Political Campaign Craftsmanship

A Professional's Guide to Campaigning for Public Office

Edward Schwartzman, III McDonald

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351498999
• Subtopic: Political Process
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Over one billion dollars are spent in presidential election years on an expensive art form: political campaigns. Many political observers believe that at least half that amount is wasted. But, which half? Edward Schwartzman answers that question based upon experience gained in seventy-five campaigns. "Political Campaign Craftsmanship" treats both the art and science of campaigning, describing the procedures basic to modern professional campaigning. This practical guide to campaigns covers the entire process and gives specific strategies for every phase.

1
Setting Up Your Campaign

I wouldn't think of making a move nationally if I didn't have my state in good hands. The first lesson is don't sleep too long, don't trust too much, don't take anything for granted.

—Hubert H. Humphrey

When yon start to campaign, you will have to confront many troublesome details of housekeeping, from budget allocation to who gets a new desk and who gets the pretty secretary, as well as the very difficult questions of staff salaries and space assignments. Many candidates find these things boring, burdensome, and of little consequence, but cumulatively they can significantly influence the efficiency and success of campaign operations. To administer a campaign properly, you should personally work out all these details in advance of the active campaigning, in consultation with your key staff, your close advisors, and perhaps your principal contributors.

Although most campaign offices are managed inefficiently and a considerable waste of time and money is not only frequent but taken for granted as normal, this need not be the case.* It is both possible and essential for a candidate whose funds are limited to set up a campaign office in a businesslike way.

SPACE

The first problem is usually how much space to rent and where to look for it. Hotel suites are commonly used, but although their central locations have an obvious advantage, their convenience rarely justifies their high prices. Some politicians choose storefronts to give visibility to the campaign. In my experience, however, the value of such visibility (as well as that of large signs on the fronts of headquarters offices) is greatly overrated. You can get a short-term lease on an empty store for perhaps six or eight dollars a square foot per year (prorated), but since empty stores are not always available in all sizes, you may have to take a much bigger one than you need, so that you not only spend too much but are also burdened with a large, half-empty headquarters, which gives the impression of a lackluster campaign, Often campaigners or their representatives rent thousands of square feet of prestige office space, realizing later that only a fraction of it was really necessary. Such a mistake has a cumulative impact: larger stores mean higher maintenance expenses, more staff, larger signs. Often the signs stay in place for years after the campaign is over as shabby testimonials to the nagging economics of American campaigning.

Neatly kept space, moderate in expense and expanse, is perfectly adequate. The candidate is seldom there, in any case, and the public relations impact of a modest but well-kept headquarters can be very positive. Twelve dollars a foot per year (prorated) is the most that should be spent for rent; in many circumstances, it is perfectly all right to campaign from your home or from the offices of a local club.

Few real estate salespeople bother to handle short-term space, and in many cities and towns, well-located and reasonably priced space is hard to come by for a short period. However, there is always some space available. In every city, there are offices that are empty between leases or scheduled for alteration in the near future. The only sure way to find appropriate accommodations is to start several months before campaign time. You may have to pay rent for an additional month or so when the space won’t be fully used, but the certainty that you have the right space makes that a good investment, and the extra time allows you to plan the proper use of the space and to hire carpenters and install telephone wiring, air conditioners, and other necessities.

In a 1970 campaign, New York Congressman James H. Scheuer had difficulty finding appropriate short-term leases in a new district; he was one of the first urban-area candidates to rent trailers and move them throughout his area. This relatively inexpensive tactic undoubtedly helped him beat a strongly entrenched incumbent, and, indeed, this device is increasingly utilized by campaigners for reasons of mobility, visibility, and economy.

In another major campaign, a senatorial candidate in a close race had three separate offices in midtown New York that cost him between $50,000 and $100,000 for the campaign and deprived him of thousands of dollars he might have spent for other more important campaign needs. Presidential campaigns get similarly bogged down by high-ient space that often serves little useful purpose. Senator Edmund S. Muskie’s presidential campaign, for example, was reported several times in 1971 and 1972 to be cutting back staff for lack of funds; yet more than a year before his first state primary, Muskie had already rented an entire floor in an expensive downtown Washington building. Unwise allocations of funds such as this undoubtedly contributed to Muskie’s decision to drop out of active primary campaigning in April 1972.

Estimating space requirements with precision is difficult, but sensible planning can help. You should start by deciding exactly which people, performing which functions, you want at headquarters. Basically, you will want to include space for a receptionist-secretary, your personal secretary (to handle your schedule and appointments), the campaign manager, and two assistants to supervise petitioning, research, press relations, follow-through on special problems, and club liaison. In a professionally directed campaign, most of the technical work will be done by outside consultants and specialists, such as photographers, speech writers, and people for research, polling, brochure preparation, and TY setups, none of whom will occupy your headquarters space. Your headquarters should have some reserve space for small-scale conferences, storage of brochures, and other miscellaneous purposes. A reception area will be needed for visitors, as well as for press and possibly TY interviewers.

