Political High

Everyone talks about the election winners.  Makes sense.  They won.  They’re going to courthouses, capitals, and Capitol Hill to go serve us.

But the losers–seems like a harsh word–whose who did not prevail–deserve some praise and attention.

Thank you for running.  You gave the voters the choice of your ideas, your experience, and your personality.  You tested your opponent.

Now, take a few days off.  Wipe your tears.  Get your anger and disappointment out of your system.  Reintroduce yourself to your family.

Then, get back to work on how you’ll win next time.

Here are some thoughts:

• Review your election results precinct by precinct.  What was the turnout?  Where were you strong?  Where were you weak?  Can you identify or relate efforts to results?
• Write thank yous.  Thank EVERYONE who you can identify who helped.  It’s your first campaign piece for the next election.
• Pay your campaign bills.  Now.  Leave no vendor unpaid.  They will talk bad about you if you do.
• File your campaign finance reports.
• Hold a debriefing with your campaign staff, top volunteers, and state or local campaign officials.  What do they think worked and didn’t work?
• If you need to make more (fill in the blank here) Party voters to overcome the other side’s registration advantage, get with your state and local party officials and ask them, point blank, what they are going to do with you to help narrow the registration gap.  You can’t start too soon on this.
• Review your campaign plan.  Did you follow it?  If not, why not?  What would you do differently?
• Take down your campaign signs.  Many localities have a deadline.  Plus, people are sick of looking at them.  Do it now.

Thank you again for your hard work, dedication, and being in the democratic fray.  And better luck next time!

It’s a week out until election day.

And finally, you get some major money from a donor or two.

Geez, it would have been nice to have this in August or even at the beginning of October!

But there’s the big check.

What can you do?

Emily’s List is famous for “Early Money Is Like Yeast.”  The early money does the most good because it can help you plan better and shows other contributor’s your campaign is for real.

But money in a campaign is always good.

Here are six suggestions as to what you could do:

1. The easiest thing is to increase what you are already going to do.  Going to buy a three column newspaper ad? Make it a five column ad.  Going to buy ten radio spots/day?  See if you can buy 15 or 20/day. Going to send out 5,000 post cards?  Send out 7,500.
2. If you’re not buying radio time, consider it.  Radio spots can be produced quickly and inserted into a schedule fairly easily.  I am a huge fan of radio for many races (that’s another post).
3. If you are comfortably ahead and your campaign laws allow it, bank it for the next campaign.
4. If you are comfortably ahead and your campaign laws allow it, use it to assist other candidates, particularly if you are running in a district that sends two or more of you to the legislature or the commission.  You will helping yourself and earning chits that you can cash in in the future.
5. Is there a college campus that you would do well in but you haven’t had the cash to hire and organizer?  Find a college student to do a crash GOTV program and or hold a GOTV party on campus, encouraging early voting and voting.
6. Provide win bonuses to your key campaign staff.  They’ll love you and want to work for you again.  Even if you lose and you’re close, call it a “near win bonus.”

Hopefully, this is a “problem” you’ll have in the next seven days!