Political Considerations for ABATE Candidates

Running for Elected Office

Part 1 - Organization

1. Campaign Operations include the following:

a. Assisting in creating a campaign organization

b. mail list development

c. direct mail

d. e.mail campaign

e. phone bank operations

f. voter registration

g. voter mobilization

h. sign placement

i. fundraising

j. opposition research

k. targeting

2. A suggested campaign organization is as follows:

a. Candidate (someone who gets along with your wife.)

b. Campaign Manager

(1) Fundraising Chairman

(a) Fundraising

(b) Budget management

(2) Bookkeeper (family member)

(3) Issues Development

(a) Positions (yours)

(b) Voter research

(c) Opposition research

(4) Headquarters Office Manager

(a) Scheduling

(b) Volunteer coordination

(c) Mailings

(d) Materials Inventory

(e) Record keeping

(5) Area Coordinators (subdivides your area)

(a) Campaign Captains

(b) Direct Voter Contact

(c) Analysis

(d) Canvassing

(6) Adverting

(7) Media relations and publicity

(8) Candidate Appearance

(a) Mobile offices

(b) Coffee parties

(c) Special events

(9) Interest groups

Part 2 - Questions To Be Prepared For

Candidate

a. Why are you running for Delegate/Senate?

b. What do you think are your main qualifications to serve in the legislature?

c. What are your objections to your opponent?

d. How are you going to win this race?

e. What does your family think about your running? Are they going to be involved in the campaign?

f. How do you describe yourself philosophically. How do you compare yourself to the incumbent?

g. Have you voted in every election? Why not?

h. What is your net worth? Are you going to put your own money into the race? How much?

i. Are you going to release your tax returns? Why not?

Issues

j. Where do you stand on social issues? Abortion? Prayer in school, school choice, home schooling?

k. What are the most important problems in the district right now? How would you go about trying to solve them?

l. Who is supporting your candidacy?

Remember

m. What kind of campaign do you plan to run?

n. Do you plan to use any negative style advertising?

o. How much money is the campaign going to cost? How are you going to raise this money?

p. Have you done any poling or seen any pooling? What does it show? Do you plan to run a poll soon?

q. How much time are you going to spend campaigning?

r. Realistically, what are your chances of winning?

s. If elected what is the first bill you will introduce?

t. If elected, which committee assignments will you seek

u. If elected, will you vote your conscience or will you vote the will of the people in your district?

v. Will you have a significant number of minorities supporting your candidacy? Are there any minorities involved in your campaign. Who are they, In what capacity do they serve?

w. What will you do to help the poor people?

x. Would you change food stamp eligibility requirements?

y. Would you reduce the funding for entitlement programs?

z. What will you do to bring jobs to the district?

aa. Do you support drug testing of employees by business?

bb. Do you support an increase in minimum wage?

cc. Do you support gun control?

dd. What can be done to improve the quality of education in your district.

ee. Do you support merit pay for teachers?

ff. Will you debate your opponent anywhere, anytime, and on any subject?

gg. What experienced have you had that qualifies you to be a delegate?

hh. How many (name your party) are in the House? How many are needed to gain control of the House?. What can you accomplish in the House?

ii. What are the top ten issues affecting the district and what is your solution to each issue?

Part 3 - Mail List Development.

a. Acquire the district voter registration list.

b. Distill Democrat, Republican, Other voters who have voted in the last three primaries and general elections.

c. Poll for issues

d. Identify Harley owners (we have the list of registered owners)(and use this list as a primary fund raiser)

e. Purchase vehicle registration list of other motorcyclists in district.

Part 4. Opposition Research.

a. Pulling incumbents election files from the election commission, obtaining their donor's list, wooing that support away.

b. Reviewing news coverage from previous campaign.

c. Letters to incumbents asking pre-campaign questions.

Part 5 - Campaign Strategies.Messages may be based on

a. Personal virtues/flaws of the candidates (experience, competence, independence, integrity, compassion, stability, preparation, etc).

b. ideological/partisan differences (liberal, conservative, moderate, radical, extreme, wishy washy, inconsistent, pragmatic. Etc).

c. A combination of both.

Every campaign needs a:

a. Message sequence strategy (the order you present your arguments).

b. timing and intensity strategy (when you act and at what pace).

c. mobilization and persuasion strategy (targeting voter profiles and allocating resources to. reach "persuadables" vs. the reinforcement and turning out of "favorables".

To fully exploit situational advantages, or to overcome existing or anticipated obstacles, you may need to pursue a range of opportunity strategies.

The Message Sequence Strategy

a. Ignore the opposition: Open positive, remain positive to the close.

(1) Never attack the opposition

(2) Do not respond to opposition's attacks

(3) Used when you have massive leads, large resources

b. Classic

(1) Start positive and do not initiate an unprovoked attack against your opposition.

(2) Respond to opposition attacks; may require going negative/comparative against opposition, depending upon opposition attack and effectiveness of your response.

(3) End positive.

(4) Used when polls show that you can win the race based on a positive message because of inherent ideological, party or demographic advantages and

(5) you do not have an abundance of usable ammunition to throw at the opposition.

(6) You lack an easily deliverable, low risk, knockout punch.

(a) You may pursue this on either a single or double message tracks (meaning how many types of messages (positive, negative/comparative/responsive) you convey simultaneously.

(1) Single message track refers to using your communications tolls to convey only one type of message (be it positive or negative/comparative/responsive) at a time.

(2) Dual message track is a two level message strategy in which both a positive and negative/comparative/responsive campaign is waged simultaneously. A dual track is generally used to provide cover for the negative onslaught. When executed properly, it can reinforce your positive credibility while you're attempting to drive up your oppositions' negatives.

(b) When used, its best to tie the two tracks together with a common theme (integrity vs dishonesty, experience vs. inexperience, mainstream vs. extreme, in touch vs. out of touch, change vs. status quo, etc). To pursue a multiple track approach without framing the messages within a thematic context, may confuse voters and diffuse the power of your arguments. Tight message focus is critical.

c. Aggressive:

1. Open positive

2. Go negative before the opposition does

3. Respond to attacks as necessary

4. Close either single track positive or dual track positive and negative/comparative

5. You open positive to lay a foundation for the negative/comparative messages to come and you attack your opposition before he attacks you. You close on a positive note. This may be pursued at times on a dual message track.

d. Frontal Attack.

1. Open negative/comparative.

2. Then go positive and respond to opposition on a dual track.

3. Close either single track positive or dual track positive and negative comparative.

4. Use this to draw deep lines between your candidacy and the opposition from the start. The idea is to take out the opposition at the beginning and then build up you own candidacy after the opposition is weakened. You can achieve this strategic goal with both positives and negatives simultaneously that are designed to reinforce both messages and to tie them together in a common theme. This strategy may be used with a single or dual message track at various times along the way. It may also be used to "nip in the bud" the candidacy of a largely unknown rival before he or she has a chance to develop credibility or a base.

e. Relentless Attack.

1. Open and maintain negative/comparative.

2. Introduce a dual track along the way with some positives at various times after opening.

3. Close dual track positive and negative/comparative.

4. Use this strategy to draw deep lines between your candidacy and the opposition from the start. Take out the opposition first and then build up your own candidacy after the opposition is weakened. You can close with both positive and negative simultaneously to reinforce both messages and tie them together in a common theme.

Timing and Intensity Strategies

a. The tortoise.

1. Start slow.

2. Build steadily all the way.

3. While the hare may rapidly deplete resources and takes risks, you move slowly but surely along the path of least resistance that's times to crescendo on election day without any periods of inactivity. Best for well positioned underdog having good inherent personal, ideological or strategic advantages with limited money but with more time.

b. Bookend.

1. Open big and loud.

2. The a slow steady build.

3. Close big and loud.

4. You have low name recognition, limited resources (you must fund a big opening). The initial bang is used to attract attention and build credibility. Because resources are limited and the initial pace cannot be sustained, the activity level is lowered after the opening and then stepped up again at the end to close with another big bang. Important considerations include:

(a) How long can you sustain the big bang and loud opening?

(b) How long can you coast between big bangs. (Depends on resources, money, volunteers, endorsements, issues, time.)

(c) In district races, earned media can be used to sustain "maintenance periods, as well as door to door, signs, literature drops.

(d) The big and loud close may take on the characteristics of a blitzkrieg - a lightening bold of activity that brings all your resources and weapons to bear at one time. Such an attack may incorporate the "machine gun attack" (See below.)

c. Pearl Harbor.

1. Open very quietly, causing your opposition to underestimate your strength and misread your intentions.

2. Close big and loud.

3. This strategy is based on the element of surprise. The classic sneak attack catching your opponent sleeping, dropping all your bombs at the end when it's too late to respond. You must be able to cram the bulk of your persuasive effort and support mobilization into a short "close" period (1 week). Best used when:

(a) the opposition starts as the clear favorite (incumbent who is out of touch/lazy)

(b) your opposition, if given the benefit of extended planning and execution time, would be able to mount a successful counterattack.

4. This is a one shot gambit with little room for error and often requires deployment of a blitzkrieg-type of attack.

d. Hold Your Fire.

1. Slow, steady build.

2. Close big and loud.

3. A variation of the Tortoise, but with a big close. Deploys resources at the moment of maximum effect. The Tortoise spreads out its resources more evenly; you hold yours until the close.

Persuasion and Mobilization Strategies

A. Classic Formulation.

1. Create/reinforce base.

2. Identify undecided/opposition leaners.

3. Persuade undecideds/opposition to your side.

4. Turn out supporters.

5. This approach assumed you have a base or can create one and your base is not big enough on its own to win the race. It is predicated on the need to find swing votes. Once voters are converted by your message, they are added to the "favorable voter pool. Supporters should be ranked by their commitment (hard to soft) and their propensity to vote (likely - not likely). Get out the vote resources should be concentrated on the Hard Supporters who are unlikely to turnout without an extra push. The fewest resources should be expended on "soft" supporters who are likely to vote anyway.

b. Base Strategy.

1. Reinforce Base.

2. Turn it out.

3. Usually for front runners, incumbents in good shape, plurality elections or low turnout primaries and general elections. Base is big enough to win on its own without adding swing voters.

c. Marion Barry.

1. Reinforce Base.

2. Enlarge Base.

3. Turn it out.

4. Ensure that the electorate that votes on election day is unrepresentative of the electorate as a whole. Best used when you base is not quite big enough to win without winning over opposition and undecided or when your prospects of winning over opposition and undecideds are slim to none. Use Voter Registration and/or election day voter turnout skewing. This strategy is heavily dependent on tactical proficiency(the ability to stimulate and mobilize a high turnout of favorable voters relative to unfavorable ones.

Opportunity Strategies.

a. Setting a Trap.

1. Attack opponent while setting up a larger attack by withholding further information.

2. Opponent responds.

3. Unload additional information in an attack.

b. Poison Bait - Entice the opponent to do something (go on TV, discuss and issue, spend money, etc) that will cause unintentional, inadvertent harm to the opposition or cause him to expend his resources.

c. Inoculation.

1. Identify your biggest potential weakness before they register in the public mind.

2. Take action designed to turn these weaknesses into strengths.

d. Lightening Rod

1. Controversial individual or group endorses a candidate who can't win but who draws toward them the brunt of the controversy, thus protecting another candidate who can win from picking up the negatives from that endorsing individual or group.

2. In the end, the endorsing individual or group pulls the "lightening rod" out of the race or endorses the candidate they actually want to win.

3. If organized labor wants to help re-elect state Senator Smith in an anti-labor district, labor puts Challenger Jones, a union organizer, in the race. The idea is to make it look as if Smith is not sufficiently pro-labor to earn their support. Perhaps, only days before the election, either Jones drops out of the race to stops campaigning and labor gets the word out that they're really for Smith.

e. Technological Advantage - Use an effective tactical tool that the opposition isn't using and does not expect you to use. (TV, direct mail, door to door, telephone banks, sophisticated targeting, polling, opposition research, cable TV, e.mail).

f. Machine Gun Attack.

1. Attack opponent on item #1.

2. As opponent begins to respond to item #1, attack him on unrelated item #2.

3. As opponent begins to respond to item #2, attack him on unrelated item #3.

4. Save knock out punch for last item before election day.

g. Critical Mass -

1. Overwhelm opposition with endorsements, money or physical presence and activity at a critical point.

2. Sheer volume counts. When you cannot beat your opponent with persuasion or mobilization based on the issues and message differences, try crushing them with muscle, money or activity. Good against lazy front runners.

h. Pincer.

1. Get opposition into a position that they cannot escape.

2. Surround your opponent and deprive them of a safe way out.

3. May be used in multi candidate races where contenders on the right and left simultaneously block the growth potential of a candidate in the middle or in a two way race where a middle ground candidate moves toward a position that pushes his opponent toward a more extreme position (either the far left or right) cutting them off from competing for votes in the middle or on the other side.

i. Firewall.

1. Build solid pockets of political support that cannot be penetrated by the opposition under any circumstances.

2. Democrat control of the black vote is an example.

j. Three's a crowd.

1. Enhance the strength of a third/minor candidate as a way to drain off votes from your major competition.

2. This divide and conquer maneuver requires at least three candidates, one of whom is in the pocket of another candidate who is opposing a front runner.

The above was taken from "Strategies That Win!, by Ron Faucheux, Campaigns and Elections, Dec/Jan 1998.