Grassroots Campaign
Revolutionizes Gotham Politics
The grassroots campaign that energized Gotham politics and swept Dent into the DA's office was the result of a carefully thought-out and executed strategy, The Gotham Times has learned.
Media Manager for the Dent campaign Allan Cypes said that the grassroots campaign had two basic goals. "The first goal was to create excitement among the electorate for Dent's message of change," Cypes said. "The second was to actually make sure that our voters got to the polls. Looking at the margin of victory, I'd say we succeeded on both counts."
Working below the radar of any news media, Cypes began meeting with ordinary Gotham citizens whose lives had been touched by the issues Harvey Dent was running on — crime and corruption. Cypes met with a mother who lost a son to gang warfare, a stevedore whose father was murdered, the wife of a cop whose mysterious death was never explained, and other Gotham citizens.
These and other residents, from all corners of the city, formed the nucleus of Dent's earliest grassroots efforts. The campaign became so successful that as Harvey Dent's pledge to "take Gotham back" began to spread, Dent decided he couldn't stop within Gotham's borders.
The campaign decided to expand their grassroots outreach to thousands of absentee Gotham citizens around the country. Campaigns vans dubbed "Dentmobiles" were dispatched to over 30 cities. Campaign workers traveled with the vans to hand out campaign materials and discuss their candidate in the hopes that not only would they vote by mail or online, they might also influence friends and relatives still living in Gotham to vote for Harvey Dent.
Cypes explained, "Getting eligible Gotham citizens to mail in an absentee ballot was only a small part of this strategy. The larger picture was simply bringing nationwide attention to the plight of Gotham...and to the one man who could fix it."
In most cities visited by the Dentmobiles, hundreds came out to show their support. In addition, many Dent supporters submitted photos and videos to the Harvey Dent campaign site to share with their friends and family back in Gotham.
According to numbers given out by the Dent campaign, 120,627 emails were received, 2332 photo submissions were emailed, and 215 original videos uploaded. The photos and videos had a major impact on the campaign, Dent advisors believe.
Jeremy Wolcheck, the stevedore who ran Dent's dockside grassroots effort, told The Times, "Harvey Dent really understood that the one thing we all have in common is our love for Gotham City. When people in town saw hundreds of pictures and videos in support of Harvey Dent, that makes a big impact."
Gotham political observers were impressed with the results of the grassroots effort.
"The Dent campaign represents a sea change in local politics," said Stanley Jay Harper, professor of political science at Gotham University and a former professor of Harvey Dent's. "Politics has become a lot more personal and with the advent of the Internet age, it's only going ot get more so. He may not have intended it — and we certainly won't know the full ramifications for years to come — but Harvey Dent has started a revolution."
