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Socialist drafts in Obama advisers

Matthew Warren
Matthew Warren - [email protected]
Socialist drafts in Obama advisers
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Presidential candidate François Hollande is reportedly getting advice from some of the experts who helped Barack Obama win the US presidency in 2008.

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A report in Le Parisien newspaper said that Hollande wants to replicate the successful online campaign that helped Obama take the White House.

"In 2008, Obama won because he knew how to use digital channels to organise and mobilise his supporters," said Vincent Feltesse, who is in charge of all things web for France's Socialist candidate.

The newspaper reported that the designer of both Obama's campaign site and the White House website, Matt Ipcar, was in Paris last week.

Another adviser specialising in using social networks, Ryan Davis, was also in Paris.

A further meeting is planned for early February with Joe Rospars, head of the Blue State Digital agency and leader of Obama's 2008 online campaign.

The Hollande team is also planning to replicate the door-to-door approach that helped Obama to victory, with the objective of getting to "between 5 and 12 million doors" before the first round of voting, said Feltesse.

Hollande's ambitions may be limited by the size of his team and his budget. Le Parisien pointed out that while Obama has an online staff of more than 100 people and a budget of €230 million ($300 million), Hollande has around 30 people and a much smaller pot of just €2 million.

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