American Way: can Jim Messina do for David Cameron what he did for Barack Obama? But his real insight in the 2012 campaign was to marry the individual contact philosophy of a field campaign with a massive but still targeted social media strategy. For example. while the Romney campaign was spending millions on negative television ads, Mr Messina saw that online platforms like Facebook were being all but ignored by the Republicans, creating room to present a positive digital grassroots message for the president that resonated with the millennial generation, who are understandably allergic to polarising, hyper-partisan appeals. As a result the 2012 Obama campaign shocked the political world by actually growing the electoral map for the incumbent, despite conventional wisdom that said the president would be unable to sustain the kind of record-breaking turnout he enjoyed in his first campaign. In addition, historic precedent said that presidential elections are essentially referendums on the economy. But in 2012, the old rules were thrown out and new rules established. Then again, politics is not a science - at its best it's an art, and its worst it is something like a war. And in all cases, success is the only proof point that matters. The combination of data-driven ground game, relentless messaging and sophisticated social media is Mr Messina's signature and it is what he'll be delivering to the Cameron campaign from his perch across the Atlantic. Like many former Obama senior staffers, Mr Messina has now entered the lucrative world of consulting, forming The Messina Group. But unlike the Clintonista consultants who helped get Tony Blair elected more than a decade ago with his Third Way framing, Mr Messina is showing a willingness to work outside partisan lines, signing up with the Conservatives instead of Labour. This makes more sense when you consider that Mr Cameron's policies - such as support for gay marriage and confronting climate change - would probably make him a centrist Democrat in the United States. This hire is a coup in large part because it highlights the fact that the Third Way is alive and well - but it extends beyond the confines of party label. In addition, the gravity-defying personal good will that exists for Mr Obama and to a lesser extent Mr Cameron can be translated to election day support in the face of uninspiring alternatives. The biggest hurdle will be the fundamental difference between presidential and parliamentary systems - remember that Mr Obama was re-elected despite Republicans maintaining control of the House of Representatives, an outcome that would be all but impossible in the UK. But Mr Messina specialises in cases that are considered Mission Impossible by more conventional operatives and Mr Cameron can now credibly say, for better or worse, that Team Obama is on his side. John Avlon is senior columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast