-Michael Shannon
Robert Jones, Political Director for Annie's List, spoke to the Campaign Academy in a three-hour cram session, laying out the foundation of local political campaigns. He reported on what positions and duties fell into a campaign and then shifted gears into campaign strategy.
50% plus one is all you need. The key is having a plan to achieve the simple majority. This includes two elements we focused on: fundraising and targeting.
Face-to-face and phone fundraising is most effective for candidates, and Jones took the Campaign Academy through the process of "Making the Ask". Important elements included establishing a succinct campaign message and proving the candidate's viability before asking for a specific dollar amount.
The resources for each candidate include the following three things: people, money, and time. Targeting simply prioritizes these resources, using them only on people who are undecided, or could be easily swayed to vote for a specific candidate.
By targeting key voters and viewing previous voter history, resources are used effectively, and the persuasion percent (percentage of voters that are persuadable) is convinced, if you were to vote for your candidate.
Calculating and formulaic, this effective political formula is often viewed as a pernicious but necessary evil. An effective politician does not lose. The idealism is lost with the business model for a political campaign, but ideals do not pay the bills or the staff. They do, however, help us sleep at night and wake up each morning.
The real courage lies in those who know the system, manipulate the system, and still wake up idealistic.
I will not naively generalize Representative Strama as a "good guy," because I believe there is innate good in the heart of the richest, cheating, son-of-a-gun, mudslinging politician. But Mark has displayed a genuine interest in education, not only through legislation and voting history, but also in this Campaign Academy. Though we are his resource, he runs the Campaign Academy like a constant classroom. I think we know where he stands on education.
2 comments:
Great summary of Robert's first presentation. I hope y'all will continue writing up these detailed summaries of the speakers' presentations, because if you do, by the end of the program, you'll have a great compendium of political wisdom from some of the best in the business.
I'm extremely ambivalent about the prospect of Congressman Edwards running on the Obama ticket.
One, we loose a good Congressman, and there is no one to take his place in that District with the exception of possibly Jim Dunham (which would leave a hole in the Texas Leg which we can ill afford).
Two (and I'm sure someone has thought of this), it has already become quite clear that one of the things Rove et al will use against Sen. Obama is that he is smooth, intelligent (note Rove's statement, "Obama's the guy at the country club holding a martini..." link: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/06/rove-obamas-the.html). Grover Norquist has already said, "Obama is John Kerry with a tan." So they attempt to tie Obama to Kerry. What was the last name of Kerry's running mate? Ah, yes. Edwards. So we now have a ticket that reads "Obama/Edwards" already tied to a loosing 2004 ticket. Word association is a powerful thing.
We would lose a good Congressman representing an extremely conservative district, and I'm concerned that the association would not be as successful as some people think.
Post a Comment