Here’s a few more tricks from the candidates who have mastered the art of looking strong.
9. Show your activity.
When Delegate Saqib Ali (D-39) hits the campaign trail, everyone knows about it. When his supporters began phone banking, he posted pictures of them at work on Facebook. When he held a solo “listening tour,” he sent out the announcement and posted more pictures of himself in action, prompting none other than Robin Ficker to say, “You are the greatest!” (OK, maybe Ficker’s support is a mixed bag.) All of this made Senator Nancy King unhappy enough to provoke a Gazette article, which of course allowed Ali to proclaim the unfairness of it all. Other politicians do the exact same things as Ali – running phone banks from their basements and holding rounds of coffees – without getting near as much publicity from it.
10. Show your social networking strength.
Three candidates excel in using Facebook to create buzz about themselves: District 17 Senate challenger Cheryl Kagan, District 19 Delegate candidate Sam Arora and, of course, the King of Facebook himself – Saqib Ali. Each of them has stratospheric Friend counts: Kagan has 3,116, Ali has 2,921 and Arora has 2,436. Any time they are favorably mentioned in a blog post, a news article or anywhere else, they send their thousands of supporters swarming in to read about it. It is no accident that this blog’s monthly top ten post lists regularly include several posts about one or more of these three since they are so good at promoting their candidacies. By showing their Facebook Friends the positive coverage they get, Kagan, Ali and Arora build morale among their supporters, encourage them to contribute more volunteer time and may even collect more in contributions.
11. Release your website stats
The most important campaign statistic other than money is door-knock count. Most candidates claim to knock on thousands of doors, but few really do it. None of them releases door-knocking statistics that are in any way verifiable. But Kagan has released something almost as good: her website statistics. Kagan came out with an early lit piece last summer that she has not mailed, but uses on doors. Like almost every lit piece, this one promotes her website. As Kagan makes the rounds of District 17, residents on the doors go to her website and likely keep going back because of Kagan’s regularly updated blog. All of this activity shows up in her website statistics, which she has released multiple times and we reprint below.
This is tangible proof of a campaign on the move and good as gold for any challenger.
12. The door-knocking video.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, United Mine Workers General President Cecil Roberts released this video of his knocking on doors in rural Virginia for Barack Obama.
This video was great for both Obama and the Mine Workers union. It showed the union’s General President working the doors like any campaign volunteer and making a case for why rural working class whites should support a black presidential candidate from Chicago. We have never seen a video like this from a MoCo candidate, but it would do a lot of good if it was produced the right way. Voters like to see candidates working hard, getting engaged and listening to the concerns of people just like them.
In summary, today’s politicians have more forms of media to cover than their predecessors – websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter – in addition to more traditional and still-necessary communication methods like coffees, mailers and door-knockings. But the candidates also have more opportunity to shape and control their messages because new media gives them more ways to talk directly to voters without going through a middle-man.
In the old days, politicians would have to worry about multiple mainstream media (MSM) articles and how to get their message through the prism of reporters. But the MSM is in steady decline. The Post’s John Wagner, who is the best state politics reporter in the MSM, was only able to devote 174 words to the District 17 Senate race and 79 words to Ali’s possible challenge against Senator Nancy King in a recent combination article about multiple contests. In years past, the Post would have had several Wagners writing solo articles about each race.
With the MSM’s fall, more voters will be learning about candidates through their websites, blogs, Facebook groups and videos – all of which are solely controlled by those candidates. This is potentially a great boon to politicians, but only those who work hard at new media and learn to exploit it at the expense of their opponents. Whoever does this successfully will have a good shot at building momentum and celebrating on primary night.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
How to Show Momentum, Part Three
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
How to Show Momentum, Part Two
Here’s a few more ways for candidates to show momentum over the next couple months.
4. Blast your lit.
We will never understand candidates who do not want their literature posted on this blog. Look people, when we reprint your literature, we are spreading your message for free. So just send it to us because your district residents will probably pass it along anyway. We ran almost every candidate piece in the 2009 District 4 special election. Since then, we have run literature from Council Members Marc Elrich, Roger Berliner, and Phil Andrews and Senator Mike Lenett (D-19). Lenett’s Big Stick image, which we reprint again below, is priceless. Candidates should keep it coming and show everyone what you’ve got!
5. Release supporter statements.
This is an ancient tactic but it acquires new life on blogs. During the 2009 special election, Council Member George Leventhal sent us a guest post comparing Nancy Navarro to Marilyn Praisner. That rattled the Kramer campaign enough so that Alison Klumpp, Marilyn Praisner’s daughter, responded with an angry blog post denouncing it. Supporter statements have value because they may carry more credibility than a candidate’s own statements, especially when coming from prominent people. The above exchange had a side benefit of low-grade psychological warfare.
If we could pick the three best supporter statements in this county, they would come from Barack Obama, Chris Van Hollen and Donna Edwards, in that order. Land one of them and you’ll be right as rain.
6. The video endorsement.
When Donna Edwards endorsed Nancy Navarro last year, the Navarro campaign could have contented itself with a mere press release. But they went one step further with this video.
The imagery says it all. Progressive hero Donna Edwards has her arm around Navarro, testifying to her credentials before a clapping crowd. This video cemented Navarro as the progressive candidate in the race and she rode that message to victory.
