The Future of Campaigning

This week on the Andrew Yang Podcast.

The amount of people that are constantly saying it is too hard to run for office because it's too expensive, that right there is one of the biggest challenges in the world. And I will hear people constantly say, if you're trying to produce ads with or using in some way, shape, or form AI, you're taking away jobs from the creatives. And I don't think we're anywhere near filling out the full pie. Right now, the issue is the vast majority of people running for office aren't getting served at all.

It is my pleasure to welcome to the podcast the co-founder and CEO of Campaign AI and an old friend of mine, Tom Crummins. Welcome, Tom.

Yeah, good to be here. It's been, what, 9 years of just Plugging away and doing great work and seeing where it takes us. And we've got a new venture and exciting opportunity.

Yes. So we're going to dig into Campaign Eye at length. But you were a Venture for America fellow circa 2017. You went to New Orleans and you also volunteered on the presidential campaign, for which I'm eternally grateful because you decamped to— I want to say to South Carolina. You hung out a lot with our dear friend Jermaine Johnson. But you were originally from—

South Carolina. It felt right. It's easy to— Look at that. I'd call it recamping. That's— it was just going home, man.

It's true, man. You recamped.

Yeah.

So it was a lot of fun seeing you on the trail in South Carolina during the presidential. That was, you know, Jermaine Johnson. What a freaking credit to us all he is, because he was my state lead in South Carolina as like an ordinary gentleman in the sense that he wasn't an elected official at that time. He was just like a 6'6 tower of humanity.

I know, I'm walking around at 6'5 and looking up. That's— you don't see that.

Yeah. And now look at Jermaine. Jermaine is the Democratic nominee and Forward Party endorsed, uh, candidate for governor.

Yes,

of South Carolina, after winning, uh, a state legislative race, uh, a few years back. I mean, time has really flown. It's been wild. Do you— so So I now associate you because it was you, me, Jermaine, and others hanging out in South Carolina, 2019 and 2020. Post-Venture for America, you dug into a number of initiatives, both social and commercial.

Yeah, bounced around. I mean, even starting with Venture for America, that wasn't the usual entrepreneurial role. So I ended up helping a number of formerly incarcerated individuals transition out of prison in New Orleans, which Louisiana was the most incarcerated state in the country per capita. per capita at the time, a place in the world actually. So not exactly the bastion of success that you want to have, but seeing how entrepreneurship could help people make that transition out was unbelievably exciting. And then getting to go home to South Carolina and having all these conversations with just everyday people that are frustrated with a system that doesn't feel like it's working for them and seeing how they respond was Unbelievable. Getting the chance to go out to Iowa in January of 2020 and the caucuses.

Look at that. Yeah, gang coming together. I mean, that season in Iowa, I will always regard very warmly. And it felt like the last stand of humanity because like this frozen tundra, Planet Hoth, people like knocking on doors where we needed to get 40,000 Iowans on board. We wound up with 9,200. Which is in a way pretty remarkable. I mean, in a way it's like not, you know, it's like we got a quarter of the way to saving humanity and upending the whole thing. Super important and formative set of experiences. Anyone who was in Iowa during that time, what, like, what's your memory of that time?

Well, I, I got sent out January 2nd, which is what, 30 days, 31 days before the caucuses hit? Drove up in one fell swoop, which I think I was sponsored by Rockstar energy drinks making that drive. And I get there and I'm taking the 6 counties in the top right of the state, including Howard County, which went— it was, I believe, 21 points for Obama in 2012 and then switched to 20 points Trump in 2016.

Wow, 41-point swing.

41-point swing, the biggest in the state. 9,000-something people in the county. Rural, and every last one of them, the conversation was just economic. And I'd be chatting with people and just saying, what made you switch? And they go, I couldn't afford things then, I can't afford things now. We had to press a big red button. And that showed up all over the place. So you get to just have these conversations with people. We had so many volunteers come flying in all over the country. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So many good memories. You had a forum for Iowa. Everywhere I went, it was awesome because people were in from all over the country.

