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Congressional Campaigns

Congressional Campaigns. Jacobson Chapter 4. The Goal. The goal of any campaign is: To win the most votes and thus the election. Everything Else. Nothing else is simple about campaigns. In fact, the biggest factor in developing a campaign strategy is uncertainty .

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Congressional Campaigns

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  1. Congressional Campaigns Jacobson Chapter 4

  2. The Goal • The goal of any campaign is: To win the most votes and thus the election

  3. Everything Else • Nothing else is simple about campaigns. • In fact, the biggest factor in developing a campaign strategy is uncertainty. • However, there are important things candidates can do to lessen the uncertainty during their campaigns.

  4. The Two Big Ones • The two most important things a campaign needs to be successful are: • Money • Paid-Professional Campaign Organization This is more or less a “chicken and egg” question. In order to get a paid-professional campaign organization a candidate needs money. In order to have the campaign infrastructure to effectively raise money, a candidate needs a paid-professional campaign organization (PPCO).

  5. What Can they Do? • Money and a PPCO can help a candidate do a number of things. • Answer the main questions a campaign needs to ask: • Which constituents are likely to become solid supporters? • Who might be persuaded? • Which groups are hopeless? • How can they be discouraged from voting? • How can potential supporters be reached? • How can they be mobilized? • What kind of appeals are likely to attract their support?

  6. The Four Groups • Essentially, a campaign needs to identify four groups in the appropriate electorate so they can efficiently spend money and resources. • The Diehards • The Most of the Times • The Middle • The Nevers

  7. How do they do it? • Money and a PPCO help campaigns do these by: • Providing access to the media • Radio • Television • Newspapers • Direct mail • Billboards/bumper stickers • Websites • Execution of campaign strategy • Polling

  8. Where does it come from? • So, where can campaigns get money? • Private individuals contribute the greatest share of campaign money. • PACs are the second largest source. • Contributions to House candidates have grown an average of 9% and those to Senate candidates have grown an average of 12%, from election year to election year, recently.

  9. The Parties • So, what role do parties have? • They used to have a big one, but McCain-Feingold (BCRA) essentially banned “soft” money. • Soft Money (not subject to FECA limitations)– money raised by the political parties which was often spent on state and local party building and get-out-the-vote drives. • Hard Money (subject to FECA limitations)—money raised by campaigns themselves, mostly from individual and PAC contributions that can be spent on anything.

  10. What do they do now? • Party committees can directly give to candidates. • House--$5,000 per candidate per election. • Senate--$52,600 maximum. • FECA contains a special provision that allows the parties to spend money on behalf of candidates. • This coordinated spending is limited, but for House candidates these limits are higher than individual or PAC contribution limits, and are allowed to rise with inflation (the limits on Senate spending changes with state populations).

  11. Hill Committees • Additionally, candidates can use the support of Hill Committees. Along with financial contributions Hill Committees help train candidates and campaign managers in all aspects of campaigning: • Fundraising • Personnel management • Legal compliance • Advertising • Press relations • Prior the 1996 elections, the RNC held training seminars in 41 states involving 6,000 Republican candidates and activists.

  12. Hill Committees • Hill Committees have also assumed a central role in helping match candidates with financial backers, especially PACs. • Also, “safe” incumbents will help their party’s other candidates.

  13. Other Members • Safe members have a strong incentive to help candidates from their own parties who are in competitive races. • What might this incentive be?

  14. Other Members • Safe members will contribute by: • Forming their own leadership PACs to dole out money to competitive campaigns • Contributing directly to a campaign • Helping attract big contributors to campaign events

  15. Fundraising • The most important aspect of fundraising is convincing potential donors that their money will not be wasted. • Donors must be persuaded that the candidate has a plausible chance of winning and would be more attentive to their values and interests than would the opponent. • Incumbents are in the best position, here. • They’ve won before.

  16. Campaign Organizations • Many incumbents keep at least a small campaign organization permanently intact. • Other candidates must build one from scratch. • This is why “early” money is so important. • For candidates who can afford it, the easiest way to acquire a campaign organization is to buy one. • Typically, candidates will engage a team of specialists, including a campaign manager, that presumably has run successful campaigns before.

