Anat Shenker-Osorio
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anatosaurus.bsky.social
Anat Shenker-Osorio
@anatosaurus.bsky.social
29K followers 410 following 2.3K posts
Host of Words to Win By, a podcast about progressive wins around the world and how we achieved them. https://wordstowinby-pod.com/
Researcher, message maker, campaign strategist to progressive and Democratic causes here and abroad.
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anatosaurus.bsky.social
What was behind Tuesday's Dem sweep? Borrowing a page from Bonnie Rait, winners pursued the "Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About." And didn't get caught flat, or foot in mouth, when MAGA trotted out their divide to conquer hate baiting.
Democrats are especially likely to get caught off-guard when Republicans repeat the unflattering stories Democrats also tell about themselves. From WelcomeFest to Third Way to Searchlight, Democrats who claim to be concerned that voters reject their party for being too “woke” keep publicizing these accusations, seemingly to ensure the media amplifies and voters hear them. Republicans create the conversations that work to their advantage; most Democrats respond to whatever Republicans put forward — or what the survey questions they formulate say voters prioritize. Democrats win when reality breaks through — after the 2008 crash, when the Covid horrors of Trump were fresh in 2020, or right now as MAGA has turned our government into a weapon against us — but they don’t do a good job of foregrounding the topics that benefit them.
November 10, 2025 at 7:27 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
Pollingism is the Democratic default that assumes voters are rational actors, make their decisions on basis of issue preferences, & that polling can allow us to accurately discern how they will actually behave.
Excerpt from essay: The mistake Pollingism demands that we make is to take the temperature of the electorate and calibrate what to say on this basis. But taking the temperature today doesn’t help us to know, much less control, where it will be set tomorrow. While Democrats are brandishing thermometers, Republicans power up flamethrowers. They figure out not merely “where people are,” but rather where they could be capable of going, if they hear some refrain repeated. MAGA’s stories are potent and memorable, not about the issues people register as most important but rather those that MAGA wants brought to the fore.
November 10, 2025 at 7:20 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
One, spicy, focus group participant here ("activatable" white women, Nov. 5) laying out how it undermines defiance by regular folks when those in power refuse to demonstrate courage & convictions.
Quotation from focus group participant: "We were able to see 420 pages of when wild Bill got his little willy wet. We can't see nothing on the Epstein files? Why is that? Because everything leads back to Trump and they're protecting him. And anybody that is defiant to that is being trampled on. That's where our fear are coming in. That's where we're thinking, 'What can little old me do when these powerful people are being trampled on?'"
November 9, 2025 at 11:18 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
Thanks CA!!!
November 5, 2025 at 4:10 AM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
In book club, the kids were joking about using strange objects, including rotisserie chickens, to hold open books. The librarian who runs book club requested they use only bookmarks. And so my kid painted a rotisserie chicken bookmark for each child.
Ten white bookmarks laid on a table with a multicolored table runner. Each bookmark has a different rotisserie chicken painted on it and a chord tied to it attacking a much smaller circle of paper with a lemon wedge painted on it.
November 4, 2025 at 3:07 AM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
In Argentina's battle to repeal abortion ban, message deployed for the *conflicted* was "Salvemos miles de vidas." Yes, claiming the mantle of LIFE despite oppo rhetoric. Medical providers talked about how abortion will allow them to save lives.
wordstowinby-pod.com/nos-sembraro...
A series of posters under the slogan "Salvemos miles de vidas" from Argentina.
October 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
What does "brownie selling" look like in practice? We have tons of examples from winning campaigns. Here's a small part of our 2018 "Greater than Fear" Campaign in MN, which helped flip state House & win Senate & Gov, LG, AG.
wordstowinby-pod.com/greater-than...
Poster in hues of blue, purple and white. Shows a very snowy day with a farm in the background, house in the middle and four very different people in winter clothes pushing a car out of the snow. Text reads "In Minnesota, we're better off together." With a logo of the shape on MN next to the words "Greater Than Fear."
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
Diego is going as a cowboy so he made this version to cut up and hand out:
Poster divided into 4 identical images and wordings. Each one reads "Wanted" above a QR code inside a frame. Below that it reads "Ye Olde Bank o' Food could use donations!"
October 31, 2025 at 3:38 AM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
Halloween poster in case you want to print it out and display it where parents passing by trick or treating can scan it. QR code goes to Feeding America, which supplies over 200 national food banks.
