in 2004, there was an effort on our behalf in an ad that ran in ohio in the midst of a lot of negative campaigning. this was a great ad. this ad tells a story. there is a narrative architecture about it. it was a very sweet and compelling ad. it got into that frame about who will keep you safe. >> my wife wendy was murdered by terrorists on september 11. their daughter closed up emotionally but when president george w. bush came to lebanon, ohio, she went to see him. >> he walked toward me and i said this young lady lost her mother in the world trade center. and he came around back and said i know that's hard, are you all right?

>> our president took ashley in his arms and embraced her. it was asked that moment that we saw her eyes fill up with tears. please the most powerful men in the world and all the wants to do is make sure i'm safe. >> what i saw is what i want to .ee, the heart and the soul [applause] quakes the other evolution of advertising is we lose control. we have these packs running ads. we lose control of our message. becauser thing is that of the online capabilities in social media, it's not just

committees but anybody out there can make an add on your behalf and if it's good enough, it will power up. of of my most favorite ads all time, the great apple ad produced on behalf of barack obama but not by the campaign. technically not an ad at all. it never aired on television to my knowledge. it was a viral video. we kind of stretch the definition of political ads when buttart including these they are clearly persuasive. >> it was pretty early on that that dynamic got to clinton and obama. there are powerful. let's run that.

>> i'm looking at how to help you and other people who are hard-working like you and i have really been impressed by how serious people are because we all need to be part of a discussion of we all going to be part of the solution. >> i don't want people to agree with me, i went honest, experienced, hard-working, patriotic people who want to be part of a team, the american team. i hope we have learned a little bit more about what i am believing and trying to do and really help this conversation about our country get started. i want to keep this conversation going. >> brilliant.

great stuff. is campaignsle that outlast their supporters. they do a competition to put together an ad. here's an example. bernie sanders has had some great ads. here's an example. it is as good as any advertising you will see from an agency. it is great. >> our job is not to divide, our job is to bring people together. if we do not allow them to divide us up by race, by sexual orientation, by gender, by not allowing them to divide a set i whether or not we were born in america or whether we are immigrants, we stand together. hispanic,ck, hi gay, straight, woman and manned,

when we stand together and demand this country work for all of us rather than the few, we will transform america and that is what this campaign is about is a bringing people together. [cheers] >> so -- they have had a series of ads from supporters. examples andat other campaigns. a great power of the community. you can crowd source or advertising and come up with great ads like this. we want consistent thing about political advertising is great is great. of evolutions and phases of evolutions and phases but great advertising is great greatestng and the advertising, the greatest political messages are those that have vision and hope.

hope is a such a powerful motivator. we speak about hope and fear but the great candidates really communicate a vision, a hopeful sign that things will be better. a message of change, how you will improve society and make people's lives better. at the end of the day, lots of different approaches, different concepts. they have inspirational messages and so i just want to close out this section of the program by showing you a couple examples. book on how to build a campaign is you start with the introductory ad and then you moved to platform adds and then to attack ads but you don't want to leave a bad taste in people's mouths. these technically may not have the in that phase of

election. i know for instance the obama ad we are going to see aired in 2007. this was one of the first ads that aired for obama. out as vision by way of introducing himself and defining himself. i'm not sure when mourning in america aired. you see have a clear and compelling message and was going to be a contender. the last line of this ad may be my favorite political advertising line of all time. >> every time i think about my hope for america, the cynics in washington roll their eyes. they don't believe we can actually change politics and bring an end to decades in division and deadlock.

hopefully we can limit the power of lobbyists who block our progress. we can talk to the american people with the truth. we face the same problems every four years. my experience tells me something very different. in 20 years of public service, i have brought democrats and republicans together to solve problems that cut the lives of everyday people. i've taken on drug and insurance companies and one. i defined the politics of the moment and oppose the war in iraq before it began. this is what i'm about. i approve this message to ask you to believe not just in my ability to bring about real change, i'm asking you to believe in yours. >> good line. that became the slogan that was on their website. asking you to believe not in my power to change but yours. voters.nchise the fantastic. there's nothing fancy about that. powerful message and a

clear rationale. at the bottom of any great campaign is clear rationale. campaigns, you see there's a lack of rationale. as close as out with a great morning in america, the great communicator ronald reagan. this may be midnight in america, this campaign. it's time we had morning in america. >> it's morning again in america. today, more men and women will go to work than ever before in our country's history. with interest rates at about half the record highs of 1980, nearly 2000 families today will buy new homes, more than at any time in the past four years. afternoon, 6500 young men and women will be married. and with inflation at less than half of what it was four years

