet with the GOP.. something like that..

From: Palermo, Rachel
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 5:32 PM
To: Regional Press
Subject: RE: Counter convention sketch

Ideas:

*         Host a Democratic Happy Hour: need a break from the racism and the misogyny? Come join the Democrats at a Happy Hour.

*         Host Breakfast and serve Bailey’s and cereal

*         Flyers or missing persons folder for Republicans who aren’t there

*         Hand out masquerade masks for people who don’t want to be seen at the convention

*         Stage a Jerry Springer show

*         Meet with the hotel trades, SEIU, and Fight for 15 about staging a strike

*         Get liberal musicians involved (especially those from Ohio)

*         Host a concert that contrasts the GOP, such as Concert for Harmony, Unity, or Diversity

*         Utilize xAd for snapchat filters

*         Host a fake president’s panel: where presidents in movies gather and show they are more qualified than Trump to be president

*         Engage local radio

*         Have a unity conference with Sanders surrogates (See if ODP will host)

*         Hand out barf bags

*         Host a Happy Hour/Safe space for women to get away from the GOP’s sexism and misogyny

*         Use billboards or airport advertisements

*         Hold signs in airports about Trump as people exit planes for free advertising

*         Get Ohio athletes involved

To do beforehand:

*         Host a meeting with Ohio representatives at DNC to discuss plan

*         Reach out to David Wilhelm (Mark)

*         Brainstorm with Marketing Dept. over Trump

*         Reach out to advocacy groups (women, afam, etc)  to see who will have a presence

*         See if we can use university spaces in Cleveland

--
[DNC]<http://www.democrats.org/>
Rachel Palermo
Democratic National Committee
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
202-863-8041

From: Palermo, Rachel
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 3:41 PM
To: Regional Press
Subject: Counter convention sketch

Counter Convention Plan Sketch
[https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/3N7cx-1xYsTbKfmn2BzL1jRX_ghBk8xnnByamvsApZg28rCRxGQNP41T6qFgKK8IEasIodrLUMJUfdiUQ7GkvhcGn_8CMp_9M1OFUypCMpQaLw738TU_6jgutk3KW-A6FGDZqPkN]
Overview

The Republican National Convention will take place in Cleveland, Ohio from Monday, July 18 through Thursday, July 21, 2016. Our operationwill consist of a campaign on the ground in Cleveland, from Headquarters, and in battleground and other states to amplify a message that sets the record straight on what viewers will see at the convention.

The plan begins with setting the tone in Cleveland before the convention kicks off with activities previewing the most likely and most outrageous falsehoods we expect to hear at the RNC.

We will deploy a core team to Cleveland to establish a fixed location for daily press conferences, as well as a mobile rapid response hub for special events. A rotating cast of senior party leaders and officials will participate each day in our events, and we will pair party leaders and elected officials with real people whose stories reflect what’s at stake in the coming election.

We will also lay the groundwork with state parties to hold events that include notable officials and real people in their key markets to echo our message and set themes of the day. We will integrate these activities into a social media campaign to deliver content about everything we’re doing to as large an audience as possible.

We also intend to produce advertising for Cleveland and key markets to coincide with specific themes each day, which will include both radio and online advertising.[https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/oAFFqUAjzUC3KV88Y0o2w70LL7XsWBqmGb0aX3B6wpBNnEGZCj8unyAozhR4M2qE5B2P860h_UnHDlv9084dqlEvXTpuNHKBZnot08p_nouXHzkg-dBoUyUjJft1FRTE-ZZNsf0-]

Message Summary
#DemCentral and #DemMobile Rapid Response Hubs

We propose having a fixed office space that enables us to hold press conferences, host breakfasts, and serve as our war room, ideally situated close to the center of the Republican convention’s activities.

In addition, we propose having a mobile rapid response hub (a wrapped RV) to serve as a mobile billboard, backdrop for events at different locations, and green room to prepare staff, validators, and real people in advance of any events. It can also serve as a meeting space for one-on-one interviews. The RNC used a similar prop to great effect at one of our conventions. It provides mobility, which is key to going to reporters when they can’t come to you, and the ability to reach press from outside states that attend state-delegation breakfasts/activities.

