How to get free publicity for your campaign without committing a scandal

There are a number of ways to get free publicity for your campaign. Make a public blunder, have some "private" embarrassing moments go public, but if you want good publicity, it's not so easy. The press isn't going to take notice of your campaign beyond the usual short blurb they give every candidate. They might cover a debate or two if the issues are juicy, but short of punching your opponent in the nose, it's hard to get reporters to cover you.

So you need to do it yourself. There are a few ways of do it yourself press. One is the oped. If there is a newsworthy issue in your campaign, and the press hasn't picked up on it, write an oped piece that focuses on the issue and real solutions. This needs to be something other than a puff piece bout your own campaign.  Another person might write about the issue and why you'd be the right person to solve it. They would likely invite your opponent to have someone send in an article on his/her behalf as well.

Another way is to start your own blog, but that's a lot of work, and online publication just don't reach voters that well, despite the proliferation of social media sites dedicated to politics. In fact, that's one of the problems, there are so many, people tend to ignore them in favor of cute cat videos.

The simplest is to have people send in short letters to the editor. These can be written by one person and signed by others. Issues can be split up, so that one person writes about how you are the best candidate to fill potholes, while another writes about your talent at bringing people together. Still others can discuss the differences between you and your opponent and what makes you the most ft for the job.

 

Letters are a good way to convey your message to a number of people (at least the newspaper reading people, and remember, many read the paper online, so you are reaching them as well), and it is one section of the paper people do read. Your letter may well get some responses from your opponent's camp or people who may be passionate about whatever issues are on the line.

These can come in at various intervals, so that they don't bunch up on an editor's desk. Here are a few guidelines for a successful Letters to the Editor campaign.

1. Keep them short. 200 words are so is the optimal length. Much longer and you risk editing and possibly losing your main point to a pair of scissors.

2. Proofread carefully. Spelling is important, good grammar and punctuation also count. If you are speaking on a candidate's behalf, you want to come across as articulate and well informed.

3. Make sure they are truthful. do not make things up, or exaggerate your abilities. Don't make your opponent sound like an ogre unless he/she truly is one, and still, pick your words wisely.

4. Be prepared to write follow up or response letters if you get attacked by others, or if others write letters that cast you in a negative light.

Follow those easy rules and you'll get your name in the paper and maybe find some new volunteers to help with the campaign too, when they see how many enthusiastic supporters you already have.

Here is some "Brain food" to snack on while composing your letters:

KAMUT UDON NOODLES WITH KALE & AVOCADO

(Avocado is said to help with blood flow to the brain for clarity of thought.)
Time: less than 20 minutes
Servings: 2
8-oz package kamut udon noodles
2 tablespoons avocado oil (or grape seed oil)
1 tomato, chopped
3/4 bunch of lacinato kale, cut into long thin strips
3 carrots – peeled and sliced/grated
a handful of mushrooms, white or brown – finely sliced
generous drizzle of organic soy sauce/tamari, to taste
a few sprinkles of crushed red pepper flakes
dash of salt
squirt of honey
1 avocado, peeled and sliced – garnish
squeeze of fresh lime juice
In a pot of boiling water, cook kamut udon noodles as per package instructions until al dente, usually 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Pour noodles back into pot with heat on low to medium. Then add kale, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, tamari, honey, red pepper flakes and avocado oil. Heat gently, stir until steaming and kale has softened, 2-3 minutes.
Garnish with thick slices of avocado and squeeze of lime juice. Dig in!

Start Early; Ask Often

If you're planning a run in 2015, now is the time to start your campaign. How do you start? First, of course you decide what office you are running for. Do your homework. Who else might be running? Will it be an open seat? What issues might be coming up?

Start attending meetings of the body you want to join, if you are not already doing so. Who on this body are you aligned with? Who might represent another viewpoint? Who are the allies of each group?

Look up the campaign financial filings to see how much it costs to run for this office. See who has donated to various candidates in the past. These are people you might to ask for contriubtions.

Now is the time to start putting together your campaign team. Make sure you talk to your family. Are they going to be solidly behind you? Think about the time away from them on the campaign trail and while serving in office.  will they actively help you? make phone calls, walk precincts when the time is ripe?

Start asking your family, your friends and associates, your work colleagues, your old college classmates, to support your campaign. Ask them to pledge, if not donate outright now. (When you start taking donations, know the rules in your district; are there contribution limits? Are you allowed to actually raise money before you file?) You will need a bank account dedicated to the campaign and a good treasurer, even for a small race; someone familiar with campaign deadlines and regulations.

