Finger Pointing - More about negative campaigning

The old adage is negative campaigning works. Everyone hates it; from candidates to the press, to the average voter. "I'd never vote for anyone who goes negative," they say. But they do.

Time and time again, the one who hurls the mud wins. Fair or not, negative campaigning does work.

Except when it doesn't.

When doesn't it work? When you've had the mud hurled on you already by the other guy and you try using the same mud you've scraped off yourself to fling back at him.

No one will believe it.

I've been on both ends of this. In one campaign, my candidate showed the truth behind who was supporting the other guy. One piece of mail, pointing out his long list of corporate donors. His reaction was to accuse her of having corporate donors too. Trouble was, she only had two and they were mom and pops as opposed to multinationals and hedge fund managers.

He looked petty and she won.

In another race, the other guy made stuff up, but it sounded bad. So my guy (and I wasn't the one making the decisions this time, by the way), said, not me, that's you. And it was true but too late and too little and too snarky. My guy lost, badly, because the first guy was nastier and tapped into people's fears.

But, you say, what are you supposed to do when you get unfairly attacked? Fight back, but do it cleverly - call them out for calling you out. What are they afraid of? Do they think your support for higher taxes will mean they will go broke? Really, pitting safe roads and cops on the street against more profits in some corporate coffers?

We did it with a candidate who was getting blamed for all the ills of the District, most of which were completely out of his control. Let's tell the truth, he said, let's shine a light on the underbelly of the other guy's campaign. Oh look, it's crawling with lies. Deflect, expose, document, and use humor when you do it.

Don't be snarky. Don't say him too! Don't make stuff up.

And if you're running against an incumbent, you have to do this. You have to tell the voters why they should fire him and hire you. Just  do it with class.

Negative Campaigning

Nobody likes negative campaigning. Nobody. Except it works.  Even as people complain loudly about trash in their inbox and mailbox and on TV, it sinks in.

But it has to be done fairly. No low blows, no personal assaults, no lies.  And don't use stupid images that have nothing to do with your race, your candidate, the issues or the opponent. 

If you're running against an incumbent, negative messages are almost di rigeur. You are seeking a job currently held by someone else. That is you have to tell employer (the voters) why they should fire the incumbent and hire you. If people don't think he/she is doing a bad job, or just doing an adequate job or overlooking something important, they will look at you more seriously as a contender.

If there is actual corruption, malfeasance or hypocrisy, even better, for the negative campaign! But don't go all righteous and pompous. Use humor. Best way to get the message across, as you pump up your own clinet's positives.

I personally think women are much better at the light tough - the right touch - in the negative campaign.  Men can get all heavy handed and blown up with their own swagger and overdue the nasties, while not building up their candidate enough in the public eyes. 

To sum up:

• Negative campaigning works when it is the right time, the right, light, touch, truthful, well-documented and not over the top
• Always use separate mail/media to build up your own candidates preferably by showing  him/her interacting with locals, caring about local issues, being in touch
• More paper in the mail does not necessarily equate to more votes. Smart campaigning and balance is much more likely to carry the day.