Poster that reads "Donate to Feeding America" above a QR code. Below code it reads "Cause the scariest monsters deny families food."
October 31, 2025 at 3:33 AM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
OK! Here's a QR code for Feeding America donate page. You can print this out (I know very old school) and stick it on your kid's trick or treat bag.
QR code in pink ink
October 30, 2025 at 12:41 AM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
You'll never believe it but rich people aren't going to save us. Even ones cosplaying as "good guys" will cut their conscience to fit this year's fashions, or fascists, as the case may be.
Don't worry guys! Climate change will only destroy the poor.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/c...
Excerpt from linked article quoting Bill Gates, "Although climate change will have serious consequences -- particularly for people in the poorest countries -- it will not lead to humanity's demise."
October 29, 2025 at 9:08 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
A press conference with BABIES (and their parents) about giving essential resources to New York City's newest of the newcomers OR the polling-reported issue preferences of voters as conveyed back in RCT-tested ads.
VERY hard to say which is more compelling.
www.instagram.com/p/DQMcO0ujhm...
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in a suit kneeling surrounded by smiling parents each one holding a baby.
October 27, 2025 at 8:08 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
Three cartoon girls from KPop Demon Hunters looking skeptical and displeased. Above them it reads "Checking out the shady billionaires who don't want us to vote Yes on Prop 50."
October 19, 2025 at 11:26 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
LOVE!!
Child in a yellow Brazil shirt holding a yellow umbrella next to a woman in a yellow tank top with yellow bandana on her head holding a sign that reads "Too Fabulous for Fascism" with a Frog on it who is holding a banner that reads "Free America."
October 19, 2025 at 11:00 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
No Kings Oakland
Bella Ciao
Because fighting fascism sounds better in the original Italian.
October 18, 2025 at 11:21 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
Here's our chance, California, to take meaningful action - from the comfort of our mailboxes.
October 17, 2025 at 10:23 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
Go Bears! #YesOnProp50
October 17, 2025 at 10:20 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
California!!! Es hora de votar sí en la propuesta 50.
Bad Bunny en Saturday Night Live en el centro con una mujer besándolo en su mejilla a su izquierda y un hombre besándolo en su mejilla a su derecha.
October 17, 2025 at 10:17 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
Three characters from KPop Demon Hunters looking incredulous. Text reads: "Checking out the shady billionaires who don't want us to vote Yes on Prop 50."
October 17, 2025 at 10:14 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
California!!! Yes on Prop 50
White cat with sunglasses, headscarf and drink. Text reads: Drowning in existential dread but voting yes on prop 50 anyway.
October 17, 2025 at 10:12 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
Yes on Prop 50!
He-man cartoon with a castle in background. He is holding a sword and across his chest it says "Voting Yes on Prop 50." At the top right it reads, "Keep the Power in California."
October 17, 2025 at 3:48 AM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
Very good moment for the kiddo to have a day off school. :)
Poster that reads, in ornate colored script: Too Fabulous for Fascism. Images of two crowns crossed out. Frog wearing yellow tie and cape, holding a sign that reads "Free America."
October 17, 2025 at 1:36 AM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
(I don't have pic with the names hung but this gets the idea across)
Activists holding up neon green lit up hangers and neon signs that say Adios and also candles (logo of Amnesty International) with the Plaza de mayo in Buenos Aires in the background.
October 16, 2025 at 10:43 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
A unifying color (and/or symbol) has been integral to movements against fascism across places and times. It allows us to know we are indeed a very big we. And to telegraph to others our beliefs in freedom and fairness, prosperity and peace. It makes us a team folks want to join.
Bright yellow background with No Kings written at the top left, below a crown Xed out in red. Below that the words: Saturday, October 18th. Wear yellow. Show up. Show out. nokings.org Lower right a sign reading "Rejecting Kings Since 1776" and an arm holding it up on a stick.
October 13, 2025 at 11:41 PM
anatosaurus.bsky.social
California! Yes on Prop 50!!!
Katniss Everdeen of Hunger Games stands with a bow and arrow in a forrest. In front of her are the words "Beat THE MUNGER GAMES" and below "May the odds, and the MAPS, be forever in our favor!" Vote Yes on Prop 50
October 8, 2025 at 12:46 AM