On November 21st, 2013, the LeMieux Center for Public Policy hosted a discussion concerning the 2012 presidential election.
Top Florida organizers from both campaigns offered insider information on the election during a panel discussion. Ashley Walker, director of the Obama campaign in Florida spoke about how the national campaign instead of signing up many traditional Democratic operatives to staff its efforts nationwide, turned to young people with sophisticated computer data and social media skills. Brett Doster, the senior advisor to Romney in Florida, said the Obama campaign had the advantage that they had an incumbent candidate, but he agreed that his troops had lost the technology and social media battle. Also on the panel was Helen Aguirre Ferre, a journalist with Univision Radio and WPBT2. As for what will happen in the 2014 Congressional races, the panelists were cautious. Palm Beach Post veteran political reporter George Bennett said he considered it unwise to give too much weight to the issue of the moment. “Six weeks ago, it looked like the Republican brand was going to be extinct because of the fallout from the government shutdown,” he said. “And now we’re speaking about Obamacare fallout,” he said referring to the troubled rollout of the Affordable Care Act.