Winning Elections in the 21st Century

Dick Simpson, Betty O'Shaughnessy

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780700622764, 9780700622139
• eBook ISBN: 9780700622146
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

A national cochair of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama when few thought he could ever be elected, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky is here to tell you: Yes, you can! And the book she recommends for candidates, campaign staff, volunteers, and citizens is Winning Elections in the 21st Century, a handbook for anyone who wants to know how campaigns are run and won today.

Written by two longtime political veterans, both former elected officials, Winning Elections is steeped in old-fashioned political know-how and savvy about the latest campaign techniques, methods, and strategies using social media, vote analytics, small donor online fundraising, and increasingly sophisticated microtargeting. Using examples from across the United States, the authors discuss the nuts and bolts of state and local races, as well as “best practices” in national elections. A successful campaign, they assert and evidence confirms, merges the new technology with proven techniques from the past, and their book helps candidates, students, and citizens consider all the opportunities and challenges that these tools provide—never losing sight of the critical role that personal contact plays in getting voters to the polls.

At the heart of this book is the conviction that we need to win democracy along with elections. Accordingly, Simpson and O’Shaughnessy write primarily about campaigns in which the maximum number of citizens participate, as opposed to those determined by a few wealthy individuals and interest groups. People power can prevail with the right candidates, issues, and support—and Winning Elections in the 21st Century shows how.

Chapter One

The Beginning

A campaign is composed of individuals and their decisions. There is the choice by a candidate to run, choices by leaders and participants to work, and the strategic decision by the candidate and campaign leaders to take public stands on some issues and ignore others. There is as well the selection of a campaign theme and basic principles and the decision by each voter whether to vote for a candidate. Each choice has consequences both for the person making the decision and for the outcome of the election. A campaign is finally won or lost by specific decisions made by individuals.

This book inevitably focuses upon mechanical and generalized aspects of running a winning campaign. Whether a campaign is a local race for city council or school board or a national campaign for member of Congress or president, it is composed of individuals and their choices. This chapter focuses upon these personal decisions, which breathe life into an otherwise mechanical process, making each campaign unique.

Everyone in the campaign makes a decision to devote time, talent, and money. For the candidate and key campaign leaders, this decision is of a different magnitude than that required of volunteers, workers, and contributors. Not only do the candidate and key leaders risk more of their time and fortune but also they risk more of themselves. Ordinary citizens provide the support necessary for victory, but the candidate and campaign leaders must launch the campaign.

Democracy is not possible unless some citizens willingly decide to become candidates for public office, campaign staff members, and volunteers. Committed individuals must decide to become involved in politics from candidate to volunteer if democracy is to flourish.

Deciding to run for public office is an especially important choice. A candidate risks her name, must pay debts incurred in the campaign, and may be ridiculed by the opposition. Most of all, a candidate must ask people to elect her to office. She may find it distressing to stand in front of stores shaking hands or to go to friends and associates asking for money. Yet candidates are their own best fund-raisers and workers. A candidate simply must learn to ask people to support her if she is to run a good campaign.

No candidate is really drafted. Some friends or citizen groups may ask if she is interested in running, but, at some point, she must decide to run and begin to seek the help and support necessary to win. If she decides to run, the campaign is launched. If she refuses or hesitates, the campaign is lost, and someone else steps forward. The decision of one person—the candidate—to risk all on the bid for public office is the most important decision of the campaign and one that only the candidate can make.

There are many concrete reasons for a candidate not to run—it will mean time lost from her family, take her away from the profession she has spent years building, and cost a lot of money. The positive reasons to run seem terribly abstract—her election will give the community a strong representative and spokesperson, she can make government more efficient, and she can pass legislation to improve her community. In addition, she can bring integrity, leadership, dedication, and experience to public office.

Personal ambition and ego also enter into the decision. A candidate may run in order to serve as a spokesperson, to get into the limelight, to get paid a better salary, or to prove to herself that other people really love her. These motives may seem shallow or selfish. However, some combination of public and private reasons that differs for each candidate must overcome all the practical reasons not to run. After the decision to go ahead is made, the other decisions about how to mount the most effective campaign are simpler.

Timing is also key. There is an old saying: “In politics, timing is everything.” You can be involved in politics, learn the craft, and make a positive impact, but like a sailor in a small boat, when the winds of change are at your back you will move forward more easily. When there are no winds, you will be dead in the water.

