Clinton-Sanders Strategists Show Unity, Talk Tactical Partnership

PHILADELPHIA— The tactical partnership between the Sanders and Clinton campaigns is still being worked out as strategists for the former rivals made a show of unity Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention.

The opening of the DNC made headlines for the dissent shown by the Sanders’ delegates who booed the Vermont senator when he urged them to back Clinton in an address Monday morning. While Sanders went on to wholeheartedly endorse the former secretary of state during his prime-time speech, questions linger over how, or whether he’ll turn over his campaign’s assets to the Clinton camp. 

Jenna Lowenstein, digital director for Hillary for America, said the two camps were figuring out how to hand off Sanders’ email list, which has been estimated at “several million” names.  

“We’re in lots of conversations,” she said Tuesday at a panel hosted by Politico. 

Lowenstein added a caveat that even when a handover does take place, it wasn’t as simple as trading a list of names. “It’s not as easy as, ‘here’s a CSV file,’” she said. 

“It’s not great for deliverability,” she added, to hit a list without the recipients’ opt-in.  

Sanders was able to raise $227,687,274 for his effort with an average donation of $27, much of that coming through SMS text and email donations. 

That makes his email and cellphone lists prized assets that could pay dividends for Clinton. But Revolution Messaging’s Keegan Goudiss, who consulted for Sanders, noted that if the email list is transferred, it won’t necessarily pay dividends for Clinton. 

“It’s not just going to magically raise money for anyone who has access to this email list,” Goudiss said, noting that Sanders is now focused on a new organization and how he’ll marshall his campaign assets going forward.   

Despite the lack of a deal, Goudiss and Lowenstein made a point of praising each other’s work — a sharp contrast to what GOP strategists displayed in Cleveland last week.

But cracks in that united front showed when the topic of Twitter came up. Goudiss was quick to assert: “We always thought we were the better candidate against Trump.” 

Lowenstein said the Clinton campaign has a team of about half dozen staffers dedicated to waging a guerrilla war against Trump on Twitter.

“If we can district him for fifteen minutes a day, that’s a win,” she said. “It appears easy to get under his skin.”

Lowenstein dismissed the idea that Trump was effective launching attacks from Twitter. His “rants,” she said, “I think they’re turning people off from that campaign.”

Meanwhile, Clinton isn’t relying on email to keep her supporters engaged. Lowenstein noted that the campaign’s new Iowa field office app was an attempt to bridge online and offline actions. If the user takes action in the app, it can translate into winning a trip or tickets to an event. “We’ve gotten really positive feedback,” she said.

The Clinton campaign earlier released the “Trump Yourself” app that allowed supporters to put overlap a Trump quote over their own photo. Lowenstein said that two million people used it the first day it was released and half-a-million people created photos and shared them.