Once you start getting pledges of support and money, you are on the way. Remember what they say "Early money is like yeast; it makes the bread rise." You are the bread. Your supporters are your yeast. Once they have donated, they will do so again. They will bring others along. The campaign will start to grow and snowball and you will look like a winner.

So start now, lay a good foundation and you will be in shape come Election Day.

Advice for the New Year and some Imaginary Dialogue for the 2015 Candidate

ADVENTURES OF CAMPAIGN GIRL A not totally imaginary dialogue with a candidate I didn’t kill

Working on campaigns sounds glamorous, adventuresome and nail biting.

Well, it can be all of those, but judging from the length of my nails, I’d say number three has the others beat by a mile. They forget to tell you about hair pulling, sleep losing and client murdering.

At least there are plenty of times, you want to murder the client.

Like the thirtieth time she says, “We have to cut back on expenses, like graphic design, or I won’t have any money left at the end of the campaign.”

Hand me the knife. Maybe I could just fall on it myself. Instead, I just smile, and say, “I know how you feel. It’s very frustrating to ask people, especially strangers for money, but if we don’t have enough money, we can’t get your message out. Part of getting your message out is having good graphics. It’s not something we can skimp on.”

This is only the beginning: “But I’m running on a campaign finance reform platform. People won’t respect me if I spend a lot of money on expensive graphics.”

“People won’t know anything about you if you don’t have good graphics. Worse, they’ll think you’re cheap and careless and how much do you think they’ll respect you then?”

“I’d rather spend the money on signs.”

“Signs don’t win elections. The best they can do is remind people to vote.”

“When people hear me talk, they always like what they hear.”

“You can only reach a handful of prospective voters in person. You need to have good mail to reach the voters. You need to reach them again and again. That’s why we need to raise money and spend it on good graphics, plus signs, plus ads, plus publicity for your events.”

“And that’s another thing. I don’t think people want to spend a lot of money coming to a fancy event in a restaurant. If they like me, they’d be just as happy coming to a private home. My friend Signe said we could use her home anytime.”

“And she’ll do the catering?”

“No, you can get volunteers to make things. Maybe we can find local restaurants to donate some food, too.”

And so it goes. Anyone who’s in this business long enough has heard the stories, met the clients.  Why do we stay in it?

Not for the big bucks. You can’t get rich from the local school board race or town council in a town with a population of 7500.

Most campaign consultants I know have other gigs that pay the rent.  They do media for business and non-profits; they teach at the community college or even sell real estate or practice law.

It’s a labor of love. When your candidate scores an upset victory over a much better funded opponent, the high is incomparable.  My guilty secret is the high is better for me than for the candidate; she has to face the prospect of all those meetings, all those constituents with demands.

I get to go on to the next campaign and answer another set of questions from skeptical clients:

“Why should I use a Union printer, instead of my uncle Jack who does the Chamber of Commerce newsletter?

“Do I have to walk precincts? Can’t I just take out an ad in the Shopping News? Why must I call people during their dinner hour; won’t that make them mad?”

And my all-time favorite:

“Why would my opponent say that about me? I thought he was a nice guy. Can I tear his guts out now?”

If you plan a run this year, be prepared for your consultant to gently explain why most of these ideas won’t work if you really want to win your campaign. Happy New Year!

When the Candidate asks

If you are running for election, you are the best person to ask people for money for your campaign. In fact, people expect it. They want to hear from you directly, at least at first. Someone else can do follow up and close the deal, if you'd laid a firm foundation. But you will be amazed at the difference an "ask" from the candidate can make to the bottom line.

Just the other day I got a personal call from our insurance Commissioner, Dave Jones, asking if I'd sponsor an even he was having for his re-election campaign. I am a seasoned campaigner and immune to being barraged by candidates and their surrogates. But this time, because he is someone I admire, and because he asked personally, I said "yes," sent him a check, and then never went to the event.

If one of his staff or a volunteer had called, I'd probably have said no, I can't afford it, I have too many other causes to support. It is just harder to say no to the candidate. And guess what, it's flattering too, to know they care enough to make a personal call, and know something about the person they are calling.Try it; you'll like it! 

 

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. 

                                                      

Mistakes Campaign Consultants Make

Are you in the biz?  Or are you looking for a campaign consultant for that new campaign (The season is fast upon us.) Either way. here are some timely tips you should know  - as a manager/consultant or someone looking to hire one.

I’m always harping on mistakes candidates make, not raising money or hiring consultants, campaigning by committee, ignoring advice they paid for. I could go on and on.

