We gave an unsolicited, unannounced gift to every 2016 candidate’s headquarters and here’s what happened
We hit the campaign trail with our political card game The Contender, bringing a copy of the game to every candidate’s headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa. We began with 3 days until the Caucus, while the campaigns were on high alert for anything that would give them a last minute bump and shun any potential nonsense.
And we don’t blame them. After all, we are non-caucusing interlopers trying to shill a card game. But still, it is a free card game designed to entertain their volunteers both during the furious phone banking and after the national spotlight moves east to New Hampshire.
Hence our Gift Horse Index, or the ranking of how nice each campaign was to two knuckleheads walking in, unannounced, with a free copy of the game. One more disclaimer, this isn’t meant to be a sweeping generalization of these candidate’s Iowa organizations but rather just a little peak into how these operations greeted us.
We’ll start at the top, but save the best (and most surprising) for last.
#2 Bernie Sanders
It was no surprise that Bernie was at the top of the list. His campaign, targeted at young people, was a total hang. The room was full of the idealistic energy that people lose the moment they leave college. We were invited into the main room mingled with the volunteers. Everyone was really nice and thought the game was cool. Actor Justin Long, who was entertaining the press while Bernie was prepping for his next trip, was a real swell dude who even took a copy of the game home with him.
#3 Rand Paul
Team Rand was the rowdy counterpart to Bernie’s. They sported the most collected volunteers of any campaign and an impressive lawn game collection. Ever seen a Corn Hole set sporting Rand’s torch logo? If not, head to Des Moines. An enthusiastic member of the staff lead us through the room to the back office, where the National Youth Director accepted the game and jibber-jabbered with us for a couple of minutes.
#4 Ted Cruz
On the morning after the GOP Debate, the Des Moines Register’s headline read ‘Rough night for Cruz’. So it’s a good thing we visited the #CruzCrew the morning BEFORE the debate. The office manager who greeted at the door immediately warmed to us when he realized we weren’t selling anything. He gave us an impromptu tour of the office and pulled a volunteer out of the phone banks to take a photo with the game. When we left, he gave us his card and wished us luck.
#5 Mike Huckabee
Huckabee’s presence near the top of the list is no surprise. While we received a similar treatment while at the campaign, a staffer both emailed and called us after we left to ask about the events we were throwing. I’m certain they would have come to one of our events if Huckabee hadn’t pulled an audible and attended Trump’s impromptu rally after the undercard debate. They are also home of easily the most folksy campaign lobby banner, an supporter illustrated beauty featuring the former Arkansas governor slappin’ da bass.
#6 O’Malley
We visited O’Malley’s campaign on day 2. The morning was a trio of headquarters that ended near the bottom of this list, and we assumed that the previous 24 hours had put us too close to the caucus for anyone to care. O’Malley HQ turned that all around with some healthy banter and a bar recommendation. Turns out the location of our event that night had previously played home to a casual campaign stop where Martin rocked out on his guitar.
#7 Jeb Bush
Jeb’s an old school, establishment candidate, so we expected a polite, but formal reception. That’s exactly what we got. The staff was younger than we anticipated, and seemed excited about the game. That helped their status, but they also let us walk through their phone bank and record a quick video next to the giant Jeb! logo. Find a better Jeb! related GIF… seriously… try… we’ll wait.
#8 Chris Christie / Donald Trump
These two headquarters were too close to call. In both, we were greeted politely, exchanged pleasantries, and were allowed to take a photo in the lobby. While leaving Trump HQ we heard another staffer ask the woman who greeted us, “Wait, you let them take a picture?” She responded “Yeah, they weren’t press.”
#9 Marco Rubio*
So now we reach the tipping point in the Gift Horse Index. However, Rubio gets an asterisk. Essentially we walked into the wrong door. Rubio’s headquarters had two entrances, we walked directly into the phone bank where we attracted the attention of a startled volunteer. We gave him the game and our spiel. When we asked if we could take a photo with the sign he walked out of the bank into the other room, to ask the person we should have been talking to. The response came back ‘No’.
#10 Rick Santorum
Santorum was the second headquarters we approached. Still figuring out our approach, we were wearing our crazy old coot button hats and walked towards the door with a nice camera in plain sight. Apparently, someone raised the alarm that youths were approaching. We were greeted at the door by the office manager, the secretary, and a volunteer standing shoulder to shoulder. They heard us out, accepted the game, and then cordially told us that they were, indeed, very busy with phone calls and such, but did not break formation until we were headed back to our car.
Best/Worst
#1 Ben Carson
If a campaign takes the personality of their candidate, then we don’t have any doubts why people around Ben Carson would urge him to run for president. Our reception at the Carson campaign was unbelievable. After giving the same explanation that we’ve given at every other campaign, a woman in the back exclaimed ‘Oh Wow!’ while the man we were talking to said in a calm soft spoken voice “You made this? You’re inventors! … Can I take my picture with you?”. When we asked to snap our own shots by the Carson signs, he volunteered to be in them himself. Rare in this exercise of door to door gift giving did we walk out feeling like we were the real centers of attention but that’s what happened with the Carson team.
#10 Hillary Clinton
This was a total surprise. We had two theories heading into this experiment. The first was that the more liberal campaigns would be more receptive to a pair of Northern Californian’s coming in with a free card game. The other was that campaigns with candidates who are ahead in the polls would be more receptive to visitors. A volunteer greeted us in the lobby, and things were progressing as usual until a member of the staff noticed us. At that point things got a bit… frosty. Never mean, never hostile, just a little sideways. We asked to take a picture in the lobby and he suggested we call their press secretary. A quick phone pitch later we were informed that we could take a photo next to the Hillary sign as long as we included on the posted picture that Hillary, nor the Hillary for America campaign, endorse The Contender.
All of this is totally within their rights and it’s understandable that they didn’t want a blind endorsement to potentially become an embarrassment. But it was counter to what we assumed would have happened. We should also mention that the volunteer at the desk was SUPER pumped and texted another volunteer who was a card game fan. She was rad!
SO WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Campaigns are bizarre all risk/all reward small businesses that rely on a vast network of volunteers and staffers. Everyone involved is passionate about either their job or their candidate and most of the times both. But in this social media world it’s hard to not also realize that you can be as much of a liability to your campaign as you can be an asset. Like in life, everyone processes stuff differently, but hopefully this gives people a look into how varied those reactions can be.
But hell, at least the volunteers get to keep the games and we got this gif!