Oh yeah, I mean, we, we were packing people into— it's— I don't know how they did it. It was like sardines trying to pack them into whatever little volunteer space we could find. People were just excited to do it.

There are times I wish I was in charge so I could get in front of AI, which is what we're gonna talk about in a more benign way because you have now kicked off this new company, Campaign AI, that I'm a small investor in, that is meant to help use AI in a positive way for positive candidates, for scrappy grassrootsy candidates who maybe can't afford the expensive consultants and the rest of that jazz to be able to push and punch above their weight.

That's exactly it. And we went out of our way to pick the name Campaign AI to just Hit it right on the nose. But the whole idea is if you're looking at the cost for a campaign ad, you know, it takes way too much time. You know, it could be several weeks. You have to do on-site shooting. You got to be moving the candidate around constantly. Costs too much. You know, the ranges can be $5,000, $10,000 plus a spot. Oftentimes we'll see for a launch video, it's $15,000 plus just to get started. But even those groups that'll say it's lower, That implies that there's also enough videographers and production agencies to serve the 500,000 locally elected offices in the country. So there's just not enough space to support people. And if you're trying to create a video on your own, what are your options, right? You're grabbing your rectangle and just recording the candidate footage. You're trying to put it on social media using their tools. Maybe you're a pro at that, or maybe you're just a really good candidate that knows how to do governance, that knows how to do the work. Right. But doesn't quite know how to actually produce content or be a digital marketer. Well, you should have that ability. Get your story out there. There's no reason democracy should have a paywall. So we're jumping in and helping.

All of us can be TikTok stars. No, I'm kidding. Or even want to.

Or even want to. That's not even my gift.

I mean, no, we're being selected for not so great qualities. And I wrote in one of my books about how we're selecting for bad leaders. And we're also selecting for fundraisers. So some people heard this and thought, Oh no, Tom is trying to help candidates generate AI slop that is then going to be out there. And so check it out. There are a couple of candidates people might associate with the AI video for campaigns phenomenon. And the first one that pops into my mind that you probably get all the time, Spencer Pratt. Spencer Pratt. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like, oh no, Tom is somehow empowering a whole new generation of Spencer Pratts, to which you respond,

Yeah. No, it's— It's what's been so fascinating about his race. And then where we, we differ is, first of all, he didn't produce— his campaign didn't produce any of those ads. It was all external groups that were jumping in. So it was superfans, volunteers, other agencies trying to promote it. And then he would repost those videos and they garnered millions, just as the specific example that showed up. They had one where he was a Batman-style character.

Sure.

And you had Karen Bass, you had Kamala Harris, you had Gavin Newsom, and they were all in these Venetian settings.

It was like dystopian.

It was dystopian. And it really resonated with a lot of voters, but it also raised some major worries of, is this where the future of campaigning is going to go? Are we going to be able to make or do whatever people want? Can we take their name, image, and likeness, their voices, their images, their persona?

So do you somehow vet the candidates? Do you vet the output? Do you produce the output so it's not weird and gnarly? Like, what— are there any guardrails or is it like, hey, here are these tools and the candidate and their team, they can then just produce videos more inexpensively?

The key is the guardrail and the key is the speed. So you put those 2 pieces together of here is a seamless, smooth process with guardrails built in both technically and policy-wise so that, you know, people can always find their way around a technological hack. But we also have some policies that are in place that say if you do a deepfake of somebody else without their consent, that is a one-strike policy with our campaign and with our company. So we draw some very clear lines to make sure we're doing it the right way. And it is not just building it into the technology, it's building it into the company. The way that we work, though, is it's an AI-powered process more than it is AI content generation. So right now, if you're trying to use any of these tools that are the Adobe Premieres or the Canvas or any design tool, they have AI scattered all around them already.

Yeah, that's true.

It is so common. We don't even— We

don't think about it anymore. I mean, search engines, AI.

