How to win an election

If you're a Republican trying to win a difficult race, follow this simple bit of advice and you'll make news:

Be a recruiter instead of a candidate.

That's it, in a nutshell.

In the words of the great Wayne Woodrow (Woody) Hayes, "You win with people."

Dave Brat didn't beat longtime Congressman Eric Cantor in the 2014 Virginia Congressional primary because of immigration or turnout or tactics. Did anyone notice that 600 people attended Dave's rally with radio host Laura Ingraham? He recruited her. As he recruited Mark Levin and Glenn Beck. Which is a big reason why he generated such a heavy turnout at his rally. Dave Brat won with people.)

It takes people to raise money. It takes people to carry your message into Democrat precincts where your margin must improve if you are to have a chance.

Once upon a time Republicans routinely won in Democrat districts. Then in the 90s Republicans began to take control of state legislatures, and drew districts that heavily favored one party or another. Which means that for 20 years they didn't need to carry those marginal districts. And then came the demographic day of reckoning that was the Obama re-election.

So it's time to revive a lost art. Once again Republicans must find their votes in precincts where people have rarely if ever met a GOP candidate, much less voted for one. We'll try to help by offering advice and strategies that we found effective at a time and in states where Democrats drew the lines.

None of the techniques we offer in these pages will succeed without people. Lots of them.

The Filpac system was designed, from the start, to enhance recruiting by helping you to gather and identify hundreds of prospects.

If you win, it will be because of the people involved. Without them, you're toast. Simple as that.