Tentative Schedule

Monday,  July 11

*** RNC Summer Meeting begins in Cleveland this week

DNC Component

Activity

Location

Press

*         Morning press conference to lay out what to expect at Republican convention, preemptive rebuttal of their main arguments

*         Introduce the RV/Bus

*         Booking surrogates/validators throughout the day/week

*         Begin pitching preview of RV

At DNC Headquarters

DNC studio or news studio

We should check with ODP to see if David Pepper (and other Ohio surrogates) can be available throughout this week for on-location hits

Research

*         Monitoring RNC Platform Committee meeting and responding

*         Video?

Digital

*         Planned and rapid response emails to supporters

*         @DNCPress Tweets of press event

Advertising

*         Teasing that we’ll do some advertising without being specific in our presser

Regional (Outside Cleveland)

*         Local press statements and events echoing the message on five falsehoods to expect at next week’s GOP convention

Localized for all 50 states

Marketing

HQ

Tuesday, July 12

DNC Component

Activity

Location

Press

*         Booking surrogates / validators on TV nationally and regionally

*         RV/Bus Tour

*         Deploy staff and prep venues

*         MSNBC TOWN HALL ON VOTING RIGHTS - PRESS CONFERENCE ON VOTER PROTECTION

*         DNC studios

*         And in local media markets across the country

*         DC→Philly→Pitt→Youngstown→Steubenville→Zanesville→Columbus→Cincy→Dayton→Lima→Toledo→Cleveland

TBD

Research

Digital

Marketing

HQ

Wednesday, July 13

DNC Component

Activity

Location

Press

*         Booking surrogates / validators on TV nationally and regionally

*         RV/Bus Tour

*         Deploy staff and prep venues

*         MSNBC TOWN HALL ON VOTING RIGHTS - PRESS CONFERENCE ON VOTER PROTECTION

*         DNC studios

*         And in local media markets across the country

*         DC→Philly→Pitt→Youngstown→Steubenville→Zanesville→Columbus→Cincy→Dayton→Lima→Toledo→Cleveland

TBD

Research

Digital

Marketing

HQ

Thursday, July 14

DNC Component

Activity

Location

Press

*         Booking surrogates / validators on TV nationally and regionally

*         RV/Bus Tour

*         Deploy staff and prep venues

*         MSNBC TOWN HALL ON VOTING RIGHTS - PRESS CONFERENCE ON VOTER PROTECTION

*         DNC studios

*         And in local media markets across the country

*         DC→Philly→Pitt→Youngstown→Steubenville→Zanesville→Columbus→Cincy→Dayton→Lima→Toledo→Cleveland

TBD

Research

Digital

Marketing

HQ

Friday, July 15

DNC Component

Activity

Location

Press

*         Morning press conference to launch week of activities and highlight falsehoods to expect at convention - previewing the week directly from Cleveland

*         Booking surrogates/validators throughout the day

*         Interviews/Gaggle with RV backdrop near site of RNC

*         At fixed office/headquarters location in Cleveland

*         As required by fixed site interviews such as TV sat locations, or mobile if in front of RV in Cleveland

Research

*         TBD

*         Possible VP guessing game research

*         Video preview on RNCC

Digital

*         @DNCPress Tweets of Press events and introducing the RV

Advertising

*         Preview at press conference of ads we will be running

Cleveland

Regional (Outside Cleveland)

*         Local statements on ads that will begin running on Monday in their respective markets

*         Pitching local surrogates to local tv

5 battleground states

Marketing

HQ

***We should anticipate a lot of weekend activity and develop a plan/activities. All networks will be live. Most RNC members will already be in town because of their meeting the week before, but all the others will begin to arrive Friday.

Monday, July 18

DNC Component

Activity

Location

Press

*         Morning press conference to launch week of activities and highlight falsehoods to expect at convention - BREAKFAST THEMED AS “CEREAL & BAILEY’S BREAKFAST”

*         The very first meeting should be the Rules Committee Meeting and every network will be covering that live, so we will plan accordingly.

*         RV at the site of key state delegation breakfast with a surrogate from that state

*         Booking surrogates/validators throughout the day --- Interviews/Gaggle with RV backdrop near site of RNC

*         Rapid Response to outlandish comments made at convention/media

*         At fixed office/headquarters location

*         Florida or Ohio delegation breakfast?