Yeah, it's changing constantly. Every time you take a photo on a new phone, it's going to repixelate and update, and that's AI working in the background too. So we want to give a process that feels natural. So imagine you're a video production agency. What do you do? You interview the candidate or the campaign manager and say, what style of video do you want? Is it a launch video? Is it a fundraising appeal, a policy explainer, a get out the vote? What style and tone do you want to have? What's the target audience? Basic messaging. Are there platforms that you want to lead with? And then once you've got that intake interview, you say, here's the brief, here's what we're trying to do. Does this make sense? And they nod, they give you the green light and you move ahead. Then you draft a script and that script has both what the narrator is going to say and what the viewer is going to see. You have both the elements that are built in. You give the green light on that, you work with it, you edit it, you make sure it's what you want to see. You then switch into a storyboard so you can actually visualize all the different elements. Here's some sketches, here's some ideas of where we're moving, and then you start to build it out. And this is where our big difference comes in, where we're not just producing AI-generated content. Our process actually centers around using real content, your own campaign's footage. So when you get to that storyboard stage, you can hit a big button that says, use my content, whatever you've brought into our app, photos, videos, you can select those different options. So we're trying to highlight you walking around in the community in Iowa. Here's some footage that we have of you walking around the community in Iowa. You can give a little placeholder because maybe your campaign manager has the footage and You know, you need to go grab it, but you just need a quick way to remember. Or you can say, go film this. And that scene of you walking around as a local underfunded campaign who doesn't quite know how to shoot B-roll, we'll give you those instructions on how to go do that so you can film and feel confident as if you had a professional there on site working with you. Those are the real content options. You can also pick stock footage or you can go the AI-generated route. And that's where we have a lot of the guardrails built in. That's the moment where we're building disclosures based on state-by-state regulations, trying to add extra layers to make sure the disclosures are meaningful, not just, hey, this used AI, but actually what was the purpose of it? Was it a reenactment? Was it a visualization of a policy? And then there's all the backend guardrails around deepfakes. So, you know, no, no anything being produced without their written consent.

No fake Karen Bass, et cetera, et cetera, or the equivalent. Thank you, listeners. Please make sure to like and subscribe. And if you have any questions, send them to mailbag@andreyang.com. We'll do our best to answer them. Thank you. So, uh, I have gotten behind Campaign AI for, uh, a number of reasons. The main one is that I know you. I've known you for years, and, uh, Jermaine is involved as, as well. And so you guys are excellent human beings who are trying to do something empowering, uh, and helpful. So that, you know, that's the crux of it. It's like, if you know the people involved, and anyone listening to this now senses that Mm-hmm. You're a do-gooder, uh, and yet you're trying to do something positive and in the right way, which leads into the second thing, which is that we all know that this is going to happen, that campaigns are going to use these tools. And so you'd much rather have a good actor, uh, facilitating than someone who's like purely mercenary, no guardrail, no compunctions, uh, et cetera, et cetera. And the third thing I'll say on this side is that I've been a candidate. I've backed a lot of very scrappy candidates, and this stuff is difficult, time-consuming, cumbersome, and expensive, and requires some expertise. Shooting a good video is not easy, and it's a real hindrance. Like, you know, I mean, to get a good video up and then put meaningful resources behind it, you're talking about 5 or 6 figures a lot of the time.

Oh, it's, it's staggering, and it Makes it almost impossible to do it for many campaigns. I mean, this is also a moment to talk about the Fool team and how it's truly bipartisan. So we talk about the importance of doing this the right way, doing it with ethics in mind. But it's also saying that at this moment, are we going to worry more about one specific partisan victory, or are we going to worry about the fact that democracy revolves around us having communication systems and ways of engaging and sharing information with each other. And when AI is coming in, it may break that entire framework and foundation.

Oh, you know what? One thing too I should probably throw out there is that you've been involved with the Forward Party.

Yes.

And Germaine's endorsed by the Forward Party. I mean, you guys are like super wholesome individuals that are trying to bring us to a post-partisan dynamic system.

