Winning: The Art of Getting It Right

Election season is in full swing even for those last-minute candidates who waited for the filing deadlines before announcing.  I’ve talked to several candidates this week who are jumping into the door-to-door campaign feet first, full of vigor and excited to get out and start walking.

The bad part?  They hadn’t done their homework.  I understand that crunching numbers to understand the historical voting results in your precinct or district, which voters historically turn out to vote, which precincts you must win in order to be victorious- well, it’s all pretty tedious stuff.  There’s nothing overly exciting about it, I’ll admit.  But it is oh-so-necessary.

Here’s an example: I spoke with a candidate yesterday who was reluctant to give up some door-to-door time on a Saturday for our campaign training.  When I asked about his door-to-door strategy, he was planning to start at the geographical “top” of his district, and work his way down.  He had no idea how many votes he needed in order to win, because he hadn’t checked historical vote totals.  He had no idea which precincts tended to be more aligned with the issues and values he championed, because he hadn’t looked into those voting results.  And he had no idea which voters living within those precincts turned out to vote in primaries- the race he’s currently running in.  Walking door-to-door without a good plan is like stumbling through the darkness.

Sometimes candidates think they will win on virtue of their good ideas and hard work.  I believe strongly in good ideas.  Every positive change in our country began as a good idea.  I also believe strongly in the value of hard work- I know what it’s like to walk door-to-door in the hot Kansas sun and thick humidity until your jeans stick to your legs, your shoes stick to the pavement, and you don’t think you can do it anymore.  Campaigning does take hard work.  But here’s the thing- no matter the strength of your ideas or the dedication with which you’re willing to work, implementing any part of a campaign without a strategy or plan is a recipe for disaster.

Bad ideas with good implementation will always beat good ideas with bad implementation.  Whether it’s attending a campaign training, sitting down with trusted advisors, or simply taking an hour to sketch out a plan on a pad of paper, planning is as important as doing.  Should the candidate I described earlier make it to our candidate training, he would learn how to understand the precincts within his district, which precincts he should target, how many votes he needs to win, which voters are most likely to turn out and to vote for him, and how to target those voters in necessary precincts effectively.  He would learn how to organize and implement a strong door-to-door plan that would allow to multiple contacts with each voter.

He would learn how to fundraise effectively, communicate strongly, network efficiently and campaign victoriously.  As it is today, he is wondering through precinct after precinct, without a clear goal in mind, and without a means to attain it.

Winning is ultimately the art of getting it right.  Before one can implement those good ideas in the form of policy as an elected official, he or she must first win their campaign.  If you are running for office or volunteering for someone who is, now is the time to get trained.  At the very least, take a moment to listen to a few podcasts and check out some presentations on running effective campaigns.  We’re all fans of good ideas, and we want to equip individuals within the community with every tool and resource available to help them implement those ideas in a strong campaign.