ago, we can move forward with confidence to the future. americaning again in and under the leadership of president reagan, our country is prouder and stronger and better. why would we ever want to return to where we were, less than four short years ago? >> great stuff. i think we will talk about in our next panel but one thing we want to maybe focus on and maybe close is you look at this collection the one we are in right now and a return on paid advertising has been limited to say the least. and so, the power of effectiveness of advertising in general is really evolved and changed. again, i think that gets to the notion of voters have become very skeptical and know that it is paid for and so therefore, the power of free media and somebody like donald

changed. trump comes along and has a very different approach. and has spent almost no money on advertising. >> i read that donald trump laid out a vision for a campaign that was run almost exclusively on free media. and the people he was talking to said, you cannot do that in effect, watch me. he said, watch me. so far, he has received almost $2 billion in free media. which is astonishing. >> yes. [laughter] >> put me out of business. they can roll me out to talk about the old days. thank you for this segment of the show. [applause] >> i think we will shift some chairs out now. bring my colleagues up here.

so, we have three yes that i bring it up, who are some old friends, some new friends. the people i've been well acquainted with the well aware for a long time. these are three of the best political minds and operatives in the country. period. i had the opportunity to work with sarah fagan and rush refer in both the bush campaign. they are simply the best. they're the kind of people who do not dance in the end zone. they just get it done. i have a lot of credit for a lot of work that russ did. and a lot of work that sarah did. and david is well known for being the architect for president obama's campaign. i was with a number of operatives the other day, doing

our show, and we were thoroughly -- and we were at the hillary clinton campaign. so these were a number of people you had worked against at some time, and to a person, they said david is the best in the business. high praise from people he would run over with a truck a couple of times. [laughter] >> but sarah was really in charge of the research and analytics and is gone on to do amazing things through companies that she has started, that look at analytics and research, and it just any time in the campaign where we really wanted to know what was going on, sarah was the go to woman who really looked around corners and understand demographics.

and it russ the creative genius who really produced most of the great advertising for the campaign. not only the bush campaign, but the romney campaign. literally hundreds of congressional and senate republicans. these are kind of the masters of the political universe and there is so much to talk about. david, i will -- let's talk about, breaking this down into the past, present, and the future. we will talk about what is happening. i wanted to start off by -- one thing i wanted to say in the introduction was the weird thing about political consulting in the business that we are in is that there is no license or degrees required. so, it does not always attract the best and the brightest. but these are the best and the brightest. they let me in, for god's's sake. [laughter] >> in fact, you had a great line today.

you tweeted out today, in case you missed it, donald trump campaign manager has been arrested. what did you say? >> i said a presidential campaign manager's job is to manage the circus not to become the circus. >> exactly right. so, i wanted to as this kind of throw back and say do you remember your first campaign and maybe your favorite campaign? either one of those questions. >> first campaign, i was -- i just graduated from high school and a guy down the street was running for congress and i thought i was going to be a lawyer, and so, i have gotten a job that summer interning at a legal office. i was also working on the campaign. hated the law firm.

hated it. it was the worst thing in the world. loved it on the campaign. so i stayed on. >> do you have a favorite? >> can it be any bush? is my favorite campaign was in 1988 working for president george h.w. bush. that was a wonderful campaign, a lot of fun. >> my first campaign, i was in college, so i had done one summer selling ads door-to-door, one teaching tennis. and in my senior year, my father said you have to do something that might have some application of the future. so, this is dating myself, back then we had these things called newspapers. college newspapers. and there is an advertisement saying, come work on the u.s. senate race. i was going to school in delaware and the senator was bill roth, a very famous editor, so this is a primary to replace injured i worked in the longshot campaign. and i just went door to door and we tried to get people to support the candidate. panhandling a lot of it. we were down 18 points, had some great ads that ran, and we won, saturday night, the balloons come down, we win upset victory. such an exhilarating moment. it turns out, the monday morning, and one of the precincts. you would catch this today, back then you did not.