Thus the decision to run for an office is not an abstract one. It is not a question of “Should I ever run for office?” Rather, it is “Should I run for this particular office in this election under these particular, unique circumstances?”

It is easier to win an open seat than to run against a popular incumbent. It is best to run for office when conditions are favorable. Yet, to make an impact you sometimes have to run for office or support a candidate when it is not clear that she will win. In the end, the decisions of the candidate to run and of staff and volunteers to support her are critical.

Decisions by Others

Key campaign personnel also face difficult decisions. To become staff members, people might have to take leaves of absence or interrupt their careers to work on the campaign full time. Like the candidate, staff must expect endless hours of work and separation from their families. They struggle with the questions of whether they can do the job and whether they are willing to make the necessary sacrifices. It is one thing to support a candidate, to give a few hours or to donate a few dollars to the campaign, but serving as a campaign leader requires dedication, and usually, personal commitment to the candidate.

The sacrifice required of others is in many ways the greatest burden a candidate undertakes. A campaign will disrupt many people’s lives and require their contributions of time and money. This places on a candidate the responsibility of conducting the campaign in a fashion that will make it worth these sacrifices—and of continuing the campaign even though a candidate might sometimes wish to back out. All those who take a leadership position in a campaign undertake an action with great consequences both for themselves and for their community.

After the decisions to run and to support a candidate are made, campaign leaders must still decide upon a general theme and take positive actions that will symbolize to the press and to the community what the campaign is all about.

In Dick Simpson’s first campaign for Chicago alderman, he proposed a citizen ordinance to the city council to limit the power of the mayor in school board appointments. This made it clear that if elected, he would not be a “rubber stamp” alderman for Mayor Richard J. Daley. Such actions on the part of a candidate create the enthusiasm and support necessary to win. Thus, a candidate and staff must find creative ways of dramatizing the campaign. Unless they do, even personal appearances by the candidate, paid political ads, creative use of social media, and precinct work are likely to be insufficient.

Existential choices, controversial issues, bold action—these are some of the human stuff of campaigns. The campaign structure and hard work in the precincts provide a base, but good campaigns embody issues and actions that cannot be completely planned in advance. They require the same personal courage and careful decision making as the original choices to stand for election and to staff the campaign.

Case Studies

Winning Elections in the 21st Century draws from campaigns around the country. Our own campaigns enable us to give you the feel of campaigns from the inside, so we use frequent examples from campaigns in which we have been directly involved. In addition, we use examples from other states and other campaigns to illustrate diverse campaign choices and methods.

We make two basic assumptions in Winning Elections in the 21st Century: (1) This book describes participatory politics, which means there are a large number of volunteers involved in a campaign; and (2) the candidate is well qualified for the position and has a genuine platform on which to run. Otherwise, without massive resources or unusual circumstances, most candidates will not be able to win.

Of course, no book can substitute for experience. On our website, http://pols.uic.edu/political-science/chicago-politics/how-to-win-elections, we provide a variety of Internet resources in which experts discuss the various aspects of local campaigns from precinct work to fund-raising.

We recommend that after you read this book you work on a campaign—preferably a winning campaign. When you reread the book afterward, you will understand many elements that eluded you the first time through.

The Next Step

Many of you have positive goals, such as an end to poverty and racism in the United States. To realize such aspirations requires reforms to the political system. To do that we must elect leaders who support these goals and develop a constituency to support these leaders.

Instituting new values, electing new leaders, evolving new procedures of greater participation, and developing a constituency of conscience can certainly be pursued at the national level. The ultimate success of such strategies, however, depends upon the creation of an informed constituency and capable leaders in local communities. That is why Winning Elections in the 21st Century focuses primarily on local elections.

We seek to provide an introduction to innovative campaigning both for students of politics and political practitioners. During the past several decades there has been a tendency to divorce political science from real politics. Our book brings them together.

We make recommendations as to how to win elections, how to achieve your goals, and how to alter our political system. Winning Elections in the 21st Century is an introduction to the study of electoral politics in the United States as it is actually practiced and as it can be improved.

Our book sets out the requirements for winning campaigns against strong opposition. Its message is simple: you can fight city hall and win.

Chapter Two

Choosing Sides

Just as the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, major political reform begins when a single citizen commits himself to winning elections, changing public policies, and opening up the political process. Reform begins with each of us fighting campaigns in our own communities and winning our own victories. Many of your neighbors, coworkers, and people you have met only casually feel the same way you do about the need to reform politics and government. They are waiting for someone to take the first steps—to offer viable candidates and proposals for new government policies.

