Obviously, this is an overly simplistic look at the players, their strengths and weaknesses — and I encourage anyone’s thoughts, critiques and improvements in the comments.
Understanding the strength and weaknesses between state and local campaigns, as well as state and local committees, is of paramount importance to correcting any of the mistakes made in the last election, as well as improving the things we did well to maximize our effectiveness.
The lesson that really screams out to me is that the more local control that’s given, the more powerful the effort is going to be. The larger the organization or campaign is, the more capable it is at creating powerful tools and having ample resources, but the less able it is at dealing with local problems. Therefore, the State Party should set the basic strategy and goals, and provide the resources local organizations can’t provide for themselves (including training in how to run good grassroots campaigns), but the local campaigns and committees have to be the on-the-ground commanders issuing the orders when push comes to shove, because they’re the ones who know the conditions in which the battles take place. This includes GOTV — and being responsible for lists used on Election Day.
I think John Walsh and the State Party realize the importance of empowering local individuals and committees, and certainly the trend in this state has been in giving these groups more power and tools, not less. In a world that’s becoming increasingly difficult to reach people at the macro level, where phones are ineffective and mail is thrown away, empowering people at the local level is inevitable — because it’s going to be the only way that works. We’re moving in that direction, but not completely there yet — and we certainly haven’t perfected this new way of organizing.
My second recommendation is on improving communication — something that may be best done in between elections, anyway. It behooves everyone to improve this aspect of the campaign — local committees and campaigns need to know the State Party is listening to their concerns and answering their questions, and the State Party needs to be responsive to local needs — all the while the State Party needs to know that the local committees and campaigns are getting the job done, especially when not all local committees and campaigns are created equally.
One thing I am sure of is the fact that our State Party is only going to get better at campaigning. We could only coordinate as much as local campaigns were willing to coordinate — and it took a lot of courage for so many local campaigns to go as far as they did this time around. Now that they know it works, they’ll go much further — and the holdouts will see that it suddenly makes much more sense.
Lastly, I think it’s important to take a second to remember and thank the person who brought us this effort — John Walsh, Deval Patrick and the rest of our statewide and local leaders who came behind this effort. Running the style of campaign that Walsh did — and getting everyone to come on board — is something that’s almost unheard of in politics. When, in politics, anything new is seen as risky — and anything risky is usually crushed by the virus that infects almost all politicians (risk adverseness), it is simply amazing what we did. People may have thought John Walsh would be remembered as a small footnote — the guy who helped bring us Deval Patrick — but it’s becoming clear that he’s just written the metaphorical book on how to run campaigns in the 21st Century.
…has been part of my political vocabulary for as long as I’ve been involved. I was even on staff for the NHDP coordinated in 2002. However, this year I saw some true coordination in ways I had not before seen, and I agree it was a key factor to heading off the GOP in this state.
there has been some degree of coordination in the past in other campaigns, likely in many other states… but I think we can safely say the degree to which there was coordination this time around was unique, both in numbers of campaigns working together and degrees to which campaigns cooperated.
good job
I have a lot of work to do to catch up with many other town committees. Four years ago we didn’t exist – we were in a long hiatus – and it was the 2006 Patrick campaign that we reorganized around – with lots of help from our state committee reps. 2008 was a great year and we learned and grew a lot.
<
p>But I still only have a few people. It’s also a small town with some traditions and taboos (Yard signs? NO! Poll watchers? HELL NO!) that we are slowly changing. It’s also a lot of walking to do door-to-door. Nothing we can’t overcome with work, but it’s going to take time and work. And more people.
<
p>What has worked well is dear friend cards, phone/email a friend, and, of course standouts.
<
p>First, some things I could use:
<
p>1. a better state party web site, and one I can latch onto for my own web site. Party Builder that the DNC uses, OFA, hell the 2006 Patrick web site would be nice. A email addresses, a listserver and calendar software as part of a state party hosting package would be nice to start. Some other social networking kinds of stuff across the state would help.
<
p>2. I’d like a database and tools so I can identify and track voters and our interactions with them.
<
p>3. A more suburban and small town friendly GOTV/coordinated campaign model. Especially election days. Phones? Email? Text? If I have #2 and can get this information, I can reach out people a lot faster electronically than on foot.
<
p>I need some advice about:
<
p>Keeping volunteers involved and engaged in PARTY activities after a campaign. “I only want to work for candidate X”. “The campaign’s over, I’m done”. “I’m not a Democrat”. “That was last election, I’m too busy this time or I am not as excited about X as I was”.
<
p>Moving sporadic campaign volunteers to year round activists is what we need ot do to grow from coordinated campaigns every couple years to a true progressive movement.
<
p>Thanks!
The ability to create a dynamic, user-friendly page on the state website is a perfect example in which an organization with the size and resources of the state party is best able to build this tool and give it to local committees for their use, because decent websites require a certain amount of resources and technical know-how that exceeds most town, city and ward committees.
<
p>As for a database — the state has a pretty darn good one. I think it’s time to give it to local committees, as well as the training they need to use it. This may require some form of dues to the state party to make this affordable, but if most committees did it, I’d have to at least think it’s doable. Let’s at least look at the numbers.
<
p>Your third point is really about good communication between the state and local party, and local committees and campaigns. Progress is being made, but I don’t think we’re there yet. With the size and scope of the state party, it will be hard to get this perfect, but I think there’s a lot of potential synergy between local campaigns and committees that rarely gets maximized, because at the end of the day members of the committees are often seen as constituents to the candidates running in those campaigns.
<
p>—–
<
p>How to keep people active:
<
p>Every town is different, but our town does a lot of events — both social and advocacy-based — in the political ‘off-season.’ We make these things member driven — so if there’s a few people on the committee that want to do it, we give them the keys, with help from the executive committee when needed.
<
p>Examples:
<
p>Those are just a few ideas. Not all of our ideas or projects are successful, but we just keep trucking. Progress feels slow and frustrating trying to build a town committee, but as Margaret Mead once said, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world…. it is the only thing that ever has.” Just keep at it and you’ll get there.
I’m curious to hear more about this. I’ve never been sure of the utility of standouts, but happy to be persuaded!
Same as yard signs.
<
p>Helpful in downticket races – like state rep. Especially helpful if you’ve got a new candidate; helps get the name out in front of voters. Cheap advertising.
<
p>If you pick a spot with good foot traffic – and bring the candidate – it’s an opportunity to engage with voters.
<
p>For some volunteers it’s what they feel most comfortable doing, for a variety of reasons. Can build some community amongst volunteers. Never turn down a volunteer. I always find something for them to do; and if they’re willing to stand at the dump for a couple hours on a Saturday morning and wave at their friends, I’m game.
<
p>But… your’e right, it is not as effective as many other things.
builds (or counters opposition) enthusiasm. Like a yard sign – a stand out may not vote, but if the other side does it they create the impression of being the only legitimate candidate. There’s a peer pressure factor.
<
p>Bill Hudak won over Tierney in my town by 200-300 votes. Tierney’s office has assisted many in town and is well – liked. Hudak blanketed the town with yard signs for months. If it wasnt for Hudaks visibilities and yard signs he would have been a total afterthought on the ballot.
<
p>I agree with never turning down a volunteer – it builds their individual enthusiasm. They may help more in the future. I think people spread the word and are more likely to get friends and family voting if they are involved in some way.