David Plouffe's advice for 2020
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Cover: Viking
David Plouffe, manager of Barack Obama's 2008 campaign and a pioneer in grassroots organizing, will be out March 3 with "A Citizen's Guide to Beating Donald Trump, " via Viking, which includes his message to 2020 voters and campaigns.
"The only way change happens, especially on scale, is one human being talking to another. ... [I]t won't happen because of debates and conventions, it won't happen because of ads. It will happen because citizens take action."
Plouffe told me in an interview that because Trump is a master at dominating attention, "we need to have millions of people out there who are talking to that fairly small universe of [persuadable] people in those battleground states."
- "I think the affirmative case is as important, if not more important, than a negative case," Plouffe said.
- "So we need a nominee and volunteers who are passionate to say, 'You know what? I really think this person will be a good president — they're not just an antidote to getting rid of Trump.'"
After the White House, Plouffe — author of "The Audacity to Win" — became a senior executive at Uber. He now leads policy and advocacy at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and lives in San Francisco.
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