The first fifteen installments of this series dealt mostly with what happens before anyone votes: segmentation, message, research, how to run a debate, how to read the numbers. This one is about legs. About the oldest, cheapest and — done properly — deadliest tool in a political campaign: knocking on somebody else’s door. There’s a whole library of Anglo-Saxon manuals on door-to-door (DtD) campaigning. Most were written for the American context and for a candidate introducing himself in his own district, armed with a list of registered voters, their voting history, and a law that lets you hand a man a registration form on his own doorstep. Nothing like that exists here in that form. What does exist is the logic of managing time, of personal contact, of discipline and systematic follow-up — and that part transfers almost intact. This text is built on their idea; it borrows the logic and tries to fit it to our terrain. And here’s maybe the most important part: the system has been t...

U prethodnih petnaest nastavaka ovog serijala uglavnom smo govorili o onome što se dešava u pripremi izbora: segmentaciji, poruci, istraživanju, o tome kako se vodi debata i kako se čitaju brojevi. Ovaj nastavak je o nogama. O najstarijem, najjeftinijem i, kada se radi kako treba, najubojitijem alatu u političkoj kampanji: kucanju na tuđa vrata. Postoji cela biblioteka anglosaksonskih priručnika o door-to-door (DtD) kampanji. Većina ih je pisana za američki kontekst i za kandidata koji se sam predstavlja u svom okrugu, sa spiskom registrovanih birača, istorijom glasanja i zakonom koji dozvoljava da čoveku na kućnom pragu date i formular za registraciju. Kod nas taj princip ne postoji u tom obliku, ali postoji logika upravljanja vremenom, lični kontakt, disciplina i sistematsko praćenje i taj deo se može prepisati gotovo u celini. Ovaj tekst je baziran na njihovoj ideji, uzeo je tu logiku i pokušao da je prilagodi našem terenu. I sad možda i najbitnije: sistem je proveren u poslednjih 2...

A debate is rarely won by arguments alone. A debate is won by control. This is the sentence I repeat to every candidate before a TV appearance, and almost every time I hear the same reply: “I’ll win because I have better data, a better program, a better biography.” All of that may be true and still completely irrelevant, because the viewer at home does not remember arguments. They remember the impression. They remember who seemed calm and who seemed cornered, and most importantly: who commanded the studio and who was on the defensive. A TV studio is, by definition, hostile territory for a politician. You face several opponents there: a counterpart who wants to throw you off balance, a host who wants drama because drama boosts ratings, and a camera that records everything—especially what you think it’s not recording. There are rules for all three opponents. Here’s how it’s actually done. Being calm  is  a message Provocation in a studio is never accidental. A rival who insults ...

      Debata se retko dobija samo argumentima. Debata se dobija kontrolom. Ovo je rečenica koju ponavljam svakom kandidatu pre gostovanja, i gotovo svaki put čujem isti odgovor: ’Pobediću jer imam bolje podatke, bolji program, bolju biografiju.’ Sve to može biti tačno ali i savršeno nevažno jer gledalac ispred televizora ne pamti argumente. Pamti utisak. Pamti ko je delovao mirno, a ko je delovao stešnjeno i najbitnije: pamti ko je gospodario studijom, a ko se branio. Televizijski studio je za političare neprijateljski teren po definiciji. Tamo vas čeka nekoliko protivnika: sagovornik koji hoće da vas izbaci iz takta, voditelj koji hoće dramu jer drama podiže gledanost, i kamera koja snima sve a naročito ono što mislite da ne snima. Za sva tri protivnika postoje pravila. Evo kako se to zapravo radi.   1. Biti miran je poruka Provokacija u studiju nikada nije slučajna. Protivnik koji vas vređa ne pokušava da vas ubedi, on pokušava da vas natera da eksplodirate, jer zn...