  17. Campaign Organizations • Having a PPCO is extremely important. Candidates who do not have PPCOs typically are unsuccessful. Why? • No Sanctions • Cannot learn from mistakes • Go out of business when the real effectiveness of their work is measured—election day.

  18. Campaign Strategies • As stated previously, the most important factor in developing a campaign strategy is uncertainty. • Candidates can alleviate this somewhat by having money and a PPCO. • There are other ways as well: • Innovation—but this has diminishing returns • Effectively using the media

  19. Campaign Media • Two groups of activities are common to all large-scale campaigns: • Mass Media Advertising • Personal Campaigning

  20. Media • The choice of which media to utilize is partly strategic and partly based on finances. • Only about 2/3 of House candidates use television • In large metropolitan areas it is too expensive and inefficient. • The more efficiently a television audience fits a district the more likely the candidate to use television. • Senate campaigns are almost always able to use television because their district is the state. • The main goal is to get the candidate’s name before the public.

  21. Youtube and the Internet • The internet is playing an increasing role in campaigns throughout the United States, even at the local level. • Almost all campaigns have websites. • Candidates have found it’s cheap and effective to use Youtube and similar tools to broadcast their message to voters. • Social networking is also becoming extremely important.

  22. Personal Campaigning • Most politicians have faith in the personal touch. • If they can just talk to voters and get them to listen, they can win their support. • The problem is that even House districts are so large now it’s impossible for candidates to meet more than a small fraction of the electorate during a single campaign. • One way to get around this is to use “free” or “earned” media.

  23. So, What do They Say? • There are two points to a campaign message: • Letting voters know who the candidate is (name recognition) • Persuading voters to support the candidate • Uncertainty dominates here, too. • What works in one district or state may not work in another. • However, most experts agree that in order to be effective a campaign needs to develop a consistent theme.

  24. Campaign Themes • Explain: • Why the candidate should be elected • Why the opponent should not be elected • Frames the choice • Establishes what the election is about • Emphasizes the candidate’s strengths • Plays down the candidate’s weaknesses • The goal is not to change attitudes, but to define the choice so it conforms with existing attitudes.

  25. Going Negative “People say they hate negative campaigning. But it works. They hate it and remember it at the same time. The problem with positive is that you have to run it again and again to make it stick. With negative, the poll numbers will move in three or four days.”

  26. Going Negative • In close races where party organizations are heavily involved, typically the campaign itself will take the high road and leave the dirty work to the party. • Independent groups are even freer to sling mud. • The BCRA requires candidates to say on camera, in every ad their campaign broadcasts that they authorized and approved it. • This actually helps protect the candidate.

  27. Incumbent Campaigns • Incumbents work to try and maintain a relationship with their constituents that will allow them to survive a damaging vote or contrary political tide. • Fenno calls this their Home Style.

  28. Home Style • Fenno traveled extensively with 18 House members as they made the rounds in their districts. • He found that each member projected a personal home style that defined his relationship to the groups he relied on for political support. • These differed based on the character of the district and the personality of the individual member. • However, the common theme was to inspire TRUST.

  29. Trust • They did this by: • Emphasizing their personal qualifications (moral character) • Focusing on their identification with constituents • Developing bonds of empathy with the groups and individuals they met • For most of the members, issues, policy, and partisanship were not prominent objects of discussion with constituents, and were not used to elicit support.

  30. Accessibility • Members also emphasized their accessibility. • Constituents were reminded continually that lines of communication were open. • A member who is trusted, accessible, and thought to be “one of us” will have much less trouble defending against personal attacks. • His or her explanations for controversial votes will be heard more sympathetically. • Even notorious ethical lapses may go unpunished. • In fact, voters may step up to defend their Member in the face of such allegations.

  31. The President • Incumbents may also choose to use the president’s popularity to their advantage. • Of course, this all depends on which party you are from and who the president is, as well as, where the president’s approval ratings are. • Look at what’s going on right now.

  32. Uncertainty • Despite the knowledge Members acquire of their constituencies, uncertainty still plagues their campaigns. • They cannot be sure what got them elected previously, so they cannot be sure what combination of campaign tactics will serve them in a new election. • Because of this, they tend to exaggerate electoral threats and overreact to them. • They will conduct full-scale campaigns even when there is no opposition in site. • Additionally, this helps ward off any serious competition, if some is brewing. • And, these days…there’s always something brewing.

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