they had counted wrong. and so at that point, we were up by three. [laughter] >> and we lost the recount by 721. after i dropped my glasses monday morning. it taught me, i don't think i love to campaign, and that had not happened, i would have been out of politics and the one -- and gone to law school, but it would've taught me that any of us could've worked harder and found 72 votes. add to a very young age, it taught me the value of hard work and that you can make an impact in politics if you work hard. sara: my first campaign was in 1994 working for governor branstad and his previous iteration as governor of iowa, the longest serving governor in american history now. i was in college, like david, and i was hired as the youth director. i fell in love and the development with politics and campaigns, and i had the geographic advantage of being in

iowa. and i went to work shortly after that. i have worked for for a lot of texans even though i am from iowa. my favorite campaign is the first bush campaign. there is really nothing to compare, your first winning presidential campaign. >> no question about that. >> i will ask either to tell me or both, your funniest campaign anecdote or maybe the toughest challenge that you ever came up with and i will say it with a charlie wilson story. charlie wilson, think a lot of people know him from texas. the great, colorful congressman from east texas who was always in trouble because of drugs, drinking, or women. [laughter] >> or some combination of that. so he was always number one on the congressional hit list. but he was a great character and really colorful. and really fun to work with on campaigns. so we went to the first campaign meeting and there were all kinds of new rumors.

and he said, don't you worry everything will be fine. i met a young activist girl and she sang to the church and -- a young baptist girl and she sang at the church and i think we going to settle down and get married. just as soon as she gets out of high school. [laughter] here we go again. so, funny moments or challenges? sara: that is hard to top. it was fun to watch you play the wolves ad, because i remember that. worked with another great at maker, part of the bush

team. and one of the particular focus groups where we were testing this ad, a couple were having a difficult time getting the ad and i had to physically tell him that if he went into the focus room and started talking to the participants, that i was going to recommend he be fired. and he wanted to go explained the ad to them because they did not get it. and it was a funny moment. >> focus groups used to drive me crazy. >> like focus groups, but we do learn a lot from them. another favorite moment from focus groups in the 2004 campaign is the second time i heard in a focus group that a

participant in a different city on a different night say that john kerry reminded them of an undertaker. [laughter] >> i thought that that is a fascinating finding. it sticks with you as somebody who is in politics because voters are much more sophisticated than a lot of people give them credit for. these particular voters are certainly, they were taking a gut level reaction. john kerry certainly was a very accomplished public servant, but politics is about a connection. and making connections with voters is something that our candidates that year did very, candidates that year did very, very well. and he had struggled with. >> david? >> 20 years ago, actually managed a senate race in new jersey for a man named bob. >> george, that is not appropriate or c-span. maybe showtime. [laughter] >> i will give you a couple new hampshire stories from 2008. this is right before the new hampshire primary where we are predicted by everyone, including our numbers to win.

it was snowing and it was early and you are waiting. you're behind the hotel. you have the motorcade. some of the advanced people had surprised us with big vats of dunkin' donuts coffee. it was snowing and it was early so i am sitting in the van with my partner, david axelrod, and he is sitting behind me and the back bench of this van, and he goes, oh -- and i want say the -- and i won't say the word here. it is a word donald trump with a on tv but i want say it here. and i hear david say this about what times a day, so i say, what is it? he said i eating this glazed doughnut and i got it in the track wheel of the blackberry my blackberry is broken. and [laughter] true story, blackberry done for the whole day. i think the hardest thing that i was involved in, was the night we lost the new hampshire primary. obviously, you guys went through

that in 2000. but hillary clinton was such a strong front runner and we were prepared for later states, that we really thought that we had to win iowa and new hampshire. we lose. the average poll set us up or -- 14. our own polls had us up by 10. and we lose by three. that was the hardest thing because honestly the biggest challenge, and barack obama was the main reason we got through that, but obviously for me as a manager, said mentalities and -- to convince these kids and volunteers that we still have a chance. i thought we did that even i was not convinced. that night, we did a nationwide conference call and tried to convince everybody that we did not this coming, but still have a chance. we still have a plan and we will still get through that. that was the toughest few hours of my professional life, was losing new hampshire. >> i will interject on that one. i remember the morning, for us in new hampshire in 2000 when we got the message that not only we lost, we lost by 19 points. going in as the front-runner. and i remember we got called

over and you are both there. so there is this moment that i cannot imagine what this he like gosh what this would be like and i expected that we were going to get a whipping, and it was one of the most powerful compelling moments of the entire , campaign. to see president bush -- we got the sort of core campaign team together, and there was not an ounce of criticism, not an ounce of blame, no looking back, it was like this is on me. you guys did a great job. we're going to walk out of here with our heads held high and it will look like we won this race. and i member peggy noonan saying that she watched the concession speech that night and said she thought it was a victory speech. so, it was a great moment. talk about a challenge. >> the night that we lost, i had last seen barack obama and michelle obama when the last exit was up six. which we were disappointed by.