*         As required by fixed site interviews such as TV sat locations, or mobile if in front of RV

*         In conjunction with Research as specifics happen

Research

*         Drop paper on how speakers that evening are as bad as Trump/Cruz

*         Monitor remarks for outlandish comments to respond to

Digital

*         Planned and rapid response emails to supporters

*         @TheDemocrats Twitter Rapid Response to voting/floor activity and planned content highlighting how all of the candidates being considered are bad, live-tweet keynote speech

*         Tweeters email highlighting digital themes for the convention

*         Launch rebranded gopbingo.com

*         @DNCPress Tweets of events

Advertising

*         Full page ad in Cleveland Plain Dealer with messaging specific to presumptive nominee or to convention chaos

*         Digital video and Gif ads echoing same message

*         Cleveland

*         5 battleground states

Regional (Outside Cleveland)

*         Advertising as detailed above

*         Local press conferences in states where we launch advertising

*         Other events in non-ad states

*         CONCERT FOCUSED ON DEM BASE VOTE FEATURING LATINO AND AF AM ARTISTS

5 battleground states

5 battleground states

As many states as possible

TBD - NYC? To compete on broadcast with first night press. Could also potentially be the weekend before heading into Cleveland...

Marketing

HQ

Tuesday, July 19

DNC Component

Activity

Location

Press

*         Morning press conference and breakfast for reporters

*         Pushback on Keynote Speaker

*         RV at targeted key state delegation breakfast with state-specific surrogate

*         Booking surrogates/validators throughout the day --- Interviews/Gaggle with RV backdrop near site of RNC

*         Rapid Response to outlandish comments made at convention/media

At fixed office/headquarters location

Colorado or Nevada

As required by fixed site interviews such as TV sat locations, or mobile if in front of RV

In conjunction with Research as specifics happen

Research

*         TBD, narrative hit on whoever the nominee/speakers will be

*         Monitor remarks for outlandish comments to respond to

Digital

*         Planned and rapid response emails to supporters

*         @TheDemocrats Twitter Rapid Response to floor activity/VP candidate speech, planned content hitting VP candidate

*         @DNCPress Tweets of Press events

Advertising

(ongoing for all 4 days of convention - will be adapted for VP pick if/when that becomes public)

*         Full Page Ad in Cleveland Plain Dealer calling on GOP convention to stand up to Trump

*         Digital video and Gif ads echoing same message

Cleveland

Cleveland plus 5 battleground states

Regional (Outside Cleveland)

*         Advertising as detailed above

*         Counter watch events to highlight falsehoods and how all speakers are as bad as Trump / Cruz or whoever.

5 battleground states

As many states as possible

Marketing

HQ

Wednesday, July 20

DNC Component

Activity

Location

Press

*         Morning press conference and breakfast for reporters

*         Push back on the VP pick

*         RV at targeted key state delegation breakfast with state specific surrogate

*         Booking surrogates/validators throughout the day --- Interviews/Gaggle with RV backdrop near site of RNC

*         Rapid Response to outlandish comments made at convention/media

At fixed office/headquarters location

Colorado or Nevada

As required by fixed site interviews such as TV sat locations, or mobile if in front of RV

In conjunction with Research as specifics happen

Research

*         Hit on the VP pick tied to the nominee

*         Monitor remarks for outlandish comments to respond to

Digital

*         Planned and rapid response emails to supporters

*         @TheDemocrats Twitter Rapid Response to floor activity/Presidential candidate speech, planned content hitting Presidential candidate

*         @DNCPress Tweets of Press events

Advertising

(ongoing for all 4 days of convention - will be adapted for VP pick if/when that becomes public)

*         Full Page Ad in Cleveland Plain Dealer calling on GOP convention to stand up to Trump

*         Digital video and Gif ads echoing same message

Cleveland

Cleveland plus 5 battleground states

Regional (Outside Cleveland)

*         Advertising as detailed above

*         Counter watch events to highlight falsehoods and how all speakers are as bad as Trump / Cruz, or whoever.