7. Show your money.
Campaign finance reporting is very irregular. It is a crying injustice that there are no financial reports required for state and county candidates between January and August this year. It is not much better during short special elections. But in 2008, Don Praisner’s special election campaign began printing all of his contributions on his website right after they came in. Praisner scored points with his disclosure, and he also stressed the differences between his contributors and those of his opponents – a key part of his message. Other candidates who do the same in coming months will be respected for their honesty and, if their results are good, for their strength.
8. Move on the small issues.
During the 2009 special election, opponents to movement of the Wheaton library became a factor. So Nancy Navarro sent out a targeted mailer into a couple precincts where the issue was important siding with the opponents. Ben Kramer’s campaign squawked since they too opposed the move, but they never made a mailer out of it – and never sent it along to the blogs.
More tomorrow, folks!
Monday, March 08, 2010
How to Show Momentum, Part One
Political campaigns are processes of milestones. In presidential campaigns, those milestones consist of poll releases, big endorsements, financial reports, debates and state primary results, one after the other. The relative progress demonstrated by candidates is very obvious. In statewide campaigns, all of the above except sequential primary results are also a factor. But in state legislative and County Council races, there are fewer milestones. We are now in a long dry period between two of them: the January financial reports and the Apple Ballot announcement, which took place in June back in 2006. How can candidates show their momentum during a time when few objective measures of their progress are available?
Make no mistake: the appearance of momentum and strength is very important, especially for challengers, open seat candidates and anyone running in a close race. Candidates who look strong find it easier to raise money, pick up supporters and ultimately gain the county’s most important endorsement, MCEA’s Apple Ballot. Some of the county’s politicians have shown that they are true experts in the art of looking good over the last year or two. If you are a candidate and want to show your strength, here is what you should do.
1. Assemble a giant supporter list.
District 17 Senate challenger Cheryl Kagan is the undisputed queen of the supporter list. Way back in June – over a year before the primary – Kagan released a fundraising invitation containing 158 supporters. Just four months later, her list grew to 199 names. Incumbent Jennie Forehand replied with a list of 93 names, but it had three problems. First, 28 of the names were other elected officials. Incumbents are expected to endorse each other. Second, Senator Jamie Raskin (D-20) and former Montgomery College President Charlene Nunley, both of whom were on the list, said that they never gave permission for use of their names. (Nunley said she was supporting Kagan.) And third, one of the people on the list had died prior to its publication. Advantage: Kagan.
County Council District 1 incumbent Roger Berliner also made good use of this tactic. Berliner got wind of a possible challenge from East Bethesda civic leader Ilaya Hopkins last fall, so he began combing through the district asking for support. When Hopkins announced her exploratory committee, Berliner countered with a 158-name supporter list less than two weeks later. In one fell move, Berliner changed the story from Hopkins’s challenge to his own strength as an incumbent, prompting us to declare him the favorite.
Finally, at-large County Council challenger Hans Riemer’s 90-name list started his campaign with a bang. More than one incumbent was upset by it and several phone calls were placed to Riemer supporters in protest. These are signs that Riemer’s campaign is being taken seriously by friends and foes alike.
In building a supporter list, candidates should keep the following in mind. Out-of-state and out-of-district people matter less than in-district people unless they are prominent. (Donna Edwards’s name, for example, goes a long ways outside of Congressional District 4.) In-district opinion leaders may be the most valuable and most overlooked names for a list. If a candidate’s list does not include anyone inside the district, that candidate is probably unknown – a bad sign. Work your districts, people!
2. The bio video.
Nancy Navarro opened her 2009 special election campaign with this video.
District 5 incumbent Valerie Ervin, who will probably not even have a challenger, released this video last fall.
Both videos served two purposes. First, these candidates spoke directly to voters establishing their biographies and goals. Second, they also demonstrated that they were running highly professional campaigns with a range of outreach tools. Any opponent watching these videos would be impressed and perhaps a bit intimidated. Mission accomplished.
3. Guest blogs.
Here is a paraphrased account of a conversation that your author has had with many politicians.Pagnucco: Have you ever Googled yourself?
MPW does not exist to glorify politicians. (That’s why they spend campaign contributions.) But we have had a longstanding invitation for guest blogs. We do not want posts saying, “I’m great; vote for me!” We do want posts on policy initiatives favored by candidates. Some of the ones we have received have been excellent, such as the submissions from Delegates Heather Mizeur (D-20), Bill Frick (D-16) and Kirill Reznik (D-39) and County Council Member George Leventhal. But nothing beat the four-part series Delegate Saqib Ali (D-39) wrote differentiating his positions from those of Senator Nancy King (D-39). Ali caused a BIG splash with that series and probably raised himself a lot of money because of it – along with a bit of cash for King as well. So if you are a candidate who wants to write about a genuine policy issue, drop us a line.
Politician X: Not lately.
Pagnucco: If you do, you are likely to find blog posts written about you.
Politician X: Get out! (Googles himself.) Cripes, you need to take that stuff you printed about me down.
Pagnucco: Look at it this way. If a casual voter Googles you and finds blog posts, do you want them to read the rubbish that I write about you, or do you want them to read your own statements about things that you care about?
Politician X: Well, that’s an obvious question. I sure don’t want them reading the awful things you write.
Pagnucco: So give me a guest blog!
We’ll have more in Part Two.