It may be necessary to reserve some space for volunteers, who will be involved in checking telephone numbers, running mimeograph machines, and getting out mailings. However, this aspect of the campaign should perhaps be housed separately. It is distracting to the regular headquarters staff to see volunteers come and sit around waiting for someone to assign them work.

Some thought and care should be given to how the office looks to visitors and the press. Many campaign headquarters are completely disorganized and look it; certainly this does not contribute beneficially to the candidate’s appeal. Disarray is seldom attractive in any office.

It is usually advisable to rent headquarters furniture, typewriters, calculators, and other office equipment. The rental of refrigerators, air conditioners, and fans would also be a prudent investment. Cold drinks, beer, liquor, and some food should be available. There seems to be an unwritten law that much campaigning work is done late at night. I personally have found the availability of a folding army cot in a campaign office very useful, Three or four telephones will be necessary, and it may be worthwhile to engage an answering service for night calls.

Adding up all the items mentioned thus far indicates an expenditure of about $20,000 for office overhead to mount an urban congressional campaign. When you include cleaning, insurance, maintenance, and miscellaneous expenses, this estimate is probably conservative, and salaries for secretaries and full-time staff members may increase the operating costs for a twelve-week campaign by about another $25,000. Perhaps $50,000 would cover the basic needs and emergencies in a medium-to large-scale campaign. (The average congressional campaign in 1982 cost a total of $400,000 to $500,000, while several went over $1,000,000.)

STAFFING

The smaller the staff, the better, in almost every instance. An ideal fulltime staff for most campaigns up to and including congressionals is five to eight workers; for most mayoral, senatorial, and gubernatorial campaigns, twenty key staff people should, in my judgment, be the absolute maximum. (Governor Nelson Rockefeller reportedly used more than 300 in his 1969 campaign; Senator George McGovern was reported to have 250 full-time paid staff members throughout the country when he made his presidential race in 1972.*)

The more people, the more infighting for position with the candidate, the more time wasted by turf wars, the more good ideas killed by bureaucratic compromises and accommodations, and the less chance for a creative, hard-hitting campaign.

A full-time staff chart, such as the one shown in Fig. 1-1, should provide for all the critical functions.

It is not always necessary to have one person handle only one function. Circumstances will dictate the size of the total staff among whom duties can be divided.

Campaigning involves relationships with contributors, legal advisors, and technical consultants. The campaign manager and the candidate should handle these personally in setting policy and priorities.* The manager should be completely in charge, naming a deputy in his or her absence. Other members of the headquarters staff should not be personally involved in the controversies that characterize most campaigns. Nor should the candidate intervene, except in unusual circumstances, in the daily operations of the staff. Violating the basic administrative rule—each worker should have only one boss—contributes significantly to waste and poor morale and is a common error in many campaigns.

Fig. 1-1. Basic campaign organizational chart.

AMATEURS OR PROFESSIONALS?

Jesse Unruh of California observed that in politics, as in everything else, you tend to get what you pay for. Most candidates like to have young volunteers at their headquarters, because they add to the appeal of a candidate and because many amateurs are energetic, devoted campaigners. In the view of seasoned campaign managers, however, the use of experienced professionals is dearly advisable when judgment and efficiency are called for.

Amateurs can do many important things m a campaign, but they tend to require much supervision, and because they are unpaid, it is difficult to control them. They like to discuss their assignments in great detail, sometimes taking as much time with that as in actually doing the job. Many volunteer in the hope of being elevated to policy-making positions after two days’ work on details and become disappointed when that doesn’t happen. On balance, volunteers are useful, but you have to pick their spots carefully, delineate their roles sharply, and keen them out of procedures in which timing and the exact following of instructions are primary considerations. One regular staff member should be charged with supervising them and keeping them happy.

In some circumstances, notably the presidential primary campaigns of Eugene J. McCarthy in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972, the role of volunteer canvassers was absolutely critical.* They gathered petition signatures in large numbers (proselytizing very effectively in the process), distributed literature, manned sidewalk stands in areas of heavy pedestrian counts, hand-addressed envelopes, made telephone calls, “pulled” (got out the vote) on election day, and in general provided an enthusiasm that caught on. Since it meant so much to these nice young dedicated people, many voters began to feel that maybe the candidate was worth thinking about after all.