we said, well, there is six so we will assume they are just off a little bit. and we win by more than that. i think, like you, he did not spend a lot of time watching cnn, so they are having dinner. david axelrod and i became the white house press secretary and we had to tell them. so wheatridge up to the sheraton -- so we trudge up to the sheraton nashua from our bunker and knock on the door and say, you lost. he just kind of exhaled. four years later, i'm not even sure if he remembers this, it is the night before the 2012 election, we do our last event in iowa, flying in to chicago. gibbs, axelrod and i are in the staff cabin. and he walks in, and walks out toward the cabin where the first lady is. comes back in and says, now, what i don't want to see is the three of you s.o.b.'s at my door tomorrow night like you were in new hampshire. [laughter]

and it actually scared the living daylights out of me. [laughter] >> you're absolutely right. i tell that story about that day in new hampshire often. i don't know if you remember what you said, i don't want anybody pointing fingers at anyone, i don't want anybody getting on anybody else, and he says, i will be the republican nominee and i'm going to be the next president of the united states and you are all are coming with me. and, you know, if you are in that room at that moment, that was the biggest vote of confidence that allowed everybody to out there and feel like you had won. we try to figure out if we hadn't won south carolina, maybe things would turn out differently. the hardest thing in any campaign -- we at least talk about as consultants, you talk about your wins.

you don't win every one. anybody who has been in this business a long time has had some really heartbreaking losses. think the toughest thing is particularly if you are in a , campaign down the stretch in the last couple weeks and you know it is going to lose. trying to keep everybody's spirits up. and trying to keep, if you're the candidate, trying to keep everybody involved in the campaign because you know where it is going. and to me, what is so great about the business and what you really like about it is the finality of it. the ability that, on the next day, you win, or you lose. there's no do overs. there is no second chance, and if there's a second chance, has to be 2, 6, or 4 years later. it makes it really interesting, but it also makes it very emotional. and i really admire the candidates in the campaign teams who in that last push continue pushing, continue making

speeches, continue knocking on doors. knowing it it just might not happen. what they are hopeful and they -- but did they -- but they are hopeful and they are really giving it their best shot. that is a tough thing, but it is also very uplifting. >> no question, and i often say that first of all, you learn more from losing campaigns and then you do from winning campaigns. also, winning a campaign is a great feeling, but losing is in -- is a crushing experience. it is hard to describe. you invest your soul and your time and your hopes and dreams, and usually, it's a young campaign staffer and when you hey the wind. unlike you said i remember being , in these campaigns and i haven't a clue about the reality. and just believing that we are going to win and that it comes crashing down it is done. i remember in this campaign with marco rubio, and i went the next day and people come out with boxes. a very tough time.

since i referenced marco rubio, let's talk about this campaign. wow, it is a circus. [laughter] >> one of the interesting things i think that we would all observe about american politics is that it is unpredictable. that is part of the fun of being involved in it. just when we think we know something is going to happen, something else happens, so is always new and refreshing and not the same old thing. we certainly know that winning campaigns rarely look back to the past. they look to the future and kind of reinvent things. but if one of you predicted this one, speak up now. because, this is something just completely different, so let's just started at 50,000 feet. let us start with you. what is going on here? sara: it's a combination of

things, but we did not just arrive at donald trump. the country has been going through such significant changes, all compounded on top of one another. if you think about the amount of technological change, in the last 10 years, most significant changes since the invention of the printing press. think about, the country is been through two wars. wars that are waged in a very differently, it was different terms and different rules. i think for donald trump, one of the things about his appeal that is underreported, is that if you were middle-class or lower middle class, being an american meant something, and there's a lot of americans right now, you had being an american, you may not be rich, you may not have the nicest car, but you were an american and that's really meant something.

and there are a lot of americans that it wonder if that means the same thing it did 25 or 30 years ago. you couple that with the financial crisis that it occurred in 2008. certainly, there are many people who are making the same amount of money or less money than they were at that time. and you take the demographic changes in this country. so this has been holding. it has been building and donald trump and bernice -- bernie sanders are a fascinating case study. they largely give the same speech. the system is rigged. you are getting hosed. and i'm going to fix it. donald trump is going to fix it by taking on china and mexico and immigrants. and bernie sanders is going to fix it by going after wall street. their supporters want to arrive at the same place through different means.