5 battleground states

As many states as possible

Marketing

HQ

Thursday, July 21

DNC Component

Activity

Location

Press

*         Morning press conference and breakfast for reporters

*         RV at targeted key state delegation breakfast with state specific surrogate

*         Booking surrogates/validators throughout the day --- Interviews/Gaggle with RV backdrop near site of RNC

*         Rapid Response to outlandish comments made at convention/media

At fixed office/headquarters location

Colorado or Nevada

As required by fixed site interviews such as TV sat locations, or mobile if in front of RV

In conjunction with Research as specifics happen

Research

*         Night of the nominee’s big speech. Hits will be focused on the nominee.

*         Monitor remarks for outlandish comments to respond to

Digital

*         Planned and rapid response emails to supporters

*         @TheDemocrats Twitter

*         @DNCPressz Tweets of Press events

Advertising

(ongoing for all 4 days of convention - will be adapted for VP pick if/when that becomes public)

*         Full Page Ad in Cleveland Plain Dealer calling on GOP convention to stand up to Trump

*         Digital video and Gif ads echoing same message

Cleveland

Cleveland plus 5 battleground states

Regional (Outside Cleveland)

*         Advertising as detailed above

*         Counter watch events to highlight falsehoods and how all speakers are as bad as Trump / Cruz or whoever

5 battleground states

As many states as possible

Staffing
RNC Summer Meeting 7/11 - 7/16

The RNC Summer Meeting will be held in Cleveland the week before the convention and include meetings of their Rules Committee and Platform Committee. As these meetings could generate a lot of press--and it is likely that a solid contingent of the press corp will be on the ground in advance of them--it may be prudent to send a few staff down to monitor and respond to things happening on the ground.

The Platform Committee will meet at the beginning of the week, and the Rules Committee will meet in the later part of the week.

Department

Number of Staff

Notes

Research

2-4 researchers

3 trackers

Communications

Digital

Republican National Convention 7/19 - 7/21

Department

Number of Staff

Notes

Research

12 researchers (including DNC & campaign)

3 trackers

Communications

Digital

Surrogates

We will identify surrogates for the national events, deferring to state parties to identify state surrogates.  Specific categories:

*         1 Week Out at DNC

o    DWS

o    DGA / DCCC / DSCC

*         RV/Bus Tour

o    DWS

o    TBD

*         Friday Before (Jul 15) in Cleveland

o    TBD

*         Day 1

o    TBD

*         Day 2

o    TBD

*         Day 3

o    TBD

*         Day 4

o    TBD

State Amplification

Here are the top 50 media markets (in order of size) within battleground states. We will develop an in-state operation for each of these.

1.    Philadelphia

2.    Washington D.C.

3.    Boston

4.    Atlanta

5.    Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota)

6.    Phoenix

7.    Detroit

8.    Minneapolis-St. Paul

9.    Miami-Ft. Lauderdale

10.  Denver

11.  Cleveland-Akron (Canton)

12.  Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne

13.  St. Louis

14.  Charlotte

15.  Pittsburgh

16.  Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville)

17.  Indianapolis

18.  Columbus, OH

19.  Kansas City

20.  Milwaukee

21.  Cincinnati

22.  Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson

23.  West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce

24.  Las Vegas

25.  Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek

26.  Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News

27.  Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York

28.  Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem

29.  Jacksonville

30.  Albuquerque-Santa Fe

31.  Wilkes Barre-Scranton-Hazleton

32.  Richmond-Petersburg

33.  Dayton

34.  Charleston-Huntington

35.  Green Bay-Appleton

36.  Roanoke-Lynchburg

37.  Tucson (Sierra Vista)

38.  Flint-Saginaw-Bay City

39.  Des Moines-Ames

40.  Toledo

41.  Portland-Auburn

42.  Madison

43.  Colorado Springs-Pueblo

44.  Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Iowa City-Dubuque

45.  El Paso (Las Cruces)

46.  Greenville-North Bern-Washington

47.  Davenport-Rock Island-Moline

48.  Reno

49.  Tallahassee-Thomasville

50.  Lansing

Notes:

SEIU has office space in downtown Cleveland close to convention that can be the base of operations and host the wrapped mobile RV.

