Common signs of losing campaigns
One of the more unpleasant aspects of our business is watching helplessly every election as some of our hard-working customers lose in close elections because of common factors that are clearly apparent (to us at least) yet easy to fix.
The pain of losing a close election can sometimes rise to an emotional par with a divorce or death in the family. We offer the following in the hope that someone out there will read this, see themselves, and make the changes necessary to win. Sorry if this appears insulting to some, but since we're not on your payroll, we don't need to candy-coat the truth.
(Hopefully our advice is at least as good as the advice you're buying.)
No Plan
If you don't have a week-by-week series of goals, i.e. deadlines, to meet, then you're running without a plan and the weeks will float by with little accomplished. (Basic Truth #9: No Plan = No Win.)
Weakness where you should be strong
Over the years we've noticed this to be a common thread. Losing a close election is painful, and it's usually because the candidate fell short in the very regions where he should have cleaned house: the base Republican precincts, where the candidates totals trailed the top of the ticket by five points or more. If you're not well-organized in the top 20 percent of Republican precincts, you're certain to be disappointed on election night. (Basic Truth #2: You win by maximizing the R vote, and not by minimizing the D vote.)
No Precinct Targeting
Without it, you have know way of knowing if you're communicating with the right voters. You have no way of trimming your mailings to meet budget realities. You have no idea about the best precincts to send those offering to canvass door-to-door. You need to lose the idea that you're running district-wide or in several counties. You need to break the effort down into precincts. The Filpac system enables you to rank your precincts, and to place them into five categories:
Base Republican
Ticket Splitters
Aspiring Republican
Base Democrat
Solid Democrat
If you don't have a system that at least ranks your Republican precincts from top to bottom, you're inviting tragedy. (Basic Truth #6: Success results from the smart application of limited resources.)
No Database
Without one you cannot replicate the personal contact so crucial to victory in a close race. You can't do it all with Excel. Nor can you do it with Voter Vault.
Missing the boat
In some states people are already voting early. If yours is one of the 29 states with no-fault absentee or early voting, you should consult Basic Truth #10: By election morning, half will already have voted. The Democrats are heavily prepared but Republicans generally don't seem like they've quite caught up.
False Assumptions
Sometimes they
lose because of misplaced confidence that someone else would come to
the rescue. (Basic Truth
#7: Help is NOT on the way.) Or that a rising Republican tide
would lift their boat as well. (Basic
Truth #8: Forty five percent get a government check.)
(The following reflect Basic Truth #5: Campaigning is Recruiting.)
A squad instead of an army
If you're consistently relying on the same dozen people, it means there's something about the candidate or campaign staff that makes recruiting difficult. Campaigning is a people business. Challengers who win tough races almost always do it with the help of a growing legion of excited volunteers, fund-raisers and and donors.
No Parking
Locations where it's difficult to park during the day are usually dangerous to visit at night. Not exactly the best way to invite people to come in and help.
Class A Office Space
Another sign of an organization unprepared to recruit and accommodate volunteers. Whoever signed the lease wasn't experienced enough to envision those October nights when dozens of chatty volunteers would be showing up with their spouses, kids and dogs (which, by the way, are great for cleaning up the remnants of cookies, chips, crackers and candy left behind by busy campaign workers).
Pickin' and Clickin' instead of Smilin' and Dialin'
When we walk into a campaign headquarters and find everyone's eyes affixed to their MacBooks, it makes us wonder if they truly think there's only two degrees of separation between their Facebook friends and every voter in the district. Hint: if it's easy, it's probably not effective. Web strategies and social media are easy. Getting on the phone and asking people for help and money is hard. Campaigning is hard work because the time is short and the numbers are daunting (Basic Truth #1: The winner is the one who gets the most votes.)
Want to Win ? Let us join your team.
The Filpac system is designed around the
10 Basic Truths of
Politics.
With it you'll avoid the
Common Signs of a
Losing Campaign.
