It was 1992, the beginning of the Bill Clinton Presidential campaign. The Clinton campaign was going to tell the public why they should vote for Clinton. Our operation was to send a message about why they should not vote for Bush. With that in mind, It’s time to tell the truth and take credit for one of the great political campaign contributions. Not money - ingenuity. Was it done by one person? Hardly. It was my idea but to carry it out took a team effort. The beauty of the idea was that no one really knew where it came from, and where it went. We wanted to send a message ( by my definition a message need not have any audience participation, whereas a protest requires active participation, and can be messy.)
Ron Brown, then the amazing DNC Chairman (there hasn’t been another since, and probably will not ever be) was responsible for the funding, but no one knew even that. President Bush41 had said he wouldn't debate Governor Clinton in the General, and we ran with that. Was he Chicken? Maybe. Could we make a statement about his being Chicken? Maybe. In fact 16 years later, during Trump’s first campaign for the Presidency when he 'ducked' making his tax returns public, our team crafted a Duck campaign which might have been equally effective, but two things prevented it from going live. "What's Donald Ducking?" was the punch line. However, Donna Brazile, the less than formidable DNC Party chairman, falsely claimed she knew nothing about the “ Donald Ducks,” and blamed Hillary, who really did know nothing about it, except that it was the “chicken” people.
Truth be told Donna did not want to lose her monthly stipend from Disney. Additionally, there was not a person at the DNC, who understood the difference between a having a protest and sending a message. Which again, by my definition, a message can be a sign, a video and/or a t-shirt. No one needs to participate, except in their heads. After Ron decided on the funding, we were generously given a small office in N. Arlington (VA) in a stand alone bank building between the bank and a tanning salon. (We remain grateful and our landlord remains anonymous).
The word went out that we were looking for good-humored staff and people came a calling. We were mostly on target for staff because it was going to be fun yet challenging, and it was clear that once Mr Bush decided to debate we knew we would have to transition to other costumed characters or other tasks. And so we did. Throughout the country there were not only costumed characters sending an issues message, but groups like the "Harry Truman Truth Squad," T- shirts with messages about so many issues like the Bush failures in the economy. How ordinary Americans were struggling etc. Then the campaign asked us to work with labor to protect surrogates at planned events, and on and on it went. People around the country worked with us.
At our morning brainstorming sessions comedians like Richard Lewis, writers like David Fisher and political VIP’s who just wanted to do more than contributing money, called in to participate. My only regret was not to get it all on tape so we all could enjoy the sessions today. It wasn’t just chickens, but they were clearly the high point. Our duck campaign had music and videos that would have left Trump reeling but it was not to be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7dJMGdR1gw Back to the Chickens, which was not an easy secret to keep.
“No more Jiminy Cricket crap,” was our cry. We worked with labor to protect our surrogates, especially Hillary, and followed the Bush people everywhere, yet everything we did was seamless. Mr Bush was terrific about it, eventually writing "the chicken people" a letter in which he congratulated us for "operating in the best tradition of American Politics." . We never interrupted an event, we just stood by the press. On one occasion Mr Bush - the President of the United States - actually talked to the chicken. It was on the news, and we never had to send out another chicken. They just popped up wherever he went.
It’s interesting to sit back and figure out why the polls aren’t moving toward Kamala, especially since Trump is so gross and strange.. When Trump talked about the Arnold Palmer's genitalia it was amazing to watch the audience. It reminded me of a bull fight or a rodeo, where, despite blood, danger and injuries the audience loves the entertainment element of it. Same with both Trump at McDonalds, and swaying to music instead of talking to his audience. That audience was reveling in the entertainment. Yes, he is off base and wretched but he’s like a high wire act at the circus. Will he finally fall? It doesn’t matter since the electorate doesn’t want to be lectured to by a woman who keeps pointing out the circus' failures.
More importantly, why is the media covering and repeating all Trumps lies and antics? Unfortunately, it’s because they are entertained by it as well. In addition, the non stop email haranguing about 'who did you vote for' is just a lazy way to get out the vote. Come knock on my door, please, but stop emailing me. The voters will judge who should be the President for themselves.
Political operative Iris J Burnett has worked in the Carter and Clinton Administrations, and worked on countless campaigns over the last fifty years. She was the first, and remains the only woman to have been Director of Security for a National Political Convention (Democrats in NY 1980)
she is reachable at IrisTBT@gmail.com