Back on the Trail

You'd think we hadn't been doing much (because I haven't been writing much) but we have been busy on some campaigns. This season is a hot one, with campaigns all over the North Bay map. Sonoma, Marin, Solano, Napa, Yolo, Lake Counties.

So now it's juggling candidates and their various nees.

Most candidates need a few basics:

• A remit envelope to get checks, endorsements and offer to volunteer
• A website to list their isues, bios and endorsers
• A walk piece or handout to leave with the people they meet on the campaign trail
• Some social media
• A letter to potential supporters to solicit funds and ask for help
• A data base to keep track of endorsers, donors and volunteers
• A telephone - to call potential donors for campaign contributions
• A good campaign message
• A good campaign message delivery system - mailers, tv and radio, speeches and more

And a few good people:

• A campaign consultant to make sure these things are in the works and on schedule
• A campaign manager to make sure the candidate is on time, knows where to be, handles the press and other issues and act as chief cheerleader and nag
• A treasurer to handle the finances and file reports on time
• A field coodinator to handle the volunteers and oversee precinct walking and phone banking to voters
• Volunteers to do all of the above and more

You could always use a fundraiser, a data base manager and some gofers to help it all run smoothly, but know this - You, the candidate, must be the one to sell yourself, make the phone calls for contributions, meet the voters, go to debates and answer the questionnaires. Your staff, volunteers and friends and family can all help, but ultimately, You are the salesforce.

Oh, yeah, take a few moments to breathe each day and maybe once a week or so, kiss your family.  It will all be over soon and you'll be in office or back at your day job. either way, you'll have had a real adventure with lots of stories to tell.

Photo Shoot!

An important component of any campaign is the right pictures. You need a more or less formal portrait. You need pics with other people, family, supporters, other elected officials, community members.

Dogs are always good.

Will you provide free treats for all, if elected?

If you have a good photographer in the family, put them to work. If not, you will need to spend a little cash on a professional photographer and spend some time getting it just right.
We recently took a day going with the candidate to meet constituents, visit locations in her District and get some shots of her "On location."

It's sort of like being on a movie crew. I got to play photographer's assistant. A few pics below illustrate the tale of the photo shoot.

  Meeting constituents at a community event.

        

Posing with a high school sports team raising funds. We bought some lemonade to help the cause.

                                         

Mind if we take your picture with the candidate?

  Setting up the shoot.

                  
                                                                                             

Looking at what we got. 

                                                      

The power of the Internet

Is the internet as awesome as it is perceived to be? Do Twitter hashtags make or break your campaign? And why do they make me think of hash fries? Or #hashfries. And what's the magic to get the random scroller to hone in on your message, your campaign? They go  by so fast. It seems to be the luck of the draw; as in who can get to their pistols first, in a metaphorical way of speaking.

Unless you are Obama maybe. Or the royal pooches. Comments on the power of Twitter and best practices fir the nascent campaign. Can we track "hits?"

Then there is the ever popular Facebook; every candidate must have a Facebook Page dedicated to the campaign. Never mind that half the "likes" are from trolls for other candidates, seeking to glean secrets.

Campaigns are gearing up now for the New Year. Last filing for 2013 is Dec. 31. What is the wisdom of waiting to collect those pledges until after the first? Stealth campaigns only go so far. But the surprise element is good. The old mother's milk is just as sweet. Go forth and raise money, you candidates.

Campaigning is not for sissies. All strategies are deployed. The idea is to get the opposition on his/her back, turtle like. Watch out that is not you. It's hard to right a flipped terrapin. Don't let them plop you into the soup. I digress. Campaign is a sport like the Hunger Games. Now there's a good name for a How To campaign book for the millennium

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Happy Festivus! Don't Fall for Deceptive Campaign Practices

Yes, it's the Festivus for the Rest of Us. Dancing around the pole, airing of grievances and feats of strength. I have grievances. Campaigns that lie and cheat; organizations that pretend to be one thing and really another. We are not fooled, Californians Aligned for Patient Protection (CAPP). Really your name should be Corporations Against Patient Protection and that's what you are, an industry group supporting  the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (MICRA), the law that caps pain and suffering damages for patients injured by physicians' malpractice at  $250,000.

Now, I see this nefarious group is congratulating our Assemblymember Marc Levine  for protecting patients. This means he supports CAPP and that's not good for Californians.

Don't fall for deceptive campaign practices, starting early this season.

Happy Festivus everyone!

Inspired by Democrats!

The Campaign Slut has returned from the November Executive Board meeting of the California Democratic Party, a mercifully short drive from the San Francisco airport this time, inspired and hopeful and ready to campaign on.

What could have been two contentious items involving strongly held views by passionate Democrats were averted, one by being pulled, the other by being referred to a thoughtful committee for further consideration by 2015. (Ask me, if you really need to know.)

So the 2014 election cycle is in full swing. We met candidates for Secretary of State, term limits ending the tenure of our beloved Debra Bowen. Three men, State Senators Alex Padilla and Leland Yee and Common Cause's Derek Cressman are vying for that seat. They spoke to the Progressive Caucus last night. Wish more people were there to listen. This is an important seat.

Friday night our Platform Committee took testimony and broke into smaller plank groups. We continue to fine tune the Preamble and got some good work done on my other planks, Death with Dignity and Energy and the Environment. 

The Women's Caucus Saturday featured the Proposition 8 case plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Stier who spoke of the importance in getting involved in issues we care about early, so that we can keep bad propositions like Prop. 8 from happening in the first place and protect our hard-earned but never entirely safe, rights.

Then we got a special Campaign Boot Camp workshop on the 1965 Voting Rights Act which the Supreme Court is busily gutting with newly enacted voter ID laws, meant to disenfranchise old people, students and anyone of color.