>> who have predicted a year ago that a jew from vermont would be in contention for the nomination against a real estate billionaire? >> one thing i would say is that i remember going back and looking at 1992, and the ross perot phenomenon, looking at the polling and the data from then that created the opening for his candidacy. and compare that to a year or two ago, and it was much worse now, the terrain for an outsider businessperson, if it was enough 1992 that a guy who led the race for two months, you flash forward, just the underlined dynamics of mistrusting government, and what was right in 1992, is really fertile now. the notion of an outsider coming in in the form of donald trump, the concept is -- >> so much has changed. as an outsider, and so many more people now identify as an independent, it is the highest

it is ever been since people been tracking these numbers pulling-wise. -- polling-wise. >> as a reminder, i will never forget shortly after 9/11, president bush's the new york city and there was a picture probably in all the major newspapers of the new york leadership and i said, 10 years ago, you would have said that george bush would have defeated ann richards and become governor of texas and become president, hillary clinton will become center of new york, and george pataki would defeat mario cuomo and become a two-term governor and rudy giuliani would defeat david dinkins, you would've gotten millions went off any of that. it is a reminder of the things. i agree completely with sarah, donald trump and bernie sanders have not credit the conditions for the rise, they are tapped into them. now, the democratic race is essentially over from a delicate -- delegates standpoint, but

bernie sanders is probably going to win half of the state and he will continue to do well, but hillary clinton, the delegate battle, it is like boxing. if you lose the first seven rounds, you always to have the chance of a knockout. that is not the way works and presidential nominating fights. if you get the delegate votes, it is hard to take it away. hillary clinton now is i think, almost assuredly going to be the democratic nominee. but bernie sanders has tapped into something real, did credit party base has become more left in populous in the last eight years. which i don't think is particularly healthy for the country because i think that both sides have a harder time meeting in the middle and compromise it is harder to get things done. but donald trump is tapping into something real. i don't think any of us saw this. here's what is interesting, presently advertising this year, is not having quite the impact that we have seen before. i'm not so sure that will be the case of the general election where you have voter target were not very political, or not paying attention to the race for image, you know they are, yet

the chance to target them in virginia, ohio, and florida. what is amazing that donald trump is he is doing well and he is not really running a campaign. as far as i can tell, they have no sophisticated data on delegate operations, they do not prepare for debates, they barely been advertising. he is shown a mastery of surveying the media landscape, he, himself, is the social media director. [laughter] >> for good or for bad. >> but he dominates the race. every day there is no oxygen for anybody else. if it is donald trump and hillary clinton, will be one of the challenging things for her, and it would be for anybody, one of the reasons i'm glad i'm retired, is how do you deal with it? every day he calls into six tv

shows and does whatever is on his mind. he is going to say whatever rumor he has heard, and that will be something as her public -- as the republican nominee, that is global news. legitimate is whatever he says. it's very complicated to deal with. >> you are right, the interesting thing moving forward is that i think his challenges, if he becomes the nominee, his challenges are very different. right now, when he had 16 people in the race, it was a very niche, 30% of all, you're a big winner. even now with three people, if you can get 45%, you can still win with that. right now, donald trump, 70% of all women have an unfavorable view of donald trump. 47% of republican women say they may not vote for donald trump. that is a stunning number. you have the nominee of the party in 2012, mitt romney, saying that he will not vote for the nominee of the party and 2016. these are stunning things. donald trump, if you expect to win, he has to really change his whole campaign because he has to actually get people to like him. he asked her out to get people to say that yes, this person can be president of the united states.

that this person can lead. and it is a very different game that what he has been playing. now, maybe you can make that pivot and that change, so far, i don't think is really shown the ability to do so. but, maybe he will. if he does, then i think he will do some of the joint things out there, and tried to keep the clinton campaign off their game plan. but, if you are going into this with 70% of women, having an unfavorable opinion of you, it is going to be very tough. remember, mitt romney won white women by 14 points, the next about the nominee will have to win white women by his many as 20 points. in order to become -- in order to win. that is a very, very tough thing i think, for donald trump to do. >> let me ask you and sara, it looks increasingly like donald trump could be, will be the nominee.