Throughout this book 1 emphasize the necessity for professionalism, for rationalization of campaign procedures. However, many more laypersons are participating in public affairs than ever before—perhaps 10 to 20 percent of the populace is now involved in public decision making in some manner, compared to 1 or 2 percent only a decade ago—and any candidate should encourage volunteers to join his or her campaign. They can be recruited by the candidate, by the campaign area chairmen, and by other campaign workers during the course of their petitioning and canvassing (see pp. 55-63) or at kaffeeklatches or other small gatherings (see p. 31). If you are interested in recruiting volunteers, lists of prospective workers can be borrowed from your political party headquarters, from local political clubs with which you are associated, from the previous campaign files of elected officials with whom you are friendly, from women's and men’s clubs, and from civic and religious organizations. Many older women, in particular, seem to enjoy political campaigning. Your canvassers and other possible recruiters should carry with them 3x5 cards on which they can enter the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of people who are interested in working for you.* Figure 1-2 shows what the cards should look like.

In smaller campaigns, volunteers can be crucial, and even in major campaigns they can play a critical role. But you should know exactly how to use them—both for your sake and for theirs. I have seen volunteers used in demeaning ways—doing “make-work,” for example, so that the campaign headquarters looks busy, or sitting around waiting for someone to tell them what to do. Such activities cannot possibly benefit your campaign and may actually harm it, either by taking the attention of your regular staff away from more important work or by alienating the volunteers.

Fig. 1-2. Example of volunteers’ recruiting card.

Volunteers can usefully serve many campaign functions, including:

• Distributing or “stuffing”*
literature.

• Organizing kaffeeklatches or small money-raising events.

• Accompanying you on walking tours.

• Gathering petition signatures.

• Canvassing (proselytizing voters door to door).

• Checking and binding petitions.

• Challenging opponent’s petitions (a time-consuming job that entails checking individual voters’ registrations and signatures at the local board of elections).

• Telephoning voters to discuss you and your views.

• Researching census and related data covering the district.

• Researching past voting patterns in the district.

• Preparing voter cards and lists.

• Conducting personal or telephone research interviews.

• Setting up street stands for literature distribution.

• In primary elections, identifying persons who actually voted in previous primaries by checking the records of past elections at the board of elections.

• “Pulling” on election day by telephone and household canvass.

• Poll watching on election day.

• Providing transportation to the polls for the elderly and infirm.

• Manning loudspeaker trucks and bullhorns.

• Putting up posters (and often tearing the opponent’s down).

• Typing correspondence.

• Filing.

• Bookkeeping.

• Manning the office to take calls and answer questions.

• Recruiting other volunteers.

Most of the functions are discussed in detail in the following chapters. It should be emphasized that for many of these functions the presence of experienced professionals is advisable, especially for the more sensitive and difficult tasks, which include conducting research interviews and answering inquiries. But many candidates can’t afford to retain paid consultants for every function. If you are in this situation and you have no option but to use volunteers, be sure to give them specific directions and careful supervision.

THE CAMPAIGN MANAGER

Your campaign manager will probably have to work full time—and more— and, unless you’ve promised him or her a job once you are elected, will expect to be paid professionally. Fees as high as $3,000 to 4,000 a week plus expenses have been reported. (When I started in politics in 1960, campaign managers in congressional campaigns were happy to get $100 a week plus expenses.) For smaller campaigns, managerial fees will often consist of expenses and the promise of a future job.

Some experienced politicians believe that a good manager can account for 10 percent of the total vote, depending, of course, on the competence of the opponent’s campaign manager. In 1981, when Elizabeth Holtzman, a well-known Congresswoman (New York), who had run for the U.S. Senate and lost, announced that she would run for District Attorney of Kings County against the unknown Norman Rosen, many politicians offered 20 to 1 odds and even 50 to 1 odds that she would win. When it was later announced that Walter Diamond, a seasoned and creative manager, would do the Rosen campaign, the odds plummeted to 5 to 1. The message should be clear: get the best manager you can. This doesn’t mean the most expensive; creativity and administrative ability are what you need. Honesty is also very nice.

But you can’t go into the job market looking for a full-time campaign manager. Some successful ones are business or professional colleagues or relatives of their candidates. Mario Cuomo’s successful race for Governor of New York in 1982 was managed in large part by his 24-year-old son. Managers can also be supplied by your party’s political leadership, who assign one of their professional staff. Congressmen often use an A.A., an administrative assistant.

Ideally, you want someone who i...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Introduction to the Transaction Edition
• Preface to the Second Edition
• Preface to the First Edition
• Contents
• 1. Setting Up Your Campaign
• 2. Detailing
• 3. Political Research: How to Do It and How to Use It
• 4. Doing Survey Research Yourself
• 5. Campaign Problems
• 6. Radio and Television Advertising
• 7. Print and Mail Advertising
• 8. Press and Public Relations
• 9. Using Telephones in a Political Campaign
• 10. Non-Political Elections
• 11. Conclusion
• 12. Postscript: How It Feels to Campaign
• Appendices
• Outline Timetable for a June Primary
• Bibliography
• Index