Live-staged activities on-site:

*         Jerry Springer “Live” fake show between Trump/Cruz/Kasich delegates - Jerry said he wanted to be involved

*         Fake debate between Trump and Cruz

*         Cleveland / Ohio delegation presser

*         House Tri-Caucus chairs press conference (CBC, CHC, CAPAC) - plus women’s caucus, LGBT caucus

Off-site activities:

*         Find a structurally-deficient bridge, have surrogates discuss how Republicans have fallen down on the job when it comes to infrastructure funding

o    Would need top-line surrogates for this - Anthony Foxx / Tom Perez

*         Infiltrate friendly union hotels and properties around the convention that Republicans will be patronizing to distribute “care” packages

*         Bracket Rob Portman’s “mini-convention”: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-04-01/a-trump-buffer-portman-plans-own-mini-convention-in-cleveland

o    Get other Senators asked if they will boycott convention if Trump or Cruz is set to be the nominee

*         Pick one day to have press conferences in every media market in Ohio.

o    Message: While the Rs might be having fun bribing each other in Cleveland, Democrats are focused on the needs of Ohioans across the state.

*         Fast food worker strike around the city or just at franchises around convention.

*         Voter registration drive

Gimmicks to hand out:

*         Bribe packages<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/legalities-wooing-delegates-contested-republican-convention/story?id=38202865> for delegates - “Cruz Cruises,” Trump steaks, Vodka, Water, etc., monopoly money, tickets to Trump’s failed USFL football team

*         “That’s why you leave a little tip<http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-09172015-htmlstory.html>” envelopes - for Kasich’s comments about hotel workers - work with Hotel Trades on this

*         Bottles of dirty water from Sebring, OH<http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/02/01/much-went-wrong-to-delay-public-notice-of-lead-in-sebring-water.html> (had a lead crisis under Kasich’s watch a la Flint)

*         Care packages for folks who will be sick after Trump / Cruz nomination - with single-serve Advil, Alka-Seltzer, Pepto Bismol, Vitamin C

*         Reporter swag bag?

*         Clothespins so delegates can hold their nose voting for Trump/Cruz

*         Milk cartons with GOP faces - local Wisconsin farm

Paid Media:

*         Banner ads in the airport

*         Billboards on the highway from the airport to Quicken Loans Arena

*         Ads in restaurants and bars around town

*         Have places doing “drink specials”

Other ideas:

*         See if any Cavaliers, Browns, or Indians players would be interested in bracketing

*         WH / Administration ask - can they send any topline surrogates / cabinet secretaries?

*         Send letters to major companies who are boycotting RNC that they can invest in DNC and not be embarrassed (can work in companies leaving GOP states over social policies like Indiana Religious Freedom Act and HB2 in North Carolina)

*         Volunteers / interns in Trump costumes performing Trump things

*         Concert / Rock the Vote

Estimated Budget

Item

Description

Base Cost

Days / Multiples

Subtotal

Meeting Space

For pressers and war room

$450.00

7

$3,150.00

Bus

Wrapped Bus for Bus Tour and Mobile Visibility

$2,500.00

15

$37,500.00

Bus Wrapping

$10,000.00

1

$10,000.00

Online Ads

$0.00

Cleveland

Daily Online Presence

$15,000.00

4

$60,000.00

Ads in Other STates

5 Other Markets in Battlegrounds, 4 days

$20,000.00

20

$400,000.00

Travel

Travel for Staff

$0.00

Hotels

For 12 Staffers From Multiple Departments 6 Nts

$200.00

72

$14,400.00

Airfare

For 12 Staffers

$500.00

12

$6,000.00

Transportation

To from hotels / airport /

$150.00

12

$1,800.00

Billboards / Benches / Airport Ads

$0.00

Airport Billboards

In Cleveland

$20,000.00

4

$80,000.00

Battleground Billboards

5 Battlegrounds

$5,000.00

4

$20,000.00

Signs

At all events

$200.00

10

$2,000.00

Gimmicks

Dog whistles / printing / etc

$15.00

100

$1,500.00

TOTAL

$636,350.00

ADD TECH COSTS --- WIFI, MIFIS, POWER CORDS, PODIUM, BACKDROP

TVS

--
[DNC]<http://www.democrats.org/>
Rachel Palermo
Democratic National Committee
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
202-863-8041