debatable, interesting delegate stuff going on ted cruz making a move. i think he is going to win wisconsin big. it will change the dynamic. but if he does, there are notions among republicans who say, well, he is it's identical to everything i believe in the republican party. -- it is antithetical to everything that i believe in the republican party. he is anti-free-trade, one of the reasons why i became a republican. do you think there's a possibility of somebody out there just going, and maybe it just rebranded republican party through independent third-party candidacy and say, we're going to find mitt romney are some of you with money and we're just when to start over. i savor well, maybe we need to bring on how to rebuild again on their public and party. our this crazy scenarios? >> i have to believe that it could happen and people are talking about it. i've not seen anything really develop yet of a serious nature.

>> we did a segment where we found what is left of the establishment in washington, and it is six people. [laughter] >> ron kaufman is one of them, and we took them to dinner in this very washington establishment, and had martinis and it was amazing, like a mafia meeting. they were remarkably candid, but the thing that was clear, of those six, six complete different opinions about what was going on. there is no sort of, the notion that somebody would put together a movement to stop what is going on. >> there is no establishment. >> they are gone. >> i was going to say, i don't think donald trump is going to get the delegates required going into the convention. >> what happens then? >> i think we are likely in a scenario where there is a brokered convention. the question is, is he just shy a few delegates and he is able

to cobble together and get there, or, is he shy 100 plus delegates, in which case, i think we're in a multi-ballot situation. possibly ted cruz could become the alternative. it's not crazy to think that somebody who has not run this cycle would emerge. particularly if you cannot do one of these situations. >> that have to be like a -- 10 or 12 ballot situation. >> ted cruz and surely john kasich, neither of them can get there. i mean, ted cruz would have to win i think 84% of all the remaining delegates. it is very high. a good thing is, most of the delegates have not been chosen yet. there are states where they run on the ballot, but, many of these states then go to many iterations through district conventions, and conventions. many of these folks have not

been chosen yet. it is fairly early in the process, even in some of the states that have already voted. >> what happens, you go to these donald trump rallies and what have you and you see that there is some heat there, some passion. something is really going on. to imagine a contested convention where you deny this movement their candidacy, it is hard to imagine a good outcome out of that. >> well, it is hard to imagine a good outcome if donald trump is the nominee of the republican party. because it is not -- [applause] sara: so it is not a republican party anymore. i would call it a hostile takeover of a republican party. in my view, ted cruz is certainly a very bright individual. certainly he has a high negative that is not popular among his colleagues. the difference between he and ted cruz and donald trump in a

general election is that probably neither of them beat hillary clinton. but, we may sort of come out of the bottom after ted cruz and the republican party are still intact. donald trump, it is not the same party anymore. it does not really exist as those of us who have worked in it know it. >> david, let's put you in the role of strategist for hillary clinton and donald trump is the nominee, what do you tell her? david: i think the first thing is be herself. authenticity is the most important principle in politics. you cannot try to out donald trump, donald trump. what i would say tactically, is here's what is interesting, with ted cruz, it is a pretty narrow band. there is not that many voters truly in play. donald trump, it upsets the whole apple cart. there will be a bunch of voters that might have voted for barack obama twice and john kerry, particular sort of blue-collar men that might be available to donald trump.

for that kind of thing, you have to know who they are. then there will be a bunch of suburban college-educated women who might've voted for mccain and romney and president bush who might be available to learn clinton. you have got to know this people are, and you have to go after them. you have to start defining trump and clinton and the race to them. i think with donald trump, ted cruz probably cannot win, but you know what you are dealing with. donald trump could make it close, he could also lose by an historic margin. from a provincial campaign perspective, that puts a lot of voters out there. regardless of this, hilly clinton's biggest challenge will be turning out the obama coalition. that is a hard thing to do for anyone, but we see young voters gravitating to bernie sanders. i think yet to step back and say, how likely to execute a campaign with this nonsense going on? if i ignore him, he will dominate the oxygen of the race, so that is difficult. i do think, president clinton defined bob dole early in the race and he won the race. your team and president bush did

