Inside Baseball

As I travel around the state of Oklahoma and to venues in other states to meet with candidates, one constant runs through the discourse on campaign strategy.  A winning campaign strategy is one that focuses on efficient and effective use of limited resources, namely time and money.  And my advice to candidates generally centers on those two aspects: how to spend one’s time and money wisely.

When detailing the dos and don’ts I’m often asked how much time the candidate should be spending at party functions, interest group forums, debates, etc.  The confusion about whether and which events to attend reflects a lack of perspective on what I call “inside baseball” politics.

The echo chamber effect is one of the most misleading and misguided sources of inspiration and information upon which a candidate can rely.  By this, I mean that candidates often spend a great deal of time attending political party functions (wherein a straw poll might be conducted) or perhaps a candidate forum put on by an interest group.  They do so usually because all the “VIPs will be there,” the opinion shapers, if you will.  The candidate aims at convincing this small cadre of influentials that he or she is the real deal, the heir apparent, a winner worthy of support.  The trouble is, folks outside of this small circle (i.e. actual voters) don’t care.

I often share a joke (I’ve long since forgotten where I heard it) that goes something like this.  A radio show host was conducting a “man on the street” interview outside the studio wherein he was querying passersby about the state of political affairs in the U.S., particularly about the increasing lack of civic awareness and involvement.  He stopped a gentleman walking by and asked him pointedly, “Sir, what’s your opinion about the growing degree of ignorance and apathy with American voters these days?”  The man replied sharply, “I don’t know and I don’t care” and walked away.

Voters don’t pay as much attention as we might hope or think…even in the context of the Tea Party era.  Because a candidate’s resources are finite, they must be laser-focused on the activities that catch voters’ attention.  Specifically, the test is this: if it will raise money, raise name ID, or raise voter turnout, do it.  If not, don’t do it.

Attending an event in order to win a straw poll might possibly garner a pittance of press ink, but those precious hours might have been better spent knocking on 50 likely-voters’ doors.  Spending that $150 for a booth at the state party convention might have otherwise been used to buy pizza and drinks for the dozen volunteers willing to place GOTV calls the night before the election.

A very good friend of mine just won his city council seat in a Dallas-area suburb.  He won by a single vote.  Instead of concentrating on “inside baseball” politics, he stepped outside the box and thought like a voter.  The moral of the story is this: every vote counts, but little else does.