Lots of schmoozing in the bar, in the lobby, in between meetings and general sessions.  Jan Black and I met a fascinating Polish gentleman on his first trip to the States, to give  a training for the local office of the large investment firm he works for. We talked politics, American and Polish, including Party make up and health care. His English was excellent. He says people in Poland learn English with a British accent. We exchanged contact info, and Jan on her international travels, already plans to meet up with him and his wife in Chile the first of the year.

The most fun was having political wizard Joe Louis Wildman, who has the most wicked sense of humor in all the good ways, share his strategy for a 1996 supervisorial race comprised entirely of  slogans in weekly ads in the Anderson Valley Advertiser. He lost, but the Campaign Quips live on. A sample printed here, courtesy of designer Sonia Taylor. Enjoy.  They may inspire your own future campaigns!

A Few Words About Endorsements

Everybody wants them. Everybody says you have to have them. The person with the most doesn't necessarily win. What's all the fuss about endorsements anyway?

Here's a hint: It's the quality, not the quantity of endorsers that can make the difference. Yes, your friends and neighbors are important. It's good to show that people you know, ordinary voters, like you. But that long list of names most people never heard of is only impressive to the few who know them well and respect their opinions. And those few may never see that their neighbor Joe Schmo supports you, if Joe's name is just one in a sea of names occupying valuable real estate on the back of your mailer.

So what endorsements count? There are roughly three categories: Organizations, elected officials and opinion leaders.

Organizations:

Certain organizational endorsements are heavily sought by candidates depending on what issues are important to the electorate. The Sierra Club is key if you want to clue in environmentalists and nature lovers that you are the one who will stand up to conserve wetlands, open space or urban parks.

Nurses imply integrity and compassion.  Teachers show that you care about the next generation and the quality of their education, even if education isn't a top priority in your race.

Business and development organizations say you may be open to new growth and growing the economy.

Firefighters and police show you are trusted to keep your community safe.  

Think about what each organization wants in a candidate and make sure you meet those criteria when seeking the endorsement. Then use the logo of the organization (or newspaper - these also can be important in local as well as larger elections - but caveat - make sure it's ok with the organization to use their logo on your materials. The Sierra Club for instance has a specific logo just for their endorsed candidates to use. Newspapers generally don't let their trademarked materials be used) proudly on your material.  If you can get a quote from a leader of the group stating that you are the one who will carry their priorities forward, that's a  big plus.

Elected officials:

See if your Congressmember, State Senator or local city council person will endorse you. People who are held in high regard because of their positions will count the most.  Those who hold similar positions to the one you are running for are also key. Do the members of the school board you are running for support you? Get a quote from the President of the board on why you would make a good member. Use their photo alongside their testimonial. This will stand out to the voter a lot more than just listing them in a long queue.

Opinion leaders:

These are people whose opinions matter. They may be heads of community organization, homeowners associations,  or  environmental or civic groups. Attractive pictures of these people,  alongside a quote about your superior ability to hold the position you seek will be seen, read and remembered by the voters.

Put a few of these together in a single mailer or precinct handout, and you have a strong testimonial piece.

As for the long list of all the wonderful, yet unknown people who endorse you? That belongs on your website. Make sure there is a reference to it in your mail and a note to see a "complete list of endorsers" there. No one will be insulted that they didn't make your flyer. A true endorser wants you to win, not see their name in print.

You lost, What Now?

Don't despair. You put yourself out there and ran a good race. I've been there myself, many times. It can be demoralizing, but it helps to pick yourself up and think about the next time.

First take a look at some of these contributing factors to losing races. Of course, sometimes you are just outspent or out-campaigned. (Running against an incumbent is especially hard, no matter how accomplished you are.) They may help in your next outing.

1. Did you have a consultant? A good consultant can help you position yourself by identifying key issues for you to distinguish yourself from the field, targeting voters, so you mail only to those most likely to vote in your election and creating a good image and message for you to use throughout the campaign. She can also help you see pitfalls and obstacles that you need to overcome.

2. Did you run against an incumbent and fail to tell the voters what he was doing wrong? It's hard to run against an incumbent. They have name recognition and that all-important "I" beside their name on the ballot. You need to tell the voters why they should fire him and hire you. If there's no problem, it will be that much harder to win, without spending a lot more money and doing some "out of the box" thinking.

In a first time college board race for an unknown in a race with three incumbents, our candidate did just that, she outspent the rest, pointed out the real issues that were keeping the school from being its best and made sure her message was heard, in mail, on TV and on the web. She came in first in a 5 way race.

3. Is your material too wordy? The old saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" works in politics too. Show, don't tell. People will not read your long list of accomplishments in paragraph format, but they will pay attention to eye-grabbing graphics, headlines and bullet points. Of course make sure everything you say is relevant and important enough to hold their attention until they get into the voting booth.

4. Did you spend your money on signs and bumper stickers, instead of another piece of mail or handouts for a few more precincts? Signs and other campaign "swag" are fine if you can afford them, but make sure you have the bases covered first. The voting public must see your name and attach it to your message several times before it sticks. Just having the most signs is not enough. 
What you stand for, what you'll do for them, is what the voters want to know. Tell them, repeatedly, succinctly and graphically.

5. Did you make the most common mistake of all, not raising money? No one likes to ask for money. But remember without it, you will not be able to get your message to the voters. You don't need to have the most money, but you need enough to be viable. Practice with your friends and family, talk to other candidates who've run and won and start early, before the next race gets off the ground.

If you do these few simple things, you will be in a much better position the next time you run.

                                                             Candidate practicing her "Stump" speech