against john kerry and we did against mitt romney. even as she is not an, their public and race clearly will go to cleveland in july. she has an opportunity in these next three months. you cannot look like you're being rude to bernie sanders, and do it prematurely, but to me, the most important part of the race maybe the next three months and begin to set up derails race in the way you define it. >> let me touch on a medium question and also fold in questions from the audience. donald trump has thrown out the role book and of ways, but some of them -- one of them is media. i think earlier, someone mentioned that when you quantify the dollars of free media that he is god is worth $2 billion. is the media complicit, or take responsibility. is it fair to criticize the

media for what is happened? >> sure. [laughter] >> it has to be. how many candidates that we have all worked for would say, listen, don't bother getting up this morning. just pick up the phone. pick up the phone. it is ok. they will take the call. it's all right. >> would you like to dial it in? [laughter] sara: no. >> you see donald trump in his pajamas in trump tower calling into chuck todd. so yes, is the media complicit, of course they are. are they going to his rallies and covering his rallies, of course they are. why?

because it is their news value to it? absolutely. there is huge value to it. i think the other thing you kind of remember about donald trump is that the guy had a hit tv show for what, 10-14 years? many people see him as that person on the show. so his image is very much tied into that show. who he is as a strong, decisive person. you are fired, you are not fired. which is fine. but that is who he is. and then he had a big social media following. so one of the things that i think is interesting about this cycle is that really, it has been, the media has been complicit, you can go -- whether the washington post there are times, eagle and the editorial pages and columnist after columnist are railing against donald trump telling us it is the end of the republic if he becomes the

president. but, you go on facebook or you are on twitter, and people are pushing back. real people. they are your neighbor down the street. they are saying, no, i think donald trump is really dead on and we have to make america great again. david brooks has no idea what he is talking about. so, i mean, it used to be, in 20 12, when mitt romney, we got a bad editorial in the wall street journal on health care. you probably remember that. we were devastated by it. i remember governor romney was very, very upset, now, this stuff just seems to be meaningless. a bad column from george used to mean life or death for a campaign. you would have to be fighting at four weeks. now it just sort of rolls off them like it is nothing. so i think that is how that

whole thing has really changed and how the media has become less important inch not quite as an impactful as it used to be. that at the same time, really interested in the storyline line and willing to play along with it will stop sara: it is really interesting. i think advertising, particularly at the presidential level has always been important. as a means of driving our media. if you think about one of the ads that you showed earlier, the windsurfing ad, there was another campaign ad where john kerry was speaking to the camera and he said, i voted against that. i think both of those were produced for a quickly and were produced very inexpensively. they do not pretend money behind it, but they were the most impactful ads by the campaign. so, that is been true going back certainly at least a decade. so this notion that having the best, biggest ad budget, it is actually not true in this cycle, but it has not been true for a while now.

it is really about driving our media. on agendas understand that, and part of what is driving this is americans now spend more time in front of screens than ever before. we have added two hours on average to the amount of time we are in front of a screen, not just women tv, a lot of it is on iphone or some other device. there is more and more coming up -- at people from more and more directions. and it contributes to this environment where the media is not as relevant and donald trump can dominate through the social channels. >> one of things you guys did brilliantly was target voters in new and innovative ways. we continue to sort of have evolutions of targeted micro-targeting. ted cruz is doing interesting things where it was not even just finding the person in their home and what they cared about,

but the way you talk about the people when you went door-to-door, if you know the sort of profile, there are four different ways that you contact them when they answered the door. what do you see in the future, where does this go? what does micro-targeting -- what is the future. any thoughts about what we will see in 2020 or 2024? what is next? >> there is evolution. we looked in 2008 as we prepared for the general election very carefully about what we did in 2004. what the bush campaign did in ohio in 2004 is one of the most remarkable political achievements in the history of electoral politics. don't forget, john kerry exceeded his number he thought he needed to win ohio by some margin and you came in and won a decisive victory. you use targeting to understand every republican and conservative voter that you could. we studied that as carefully as you could study anything. so that is the big advance, you

just have better targeting. the ability to deliver better messages. this is the first election cycle where i can that deliver a television advertisement to a voter. i do know that is good or bad, but it is happening. there will continue to be advances in technology, virtual reality is going to be a big change in politics. maybe not by 2020, but when he -- but by 2024 and 2028, not just presidential candidates but even representatives interacting with voters. based on a profile. i think that will be a big advance. it is likely and 10 or 15 years, again, i don't think it is healthy necessarily, but people will spend more and more time on screens. there will be an amazingly immersive and rich gaming and entertainment community. even in education. and finding them, there will be more data about that. you will see more advanced information there.

virtual reality is going to be the big thing by 2024. sarah: i think certainly by 2020 four, the notion of a rating point will not exist. >> how we assess television. sara: it will all be based on video views and there will be one measurement. for a screen, digital, television, and all of these other devices people have. i've had to answer forth. so you will simply just measure video views and we will not be buying close rating points we will be buying eyeballs. direct eyeballs. individual eyeballs. >> and i think it is saying, once it is happening you have to

be more creative. you have to be more interesting and order to draw people to come look at what you are showing them. because it was when there were four channels and people were at home watching television at night, you could give them almost anything and they would watch it. now, when you have choices and you can swipe on your device or move to another website, it is easy to get out of it. i think the creativity is going to have to rise up and the level of creativity and mentioning will have to rise up. you will have to be specific and talk to voters. >> but will will still matter the most is the candidate and their message. >> no question. we talk about tactics and strategy but it starts with

having a great candidate. [applause] >> let me close my answering a great question. what advice do you have two young people interested in politics. i will let everyone take a shot at this. one is, i remain hopeful, particularly when i see people all across the country running a campaign. people are compassionate, excited. they have not given up. please do not give up. we need you to fix this mess. you are actually asking, what specifically could i do if i want to get involved in politics. it is a problem is there's no license or to rebut that despite of the advantage. if you have an interest in and a penchant for politics, and this is what i did myself, and a lot

of folks who come to me, it has worked very well. if people were genuinely passionate. if you love it, find a candidate or a cause you believe in and show up. go to the office and show up, say you are there to volunteer and that you will work. long hours and out work, out hustle everyone else. this is not corporate america. if you have the hustle and the smarts, campaigns are a great meritocracy. the next thing you know you will be the campaign manager. if you have talent or spark, you know, a lot of people do not. these move quick. we are not trying to improve market share, on a certain day, we win or lose and we hate to go home. it is a powerful thing. if you're interested, show up, volunteer, get involved. you will be surprised by how quick you will get on-ramped. to a government office.

it has been a great play. i get to hang out with cool people like this. sara: a discipline. even if you love politics. figure out quickly what about the campaign you like the best. finance, research, field organizing. because it is a great way to have an impact in the clinical arena and public policy to be involved that life will go on at some point. very few people make a living out of this forever and it is important to gain some skills that you can take after you are done with that portion of your life. >> yes. it will burned you out like a human microwave. >> first of all, we need you. we need more talented, selfless, young people to get involved in politics.

people who are involved in government or politics, who then their most important thing is staying there. to make progress. elections of matter. i know, particularly this election cycle it seems silly and dispiriting, but everything in this country we have ever done lows from an election. the one exception, you could say the civil war but abraham lincoln help trigger that. everything that passes or doesn't pass, every single one flows from an election. and i remember when democrats would complain about president bush's of agenda from 2001-2009. he won so he gets to set the agenda. robbie hannity was the best campaign manager in history. very inspirational. he said some people see things

as they are and ask why and i see things as they are and ask, why not. he realized if you did not win you did not get to set the agenda. we are a divided country but if you feel strongly about something, work for someone who shares a believe the goods they will then get to set the agenda. everything lived on in this country flows from an election. it is easy to forget that but there is a straight line between that and everything went done. >> i agree with all of this, and also, just stick with it. the first campaign you worked on a with the first two campaigns, you may not win. you may get discouraged. but the ability to keep going back and working on things you believe in and working for people you believe in, is really important. i think it is really satisfying because there are very few things you can do that you realize by your participation, you have helped change the direction of the

country. that is a really big thing. you can be 16 or 17 years old working in a campaign and work on changing the direction of the country or you can be retired and doing the same thing. it is a great meritocracy. if you like it, keep with it. we need you. >> thank you to my colleagues here. thank you mr. president. thank you smu. [applause] jonathan swann discusses primary results and discusses colorado and wyoming. then tax proposals by 2016 presidential candidates. and carry arnold of the pacific standards.

plus your comments and tweets. washington journal is live on c-span. host: the polls have closed in wisconsin. it is 9:00 in the east. during the evening the results from the wisconsin primary, the only contest today. we have the speeches. senator ted cruz has gathered with his supporters. this is a must when state. we are in laramie, wyoming where bernie sanders has an ion the caucuses. senator sanders has won five of the last six contests. wisconsin is a must when state. there are 89