Money: It's STILL the Mother's Milk of Politics

Jesse Unruh, at one time called the Big Daddy'' of the California Legislature, once said "Money is the mother's milk of politics." That adage is still true today, more than half a century after the politically powerful Speaker of the California State Assembly uttered it. Why? Because much as candidates don't want to think they need it, much as they hate raising money, they need it and they must raise it in order to get their message out to the voters. If you don't have any money, you can't hope to reach the people that need to know who you are, what you stand for, and why they should vote for you and not the other guy.

To reach those voters, even the most modest campaign need to have something to put into voters' hands, and to do that, they need to have a printer to print their message and before that, someone with graphic design skills to create the piece they want to get out and before that a list of the voters they need to reach and before that a message that differentiates them from the field and states their particular message clearly and succinctly.

Let's break that down. 

The List

You need a good list, not just the list of all registered voters, but the list of frequent voters, that is people who are likely to vote in this election. These lists can be purchased from the list vendor, such as Political Data Intelligence.  This vendor can find just the right list for your needs. It's worth the cost, by m ailing to only your voters, you save money in the end. 

The Message

To craft a short bulled message, it helps to have a message consultant, someone to help you hone your issues into bite sized pieces. You can't write essays for the voters (although plenty of candidates want to). You have to give them something they can digest in a short period of time, maybe even as quickly as they head from the mailbox to the recycling bin. Your message consultant can help you take your issues and break them down into sound bites, or bulleted points that the voter can digest and understand easily.

Graphics

You have to make it look nice, so, someone with graphic design skills, preferably with experience doing campaigns, which are very different than advertising say, who knows how to take that message and make it pop on the page, along with your picture and a good logo and color scheme. his person will also work with your message consultant to create a webpage for you. in fact, the webpage usually comes first with a logo, branding, the right color scheme and a short "tagline" you can use throughout the campaign.

A Printer

You need a printer, not your home printer, to print a high quality piece that you and volunteers can carry around to homes, and to print the mail and get it to the mailhouse to go out to voters. You need to find a local union print shop, one that you can rely on for all your needs and will be responsive when you call, who understands the needs of campaigns. Why a union print shop? Because as you go forward assuming you are a Democratic candidate, you will be seeking endorsements from unions and from the Democratic Party. even in a non-partisan election, these things matter and the people who make the endorsements care that you support union labor.

There is so much more that you need to win your campaign and all these things cost money. even if you have an army of volunteer to go door to door, you need a quality professionally produced piece for them to hand out. People power is great. But a grassroots campaign doesn't mean a sloppy or an underfunded campaign. You're not rich? You don't hobnob with the powerful and influential? That's ok. We will give you some tips for successful fundraising as we go forward.