Yes. And the third co-founder is Brandon Guffey, who's a Republican out of Rock Hill, South Carolina. And his story has been immensely powerful. He's been a big tech online safety advocate. And he and I met actually during the Senate Judiciary hearing where Mark Zuckerberg had to stand up and apologize to all the parents for the harms that were done. And his big focus is recognizing deepfakes are going to hurt people. They already are. And it's showing up in everything from politics to online child sexual abuse material, or what people sometimes call child pornography. You're seeing all of this really harmful uses of it. Well, let's jump in. Let's try and build a better way and demonstrate that you can move at the speed of AI but without the slop. That's feasible.

Yeah, I like your approach of taking actual photos and footage and just essentially trying to like quasi-automate the video-making process, because the truth is most candidates just want the same kind of videos. It's like a Hey, this is me walking around. These are the things I care about. I mean, you know, these things tend to be pretty short. You're not going to be producing, you know, I'm Superman, I'm Batman type videos.

We might have a couple, but probably not too many.

Yeah, most of it's gonna be, here's who I am, here's what I care about. You're talking about people who are running for things like school board and city council and that kind of race too. So the entire Superman thing might not really be a good fit for those races. It's not quite as dramatic.

Yeah, you get, I mean, with some of the school board races, I mean, we're talking 75+ percent have less than $5,000 raised the entire cycle. Most of them are going less than $1,000. That is so little money. And the amount of people that are constantly saying it is too hard to run for office because it's too expensive, That right there is one of the biggest challenges in the world. And I will hear people constantly say, if you're trying to produce ads with or using in some way, shape, or form AI, you're taking away jobs from the creatives. And I don't think we're anywhere near filling out the full pie. Right now, the issue is the vast majority of people who are running for office aren't getting served at all. And so if we can empower those people, and shift into this video-first world where everyday voters are looking for a ton of things. They're looking for videos that are professional and put together and polished, and they're also looking for videos that are really candid and unpolished and the exact opposite. They want things that are in real time, so they're responding to live events, but they also want content that's evergreen. Which by definition can't be responding to real events. So how do you produce all that? Well, the answer is stop focusing on these very large, overly expensive ads. Instead, focus on a campaign where you are communicating with video every step of the way. And that's the model we're building towards. Get your launch, conduct a several series of policy explainers, do fundraising appeals along the way, have rapid response videos that are, you know, meeting the moment and talking about what's happening. Get to the— get out the vote package. And then with that framework, grab your rectangle, record what you need to do, have the candid footage along the way. And that right there is a video-first campaign built for the modern era.

Yeah, if you can empower all these scrappy local candidates, lower the barrier really. Right now that school board candidate is not including video, probably. And to our earlier point, most people aren't natural content creators or internet personalities. I don't know how much of a natural I was in the beginning anyway. The personal Evolution that was required to stare at my rectangle and be like, "Hey guys, it's Andrew Yang here. We're like doing this." Da da da da da. I mean, there was like a real journey involved, and I don't—I don't think that journey is realistic for most people. Part of it because like for me, it was born of a crucible of a presidential campaign where it's like, okay, you compete or you disappear. And I was like, all right, it's competition time. What do I need to do? Like you know, like what I need to dance like. marionette for, you know, this new TikTok platform. Okay. You know, it's like, I'll do whatever it takes.

You did do the shuffle in South Carolina. That was a big moment.

Yeah, exactly. It's like, you know, I just started going into like performer mode and it's just not feasible for the vast majority of humans or desirable. Like, you shouldn't have to dance, dance, dance in order to become an effective school board member.

Yeah, it's reached a point where you're seeing TikTok trends show up in politics. So there's jokes of what's called the millennial pause, which is hit record. Hi, I'm Tom Cummins and I'm running for office. And there's that awkward moment that always tends to show up. One of the recent ones is the Netflix documentary trend where—

Yeah, I did a version of that.

And it can be fun. And it's also an odd one. It's an odd experience.

Well, I mean, you know, for me now, I have become this thing and I'm trying to use my thing to make good things happen. And that could include a bunch of sane folks deciding to run for office around the country and then maybe using the tools of campaign AI to do so more effectively, more cost efficiently. I also would agree with you that human creatives will be there every step of the way, that if you're running a large-scale campaign, then you're always gonna want some freaking high-level video maker. It's just for the myriad candidates for whom that's not realistic or desirable. I mean, the last thing you'd want is some school board member being like, I need to raise 6 figures so I can have a slick video. It's like, come on. It's not gonna happen. Yeah. That's silly, and you shouldn't have to raise a ton of money to do this anyway. So if we have convinced people, let us say, that, okay, I started out thinking campaign AI, uh-oh, oh no, because people have reflexive negativity towards AI generally nowadays, even though I think rationally they know it's going to be used, it's going to exist, trying to hide from it. And Tom does seem like a nice guy, and to the extent that anyone is going to do it, In a positive, principled way, uh, it would very realistically be you and, uh, and Jermaine and the gang. Um, so what, how can people, uh, use Campaign AI right now? This could be someone who's considering running for office. This could be someone who wants to help others, uh, in, in this space. Like, what are the, uh, what are the ways that people can utilize Campaign AI right now or reach out to you? If they want to work with you in some way?

So first piece to mention is when we think of a campaign, the priority is right now focused on people running for office, but the campaign is any type of tactical content where you're trying to mobilize people towards a goal. So you could be running for office, advocating for an issue that matters to you, pursuing a ballot measure. Even trying to promote a book or raise awareness on something. All of those are themselves effective campaigns, and the model is the same. It is the same process, the same flow to get that tactical content. So we're serving a wider range of people. You don't just have to be running for office to qualify.

Makes sense.

On top of that, the way to, Use the tool is we have that whole flow. And I need to double down that at the end of that flow, there's actually 2 options that we have. The first is you can do that full post-production plan, prepare, and design the video that you want to see, and then send it to human editors for post-production. And we think of it as, you know, it's like sketching out a tattoo and then bringing it to the artist and saying, Here's the vision, but you're the pro. So in many ways, it's actually making it easier for more artists to get involved because there's more people coming with structured ideas.

It's the fall, and I'm not gonna lie, my health routine has taken a hit these past couple months. I've been on the road, I tweaked Something. I've eaten some stuff I should not have eaten, and that's why it's a great time for me to get back to Factor Food. Factor makes chef-crafted, dietitian-designed, ready-to-eat meals so that even a klutz like me can just go heat them up out of the fridge. Real food, and you can taste the quality. You can taste the healthfulness. We're talking about mustard chicken, salmon burgers, shredded pork, collard greens. Factor makes me more effective, healthier, and it can do the same for you too. Let's eat real. Head to factormeals.com/yang50off and use code YANG50OFF to get 50% off and one free breakfast item per box for one year while supplies last until 10/31/26. That's code YANG50OFF at factormeals.com. YANG50OFF at factormeals.com. See website for more details. Let's say I'm running for office. At this point, my opponent could have some video of me stabbing and killing someone or saying something rancid and, and all the rest of it. You know, it's a bit of like an arms race dynamic out there on the campaign trail. Do you guys have any way of assisting your candidates in that kind of landscape?

It's one of the biggest efforts that we do to collaborate with others in the field. So this happens all the time. Campaigns will often do the right thing for the most part because they're blocked by regulations, but a lot of outside groups really make those negative videos and they can reproduce, they can create fake profiles like Andrew Young instead of Andrew Yang. And then it copies your image, it copies your bio, and then they're trying to say all these crazy things. And how do you defend against that? And the— what's the old adage of a lie travels around the world before the truth has its chance to put on its shoes?

Sure.

Something like that. No,

no, no, we know the thing.

And one of the efforts that we're focused on building with different coalitions is first being able to cryptographically verify a video was produced when it is. So the iPhone just released the other day, and it allows you to have these little timestamps that officially say this was a photo taken with this phone. Which is incredible because now you're, you're a journalist, you're a candidate running for office. You can have that verification and say whatever was produced wasn't this. I can show the proof. But what if you're an everyday person that can't afford the latest iPhone Pro? Well, we are working to give those types of stamps. So you produce a video with us. It's not just producing at the speed of AI, it's giving it that verification. That says this was a video produced by this campaign. You can test it, you can make sure and backtrack the provenance, which is really, really powerful and needed. And then at the same time, what do you do about all the other content that's out there? Because we can say and we can show that that's real, but people are still going to see all the other negative ads and videos that are out there. So what are ways that you can use AI to go scan and try to find and source all of those different tools that are out there, the fake content that's being produced. And there are some incredible companies that are out there that are working on exactly those challenges and being able to partner and collaborate with some of those groups. It builds a world where we can actually start to trust what we're seeing again. And that feeling of trust is everything right now. I don't know if you're feeling it now, but— There's this sense of anytime you open up your phone, you won't— maybe. I don't know what that is.

Yeah, I know. Everything gets a big fat maybe. Hopefully, at least the campaigns can have this kind of, you know, no deepfakes sort of approach. And I wish there was more regulation in this space because the incentives are very negative. Like you said, an outside group can just create some noxious video and it can just be out there. And then the other campaign could be like, wasn't me. And it might Legitimately not have been them, you know. But you can muddy the water. I mean, there's going to be a lot of water muddying. Being able to trust what people see and say, look, like, you know, I mean, what you're saying is like, this is a real photograph. This is when it was taken. Like everything we do, if it gets particular markers, like, you know, you can know that it was a real image.

And that every decision was made by a human being. Every step of the way, our process is also making sure a human being is making the decisions, which is another piece that voters are looking for. You could say, type in a little prompt that says, I want a video that is for my campaign, and AI agents go and produce that video. But is that your campaign, you as a candidate making those decisions, or is it some algorithm and large language model making that? People can tell and it feels off. So we can also say, Going through our process, every single step of the way, a human being made every creative decision.

It's, you know, it's a resource, it's a toolset, and— but there still need to be good people trying to make good things happen on the other side of it.

That's a big part of the process. It's— you talked about regulations before, and we're seeing slow progress at the federal level, but The conversations are starting to show up and we're seeing some willingness to engage on that. Roughly 30 states at this point have some degree of regulation around AI disclosures, and that is constantly changing. So that becomes another hoop that campaigns have to jump through of, well, is this ad that I'm producing, this video, is it going to trigger some response from my state or from one of the social media platforms and their policies, and all of that is changing all the time too. So if you're moving at the speed of AI, how do you actually know that you're going to be able to get the information out there and not get dinged for it? So we are seeing progress. It does tend to be more at the state level at this point, but that's a good sign. That's a groundswell of people recognizing the power of this technology and the fact that we have to have human judgment guiding it along the way. We can't cede that.

And you're already helping these cool, likable candidates in various races?

It's been a lot of fun. I mean, both of the co-founders, we started with the idea that Jermaine, when he was running for statehouse against a 22-year incumbent, was able to win with very limited money because he was able to do this guerrilla campaign. Seeing that same mindset of community-driven work rise up to the level of a gubernatorial bid is extremely exciting. And all that we're crafting, this whole process is based on that style of experience. Brandon is the same way. He's managed to get into office and has a lot of powerful messages, is trying to convey to his constituents different goals and visions and policies. Yeah. And how does he communicate that? One of the first ads that we did was for Brandon on the social— it's called the SHASM Act, and it's the Stop Harm from Addictive Social Media. And it was passed in South Carolina, and it was designed to say if you're a company that's making over $1 billion a year, so truly the biggest—

The biggest.

Biggest of the big, those companies have algorithms that currently tell whether or not somebody's under the age of 16. That's how they're targeting them with ads in the first place. So those companies now in South Carolina, when the law goes into effect, will have to use those same algorithms to instead say, if you're under 16, there's no infinite scroll. There is no hyper-targeted advertisements that show up, trying to reduce the level of addictive features that are built in. Right. And one of our first ads was capturing that sentiment. And in fact, it was an ad that had only stock footage, real footage of Brandon speaking, Brandon doing the voiceover, and him crafting the script that he wanted to see. There was no AI-generated visuals at all, but it was through Campaign AI. That's what we're doing.

