Margaret Ann Morgan, Press Secretary at Correct the Record, Organization formed for Hillary Clinton
Broadcast journalism and public policy leadership, 2013
DM: Tell us about what you do and how you got to where you are now with the Clinton Campaign.
MAM: Correct the Record is a rapid response and strategic resource organization that was created for Hillary Clinton several years ago. I actually started on the digital team back in January when I moved to Washington, D.C. So, I started on the digital team, and I was doing content creation for them and some of their social media work, but it wasn’t traditional social media. We basically brought people onto our team to help with online attacks. Hillary Clinton, her name, her character, is attacked more than others for a few different reasons: One, she’s a woman. Also because she has been in the public sphere her whole life. So, the team that we brought on to the digital side would go on to what was happening online, mostly on Twitter, put in a positive message, drop it and leave. (It was) mostly so people could see that there were supporters out there in the online atmosphere. It is now working in to some grassroots organizations that support Hillary who may not have the resources of larger organizations or may not be as well established. They create content for them, whether it may be graphics or videos — things that can be used to spread their message. After I did that then I moved into the communications department at Correct the Record and that is where I took on the role of Press Secretary. As Press Secretary, my day-to-day is primarily booking our Correct the Record representatives to go on television. I am in charge of booking them to get on television to talk about Hillary and her message, and to spread why she is the best candidate for the United States. So, with that, I am working with CNN, MSNBC, Fox— all the major networks — and then once I get them on television I say, OK, what’s the topic. Researching the topic that we are talking about, developing talking points, making sure they have the most recent poll numbers— anything that comes up in the communications department I have some kind of role in essentially.
DM: How were you involved with politics as an Ole Miss student and how did that play into your career as of now?
MAM: I actually wasn’t involved. I was in different campus organizations, but I never did the political role; I’ve just always been interested in politics. And, some of the reason I never did that was because I went into journalism, and you couldn’t have an opinion. So, I was really involved in the Student Media Center, that’s where I spent a lot of my time. But, I also had a minor in public policy. So I had an interest and dedicated some of my academic studies to that, but I never got involved in that until afterwards.
DM: This year’s election cycle has been almost unanimously regarded to be highly historic in nature. Why do you think that is?
MAM: The most obvious thing is because Hillary Clinton is the first female presumptive nominee for a major political party. That speaks volumes as to why it is so historic. It’s also 2016, and there are all different types of ways to reach your audiences. What we are seeing with that is this whole era of new media and the ways that campaigns are being run. Who would’ve thought that a presidential candidate would be on Snapchat? Who would’ve thought that would be a way to reach voters? But, young millennials are doing that. And then, in general, it’s because you have a candidate who is not expected to be the nominee, and he’s not the traditional nominee for the Republican Party. So, that is just a complete whirlwind for people at every level. So, it really has turned this whole thing upside down, and now this is a whole new game. All the rules are out the window. We are totally relearning how to do a presidential election both as people who have had a lot experience on the business side of it, and also as voters.
DM: The Mississippi primary had an overwhelming majority vote for Clinton. Why do you think Mississippians voted in this way and what do you think this says about the political status of the state?
MAM: It wasn’t a surprise, to me, personally, that she would take the primary in Mississippi. Hillary Clinton has personal relationships with a lot of people in Mississippi. She’s a Southern girl herself, she started in Arkansas where she was first lady. So, that had a role in it.
DM: If elected, what do you think Clinton will bring for the state of Mississippi?
MAM: What I hope that we will see is that Hillary Clinton gets Democrats excited again. It’s sometimes pretty hard to be a democrat in Mississippi. You have someone like Hillary who has so much experience at so many different levels of the political spectrum. She is not only the most qualified candidate for president, but she also has so many different experiences that a lot of the people in Mississippi can relate to. I hope that people appreciate that. I think that we see a change coming to Mississippi, I’m not just talking about on the federal level, but a lot on the state level. You have a new wave of voters, and I am talking about millennials of course, but you also have people that have voted all of their lives, but now with the way this election is going they are kind of questioning, “Well, do I vote with my party because I am a Democrat?” or “Do I vote with my party because I am a Republican? Or, do I actually look at the candidate and see why I need to support them?” I think that that is really going to affect the way people participate in the political process because it is really easy to say, “Oh, I identify with the Democratic Party. I’ll vote for that nominee.” Well, that is not the case anymore. So I think this election as a whole is going to shake up the way people feel before they get to the polls. I think a strong Democrat with this much experience is going to be very exciting for the people of (Mississippi) because they have someone who can be their champion on a federal level, and I hope that can trickle down to state and local politics. Because, it’s time for our state to recognize their potential and to get past the partisanship to work towards reaching for what Mississippi is capable of.
DM: What action do you urge Mississippians to take as we approach the general election?
MAM: Read, read, read. Get as much information from a number of different outlets before you go to the polls. It has never been more important given the two candidates that we have to understand the truth of what is going on, and to understand who you are voting for. Not that it has ever been easy to go to the polls, but we are at a different age where information is put out there in such a different way, so it’s hard for us to get back to the basics of seeking out that information out on our own rather than letting it be dumped onto us. Informed voters. We have to be informed voters.