But there are lots of mistake campaign consultants and managers make also.  Here are just a few of the top ones I’ve observed in others and, if I’m being honest, in myself from time to time:

1.      Don’t push your client to raise money.  No candidate likes to make fundraising calls. They’ll do anything to get out of it – wash the dog, babysit their neighbor’s cat, anything. You need to push them to sit down and pick up the phone. Write them a script. Make call lists or have a volunteer or staffer do it.  In a large campaign, a  professional fundraiser is a must.  And don’t forget that the candidate’s family and friends should be first on the list, right after the candidate herself.

2.      Don’t ensure they have minimal staff and/or competent passionate volunteers to do the crucial work on managing the elements of the campaign. Even the small down ticket race needs a few good people at a minimum to see that the following tasks get done:.

a.      Data base and volunteer coordination.

b.      Field management. Getting the volunteer out in the “hood” walking and on the phone talking.

c.       Holding the candidate’s hand through the fundraising process and dealing with the day to day stressers of campaign life

d.      Keeping track of the bank account and filing the appropriate campaign finance reports accurately and on time.

3.      Don’t research your own client.  If you don’t know the skeletons in the closet, you will not be prepared to deal with them when they are inevitably surfaced by the opposition or the press. This was recently graphically illustrated in a Congressional race in which a newcomer to the district, with a history of failed businesses she touted as giving her “experience creating middle class jobs,” turned out to have a suspect relationship with a “pay-to-pray Guru.” Besides that she had at best a spotty voting history. Once these facts were outed by the opposition, the campaign was doomed despite her strong lead in fundraising.

4.      Similarly, don’t research the opponents. If you don’t look, you may not find.  In the above case, some deep digging and use of the internet’s “wayback machine” brought up several “removed” blog posts which showed an individual whose new age platitudes were exposed, as well as her disdain for knowledge of the sort that is crucial to the day to day world of a Congressperson.   The failed businesses which also turned out to be outsourcing to China, belied her self-proclaimed business acumen and claims of creating hundreds if not thousands of middle class jobs.  Despite nearly a million dollars in the bank, and an assured campaign patter, these became her undoing and she finished a dismal fourth.   

5.      Don’t Plan and Get Buy in on the Plan by the Candidate. If you don’t plan how the campaign is t run, the strategy, the tactics, fundraising, messaging, when and how to release the message, and get buy-in from the candidate, you could be in for a rocky ride.  Money will run short, tempers will flare, no one will be available to approve last minute mailers or ads. 

6.      Don’t prep your candidate for debates, endorsement meetings and other face to face encounters with voters. Some candidates are naturally outgoing and personable, others not so much. Know which one you have and how to help them maximize their strong points to good advantage while minimizing some negatives.  While it’s great to be outgoing and friendly, you need to make sure the candidate isn’t hogging all the time in public meetings, or staying too long at one door while precinct walking.  He needs to know with whom he is speaking and tailor his presentation accordingly without going off message.  A shy candidate will need practice promoting herself. Makes sure someone on the campaign team helps them with their presentation and gets friendly faces in the crowd to bolster their confidence.

Of course there are many more tips, but this list should get us all thinking and working toward providing the best service we can. After all, the candidate has paid you good money and needs to rely on your good advice. Makes sure you can give it with confidence.

This article was published in Down Ticket Dems  a great site with lots of tips for the local campaign

Saying bah-bye to a client

What to do when a client fires you?  It's devastating at first. After you've bent over backwards, dealing with the client's endless second guessing of every idea, design and recommendation for fundraising, the client decides you are not working fast enough, paying him enough attention, taking him seriously, raising enough money, or just plain not eager enough about his campaign, and calls it quits.

Never mind that you explained endlessly websites don't come out of the blue; he has to supply at least the draft of content and must be responsive to your comments.  He's the client and he knows best. This is especially egregious with clients who've run before whether they've won or lost. They just know it all, and you are there to follow out their predetermined plan.

What do you mean, you need a new set of photos of the client interacting with locals, in various locations and situations? His mom's/wife's/brother's photos from last year's barbecue are great, and what about the one of him beaming next to the Governor, the one where the governor is gazing off in the distance, and the client wears a goofy smile, and looks downright sycophantic?

He calls, says I'm very sorry, but I need someone who can get the job done the right way. I don't know why you can't do it. You have a good reputation, so maybe it's me (but he doesn't mean it).

OK, you say, having decided this campaign cannot be salvaged. We'll call it even and keep our good relationship intact.  Perhaps you were friends before all this. It happens.  Smile and take it.  Just hope he doesn't ask for his retainer back.  And remember you have done a good job for him, one that a new team can step into and maybe salvage the race. Or not.

You wait with trepidation to see what he will do and how he will spin this falling out.  Spin first.  Like a divorcing couple, you just had irreconcilable differences, but you are still friends and wish him the best, as you scout out the next client, vowing to do a better job of vetting this time.