And now the CHASM Act—

And now the CHASM Act—

has been passed. Legislation like that can help a lot, especially if it's For kids. I am a middle-aged man, which sometimes my back hurts. It's one reason why I love the Helix Sleep Ultra Dawn Firm mattress that is tailor-made for me. They have 20 mattress models. Take the helixsleep.com quiz, sleep quiz, and you can get the mattress That is tailor-made for you. It's an investment in your health, your energy, your career. See, look at that. There's so many reasons to invest in a mattress. It's a no-brainer not to. And that's on my honest opinion. This is the award-winning mattress from Wired, Forbes, from people who sleep on mattresses for a living and see which one's the best. And if you don't like it, you have a 120-night sleep trial, so you can sleep on this thing for 4 months and then return it, though I don't recommend doing that. You wouldn't do that, would you? Nah. Go to helixsleep.com/yang for 20% off sitewide. That's helixsleep.com/yang for 20% off sitewide. helixsleep.com/yang.

This episode sponsored by She's Birdie. Every woman knows that feeling, and She's Birdie knows it too. The just-in-case feeling. Just in case I hear something. Just in case someone tries the door. Just in case I need to wake up fast. It's not fear, it's awareness. And Birdie Box from She's Birdie was made for exactly that. Birdie Box is a portable travel door alarm designed by She's Birdie for hotels, dorms, Airbnbs, and anywhere you're staying away from home. It installs in seconds on the doorframe, and if the door is opened, it activates a loud siren and flashing strobe to help draw attention instantly. She's Birdie. Because peace of mind should check in with you. Birdie Box by She's Birdie. Visit shesbirdie.com— that's S-H-E-S-B-I-R-D-I-E dot com— and order your Birdie Box before your next stay away from home.

Well, congrats on taking this on, taking on this challenge, uh, and empowering others. I've known for you for years,

and you've always been trying to make good things happen for people, whether it's the formerly incarcerated in Louisiana or survivors of sexual assault, something that you connected with Evelyn on, helping My Presidential, helping Jermaine in South Carolina. And now you want to help grassroots— Helping Forward Party. And now you want to help grassroots candidates around the country do things the right way, not run away from these tools, but actually be empowered by them. And I think that's everyone's hope, that these tools will be used by good people for good things.

Couldn't have said it better. That's exactly the goal. Let's find ways for as many candidates as possible, as many good people as possible, to get their story out there. And create the change they want to see in this new crazy AI world that we all live in.

Yeah, something that Stanford professor Jeff Pfeffer said to me, I mean, he wrote a book called The Path to Power about various things, behaviors people have, and he said in order for good things to happen, good people need to have power, and so here's how, like, you know, you can accrue power. And it seems obnoxious, but It is probably true that if you want good things to happen, you want good people to be able to get their message out powerfully and effectively. I believe that this is happening and that I would much rather have you and Jermaine and the gang in charge of distributing these tools than letting some other jokers I don't know— Because We all know it's on its way, and I wish you guys a ton of success. Those of you who aren't watching this but are listening to it, Tom's got a purple shirt on. He's Team Purple. It's time to try and give independents and wholesome, positive, principled candidates around the country the tools they need to succeed.

That's exactly the goal. Let's do it.

Let's do it. campaignai.us, tom@campaignai.us. Thrilled to follow your journey, my friend, and I'm really proud of you and everything you've done and very, very grateful to you for believing in the campaign and contributing to the movement over the last number of years.

It's been an adventure I couldn't ever have imagined, as you know, sir.

Yes. From the wilds of Iowa winter to the wherever the heck, you know, the, like, the warmth of the South Carolina coast.

I'm inlands. I'm in the mountains.

Shows what I know.