Obama For America

Barack Obama at Michigan State U, Oct 2, 2008 Photo by Spencer Critchley

Spencer Critchley worked with Obama For America '08 media teams in three battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Colorado.

Towards the end of the 2008 Pennsylvania primary, he traveled to the state HQ in Philadelphia. There he focused on constituency outreach (women, Latinos, veterans, seniors, etc), while helping out with new media and foreign press.

For the general election, Spencer joined the press staff in Michigan. He managed outreach to the state's 400+ radio stations. He wrote briefings and booked radio and TV interviews for Barack and Michelle Obama, Joe and Jill Biden, Hillary Clinton, Jamie Lee Curtis, Carole King, Sean Astin and others. He helped the new media team with web development and, after shooting some pictures of a visit by Usher to the Detroit HQ, became the state photographer for visits by the candidates and surrogates such as Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Will.i.am, Forest Whitaker and Tracee Ellis Ross.

Bruce Springsteen at Eastern Michigan U, Oct 6, 2008 Photo by Spencer Critchley

As part of his work in Michigan, Spencer  designed an improved email list management process that greatly increased interview bookings and was adopted in other states. He also designed a pilot web program called Media Precinct Captains, which gave campaign volunteers an easy way to monitor media coverage in their home markets.

After the McCain-Palin campaign abandoned the state of Michigan, Spencer was deployed to Colorado to work with the press team there, focusing on increasing impact on radio while handling briefings and bookings for the candidates and surrogates such as Sheryl Crow, Kal Penn, Ben Harper, Laura Dern and others.

Photos by Spencer Critchley from Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign: