SD pro-abort insiders explain how they won in November

Politics Magazine just published a very interesting article called South Dakota's Measure 11: Unusual Messaging and Non-Traditional Coalition Partners Led a Red State to Reject an Abortion Ban  written by Connie Lewis of Planned Parenthood MN, ND, SD and Nathan Peterson who was a consultant for the South Dakota Campaign for UNHealthy Families.

Point by point they explain why they won in SD last fall.  Here are the highlights:

"We had to move swiftly and aggressively to reframe the debate in a way that would penetrate voters' personal feelings and the issue of abortion and remind them why they rejected Referred Law 6 in 2006."

1. Focus on the Law's Consequences - "The campaign to defeat IM11 involved two primary messages that were crafted after conducting extensive public opinion research: 1) It is impossible to craft an abortion ban that takes into consideration all circumstances that a woman and her family might face (ie exceptions for fetal anomalies) 2) Banning abortion allows for governmental interference into personal and private medical decisions that are best left to a woman, her family and her doctor…. Equally informative is an examination of the messages that did not resonate with undecided or persuadable voters in South Dakota. We learned early on in 2006, and confirmed in 2008, that messaging around choice, abortion as a constitutional right, or the threat of illegal abortion would motivate our base (about one in three South Dakota voters), but did very little to persuade anyone to change sides.  We would not suggest that other states facing abortion ban campaigns adopt our messages verbatim without conducting the necessary research first…. by avoiding debate over the morality of abortion, our messages resonated in South Dakota… it allowed voters to feel conflicted but discredited a specific attempt to ban abortion… (voters) remarked they were personally opposed to abortion but uncomfortable allowing the government to make that decision for anyone else. Persuading those swing voters to oppose IM11 was crucial to our victory.

2. Exercise Extreme Message Discipline - "Our effort succeeded because everyone involved in the effort bought in to the campaign's message. The strength of our campaign was directly related to the strength of our coalition… While some pro-choice activists were initially wary of adopting more moderate messaging, our research show that traditional, aggressive pro-choice messaging would not have resonated with our target audience."

3. Develop a Broad Coalition, Including Non-Traditional Partners - "There is little doubt that our most credible messager during the 2008 campaign was the medical community… "in a turn of good fortune, an internal memo drafted by attorney's for the largest hospital system in South Dakota that outlined the many impacts of IM11 was leaked to the press approximately four weeks before the election."

4. Use Grassroots Communications to Fill the Gaps - "Let's be frank. We could not have overcome our initial deficit in public support without an aggressive paid media strategy."

I have time here to just give my first three thoughts on all this before I get on a plane.  I welcome your two cents as well.

First, that last sentence tells you they admit the centrol role millions of out-of-state dollars played in being able to run a successful deception campaign in a state that believes killing babies is wrong. I hope North Dakota personhood people are taking notes right now.

Second, LOL at the use of the phrase "in a turn of good fortune" referring to the leaked Sanford memo.  Like that was an accident.  But they are correct, they were able to hi-jack the medical community in this state and turn them into— "our most credible messagers." I guess that's an admission that those who sell abortions have no medical credibility. But sad that the docs were manipulated and used to ensure abortion remains a legal form of back up birth control in our state.

Third, they admit the need to separate voters from their morals in order for abortion to continue being legal.  Wow.