Getting into Politics

“Politics is such a dirty business! You are too good to get involved with all those liars and cheats! In a position of responsibility like yours, you just cannot afford the time. And, you do not know anything about politics, anyway.” Friends and family will use these and similar arguments to dissuade you from major political involvement. We have come to consider citizenship a passive thing—read the paper, watch television news, gripe to friends, tweet a snarky remark or post one on Facebook, vote on Election Day, and decry the results. Many of us believe it is the duty of a good citizen to vote, but few of us believe it is also our duty to undertake those actions necessary to make the electoral process meaningful by actually participating.

Of course, the opposite ideal is just as absurd. Not everyone can be involved passionately, completely, and only in politics. There are many aspects to life. The artist more dedicated to politics than art becomes a “social realist” or a reactionary demagogue. Workers more concerned with politics than their jobs become essentially patronage workers, employed for the sake of their work done in precincts at election time.

Groups as divergent as Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party have recently called for changes in our “politics as usual.”¹ Our governments from local city halls to state capitals and the national government in Washington, DC, face major crises. As a people, we face decisions that will affect our lives for decades to come. Surely, this is a time to get involved in politics.

Unfortunately, in recent years political participation has been on the decline. Many Americans show little trust in the political process. This trend is found especially among young people and the disadvantaged.² Consequently, some of us must become active participants in order for more passive citizens to have any meaningful role in shaping their government and society. There is a strong relationship between participation and positive traits such as a sense of political efficacy and personal effectiveness.³ People with a greater sense of efficacy and effectiveness and less alienation, anomie, and cynicism are more likely to participate actively in politics.⁴ Participating actively is important for society, and in turn, this reinforces our positive personal attitudes. For the ancient Greeks the quality as well as the quantity of activity was considered crucial to our personal development. As Pericles said of Athens: “Our citizens attend both to public and private duties, and do not allow absorption in their own various affairs to interfere with their knowledge of the city’s. We differ from other states in regarding the [person] that holds aloof from public life not as ‘quiet’ but as useless.”⁵

There are good reasons to be involved in politics. We face the necessity of renewing our entire political process from top to bottom, of reorienting personal and societal priorities so as to place the value of people before property and concern for our fellow citizens on par with concern for ourselves. If we lose this battle, our society could deteriorate into a closed one, an eternal battleground of increasingly violent factions, or into a complacent, greedy culture.

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, it falls to us in our time to renew our democracy so that government of, by, and for the people shall not perish from the earth. A part of this task of renewal is becoming involved in the electoral process. Participating in the public life of our communities can help us ensure that our governments promote justice and democracy for all.⁶

We all like to be recognized for what we do and desire the respect and esteem of our fellow citizens. In this sense, those of us who go into politics have political ambitions. There is nothing shabby or immoral about such ambitions, but politics has an amazing ability to corrupt. Therefore, although the desire to best serve the community is legitimate, expecting a “payoff”—especially an immediate and tangible payoff—because of political involvement is wrong.

Becoming a legitimate political person is difficult. To be political, a feel for the use of power is necessary, but not enough. A politician must first and foremost be a person of honor, sensitivity, integrity, and creativity. He must also be responsive to the needs and concerns of others. An outstanding political leader must first be an outstanding person. Max Lerner put the point this way: “I don’t hold it against a [person] that he has spent his mature life in politics, provided there is more to him than politics. The question about Richard Nixon is whether there is this ‘added dimension’ (as he likes to call it) or whether the politician has eaten up the man.”⁷

Thus both personal and altruistic reasons for political involvement—selfinterest and honest concern for the community—must coincide. Only then will the political leaders necessary for the creation of a modern, participatory, inclusive, and positive politics emerge.

Joining a Political Organization or Campaign

Individuals decide to join a political organization or back an individual candid...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• Foreword by US Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
• Preface
• 1. The Beginning
• 2. Choosing Sides
• 3. Organizing a Campaign
• 4. Raising Money
• 5. Sending Your Message
• 6. Winning the Traditional Media War
• 7. Getting the Word Out in the Digital Age
• 8. Canvassing the Voters and Election Day
• 9. The Campaign to Elect Will Guzzardi
• 10. Challenges to Democracy
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover