Saving Campaign $ - doing things in-house

Campaigns are expensive, made so by vendors and people who make a living selling things to a campaign. These vendors have pretty set prices for necessary campaign items (3c for a 'robocall'; 75-95c for a live call; up to $1 per piece of mail; 20c for glossy cards, etc.)

There are even fundraising vendors who charge a campaign to raise its funds for it. But if you're starting out, or on a campaign with a shoestring budget, what are your options? Well, a great way to save costs is to do things yourself. You can set up your own phone bank, mail room or do your own lit drops with little effort.

Part of the tradeoff is admittedly the expertise in setting these things up, but the cost-savings outweighs that. Do it yourself, and do it knowing that you'll likely run into a few mistakes.

A few quick pointers:
-don't use any corporate resources
-check any applicable federal, state or local election laws just in case
-use your friends and anyone who will help
-keep people focused on taking action, the fun stuff. don't let people get mired down in the nuance of setting up phone lines, have them make calls. don't put them over a copier making copies for your lit drop, have the copies ready so they can go out and leave the literature on doorsteps
-don't even touch a mailbox and make sure no one on your team does either
-cars on public streets are fair game for literature
-private parking lots will often complain if you leave literature on cars in their lot

By taking action and doing it yourself, you'll learn how to do politics without having to spend lots of money on vendors. Go for it, and keep your volunteers busy.




Learn these skills and more, by buying the book "Getting a Job in Politics, and Keeping it" by Ben Wetmore, right away.

Always be prepared to run, and always run when you can

Opportunities for office always occur in unlikely situations, and the political winds can shift very quickly. Right now, Representative Dan Boren is considering leaving office at the end of his term to be a University President. Rep. Boren had always faced a relatively easy re-election, but he does live in typically Republican Oklahoma. The lesson is that many people who may have always thought he would always be in office are now scrambling to figure out who should replace him if he leaves. And the opportunity clearly cuts favorably for both parties; Democrats know they can win the seat with a good campaign, Republicans know they can win most districts in Oklahoma. Competitive seats sometime appear unexpectedly, so you should never dismiss a district because of what you think conventional wisdom says about it. That stodgy logic would have discounted an Obama 2008 win of North Carolina, or a Reagan rout in 1984. It also means that you want to have your candidate or organization always running in high gear to capitalize on these opportunities. If you are an issue-focused group in Boren's district, perhaps you felt as though you could focus elsewhere and now you're behind because things changed quickly. Fate favors the prepared. In politics, never assume a district is unmovable, or that incumbents are perpetual, and always be prepared.



Learn these skills and more, by buying the book "Getting a Job in Politics, and Keeping it" by Ben Wetmore, right away.

Guideposts for Political Organizations

A major problem with political organizations is properly measuring their impact. Businesses and corporations can measure their revenues in dollars, but non-profits and such organizations have no measure of sales, no assessment of their contribution to society. Guidestar.org, previously recommended on here, is trying to help with this effort through it's "Charting Impact" system. This helps to identify the mission, and quantifying the ways in which the organization delivers that mission. It's a good system and a worthwhile perusal for anyone active and involved in political organizations.




Learn these skills and more, by buying the book "Getting a Job in Politics, and Keeping it" by Ben Wetmore, right away.

Are elections "rigged" for incumbents - the public thinks yes.

A recent poll indicates that the public at large feels as though elections are rigged for incumbents. 


Here, the people are largely correct. The political parties have structured nominating and ballot access laws to prevent viable opposition or things that split their votes.


For practical politics, for you, that largely means that there's a certain resentment by the people toward your candidate or party. It means that you have to try and work that much harder to overcome the expectation that your candidate serves the interests of "the establishment." It's also a call for candidates who are closer to the people, and more responsive to their real needs. The poll results are disheartening, but provide an opportunity for you to run a campaign that works to fix this cynicism and not add to it.


Here is the poll information, from a Rasmussen Poll (dated 5/12/11): "[T]he word “rigged” is a strong term to include in a survey question, and yet half the nation’s voters believe it applies to election rules for members of Congress."

"A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 53% of
Likely U.S. Voters think most members of Congress get reelected
because election rules are rigged to benefit incumbents. Only 17%
believe most congressmen get reelected because of the good job they do
representing their constituents. A sizable 30% aren’t sure which is
the case."

"These findings have changed little over the past two years [...]"

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/may_2011/53_say_elections_are_rigged_to_help_incumbents_in_congress




Learn these skills and more, by buying the book "Getting a Job in Politics, and Keeping it" by Ben Wetmore, right away.