10 days inside the campaign trail: Lessons in human behvaiour

By Dominic Campbell

In every political campaign, we are presented with a pretty one dimensional view of politics, policians and their policies. The parties put their case forward, the mainstream media reports according to the politics of their masters, the events of the day or simply the time available in any given news bulletin. Neither narrative really manages to effectively represent our everyday experiences of politicians or the election process as experienced in our communities.

10 days ago now myself and Fran started volunteering for the New Media team at the Labour Party with one specific intention — to work with the team to help tell the story of the campaign from a different angle. The story of the story almost. A more authentic and real time take on everyday democracy (albeit, yes, from a Labour perspective). Whether national high profile events, or everyday out on the doorstep, we wanted to draw on the power of social media to give a few more instant and potentially interesting insights into life on the campaign trail.

For the last 10 days, the new media team has worked with senior politicians and prospective parliamentary candidates to report back a view from Inside the Campaign. We’ve lent heavily on all our favourite social media sites to do so, such as Twitter, Audioboo, YouTube, Foursquare and Flickr to give some colour to our reporting.

I’ll leave you to read the stories we’ve captured so far at your leisure, but for now I wanted to share some of my wider learning from my first 10 days on the campaign.

Politicians are only human

I have been impressed by the magic wand party staffers wave to create time for politicians to constantly travel the length and breadth of the country to talk to as many people as they possibly can. But even more of a surprise to me has been the ability of politicians to carve out pockets of quality time to listen, learn and connect with people. And, whatever you may think, it’s not *just* for show, although at times it might appear that way when there’s no time to be made as there’s no time in the day to be had.

Whether it’s David Miliband discussing the UK’s policy on Palestine with community leaders at Tooting Islamic Centre or Alistair Darling listening to questions on the economy in Morrisons in Rothwell, I have found that they are trying, truly, to do more than the bare minimum and instead spend quality time with people engaged in healthy political discussion.

Yes of course there is an inevitable degree of separateness to the senior politicians. But having spent some time travelling through Yorkshire in a car with Ed Miliband last week and gaining an insight into some of what he has to deal with in a short space of time, it’s no wonder. But equally, then, it was a nice surprise when it was Ed who hopped out to buy us sweets and drinks at a quick pit stop at a local corner shop — much to the suprise of the shop owner no doubt!

But not only is it these senior politicians I have been impressed with. The connection local candidates develop with their local communities is impressive. Candidates and their teams work extremely hard day in, day out, to reach out and speak to local residents, listen to their concerns and persuade them that they are the ones to best represent their views. This work shouldn’t be underestimated or undervalued.

People are only human

Sitting on this side of the divide watching the chatter on Twitter and meeting lots of people out and about, you do come to realise just how demanding we are on our politicians. Yes, OK, there are many many failings that politicians could themselves address in an instant, from expense claims to more regular efforts to engage, but nonetheless I’m left in no doubt that until we the electorate start to behave differently ourselves, it’s easier to wonder where the incentive for politicians lies sometimes.

For instance, on numerous occasions I’ve observed politicians making time to come and speak to people, quality time, and while people value that time and access to their representatives there and then, as soon as they are gone people almost always regress, saying “well you know what they’re likeâ€, “it won’t make the blind bit of difference†and the list goes on. I have even witnessed out and out rudeness and hostility to their faces, labelling them just a “bloody politicianâ€.

Again of course I recognise where this deep set cycnicism comes from, but at the same time, how about we cut them some slack and recognise their efforts when they are trying. Or else where is the incentive to do more?

Yet despite this, on the whole I find people still enjoy having contact with their politicians. They love sharing their stories, thanking them for their efforts and asking for more when their needs aren’t being met. Politicians and government do still mean something to people, no matter what the comfortably off and cynical among us may think.

I’m only human

On a very personal level, the last 10 days has been an interesting learning curve. When I blogged that I would be supporting Labour during this election, I made a pledge to steer clear of nasty politics and role model the kind of behaviours I hoped to see in politics, working to help overcome the deep seated (often justifiable) scepticism surrounding our current political set up.

And what I’ve discovered is that it is a very fine line between a sarcastic sense of humour (something I’ve always been a fan of) and nasty politics. There’s something almost irresistible (to me at least) in correcting the other side when you believe them to be making wild statements or to poke fun at them when they slip up.

Prior to coming out as a Labour supporter, much of this would have gone unnoticed, or enjoyed even. But interestingly while I had many many kind messages of support, as soon as you are on the inside, as soon as people can define you as tribal and label you as ‘other’ (a politico), the view of these jokes and pokes changes in an instant. No longer can you make fun of the opposition in a cheeky chappy way, instead it is viewed as nasty or old skool politics.

Now while I confess to maybe straying into this territory once or twice, it has only been once or twice (in my opinion at least). Campaigns are frenetic bubbles of activity that absorb you and isolate you from the outside, with polls gathering meaning (when they are largely meaningless) and political jousting matches appear to matter, when they are entirely unattractive and trivial to anyone else looking on. So the odd slip up seems inevitable, I tell myself.

It has been a fascinating insight into human behaviour, how politics is viewed in the UK, how we have become afraid to admit our true feelings and stand up for what we believe in. It is clearly largely ‘not cool’ to back a political party, something that I am entirely unfazed by, and look to make change happen from within, something I have always prided myself on.

As I said in my original blogpost and I now believe more than ever, there comes a point where you can no longer stay out of the politics and have to get involved and make your feelings known.

May 6th 2010. You know what to do.