I want Jerry Brown to win so bad that I couldn't get to sleep last night. The thought of a "Governor Whitman" makes me shudder with fear.
But I can't stand to watch the errors that Jerry Brown's campaign is making. There is too much at stake.
You see, I was there for the Jerry Brown Campaign's "reboot" Labor Day at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. I heard Brown's stump speech and then had the privilege of hobnobbing with several campaign staff for various California congressmen, state reps, and union officials.
What I heard about public policy inspired me, but then I talked with campaign staff and some officials within the California Democratic Party, and it scared me sh*tless.
This is a wake up call to the California Democratic Party Elders. Welcome to the 21st Century.
Maybe I'm not familiar with political work practices. I was taught as a kid to work hard and take pride in your job. I take my job very seriously. I work hard and I work late hours if needs be.
None of the campaign staff that I talked to were happy with the "sleepy" performance of Jerry Brown's Campaign. I've lived in California for the last 4 months and Labor Day was the first time I had seen any Jerry Brown campaigning. No buttons, no flyers, no ads, no news reports, editorials, nada zilch. For months on end. And yet Jerry Brown was everywhere, Meg Whitman's Jerry Brown.
Meg Whitman's political assault has gone unanswered for weeks here in California. A two prong approach, first Whitman blanketed airwaves with positive ads defining herself as the outsider hoping to "run Sacremento like a business". At the same time she absolutely saturated the airwaves here with an amazing ad that basically calls Jerry Brown a perpetual failure.
What's Brown's response for months? Nothing. Nada.Zilch.
How does Jerry Brown justify this strategy?
My brother-in-law is a union rep with a pretty big national union (hence tickets to the campaign breakfast). Apparently several unions repeatedly warned the Brown Campaign that Whitman was gaining traction.
The Brown Campaign response?
Don't worry, Jerry Brown will start campaigning Labor Day, voters already know his long record of success. After all, we don't have the resources to compete with Whitman. That last bit is flat out ridiculous especially considering that several major unions like SEIU, AFSCME, CTA, have all pledged millions cumulatively to Brown's campaign.
Thus has been the state of the race for weeks as major unions have waited to become mobilized for the Jerry Brown campaign. That's right- literally waiting.
No phone banks were organized. No voter registration. No press releases, no message coordination, and- more importantly - no ads. Let's be clear here: AFSCME, SEIU, and CTA are just some of the many unions WAITING to start working for Brown. All they are waiting on is permission.
Every time Meg Whitman said that Jerry Brown raised the sate deficit or made jobs leave California- nobody from the Democratic Party responded. Every time she lied about her record or was chased down by reporters for not answering questions, no one attacked. The silence was deafening.
What's most ridiculous about this, is that it's absolutely free to respond or attack Meg Whitman. All you have to do is email a press release. Why, Jerry Brown's campaign, have you not responded to Meg Whitman's ads? It just takes an email.
Finally some frustrated unions stepped forward with their own money and created their own campaign, California Working Families, to offer some kind of response to Whitman's re-definition of Brown. The results astonishingly successful considering their lack of coordination with the Brown Campaign. Brown's numbers have stopped falling (while Meg's keep climbing).
Brown's Campaign has consistently over-estimated how familiar younger voters are with his record. Brown was Governor 32 years ago! Many voters under 40 are still not too clear with any real accomplishments Jerry Brown has. Most recognize Jerry Brown from his presidential debate with Clinton (where he basically publicized the Whitewater conspiracy theory) and understand that he's had a life in politics, but few understand why.
Few have any idea of any accomplishments Jerry Brown had as Mayor of Oakland. I'm only vaguely familiar with Jerry Brown's Oakland improvements- and I'm from Oakland! This is not to say that Jerry Brown didn't help Oakland. Oakland greatly improved under his tenure. But Jerry Brown's Campaign has done little to inform even the most interested voter (LIKE ME) of any of his accomplishments.
This kind of laissez-faire campaign is reminiscent of Dukakis. What's even more infuriating however, was that this is apparently standard for the California Democratic Party, a group of who have made gains congressionally while doing the least possible on the state level.
But back to those congressional staffers and union reps, that I spoke to.
I was shocked, in speaking with a Congressmen's aide, to learn that the older party heads don't believe in developing and managing their campaign message because they were "afraid of appearing managed".
"Democrats in general, in California, don't want to seem like they have a campaign manager, they want to look 'of the people'."
An Aide to a CA US Congressman
- So no or very little money goes to slogans, messaging, image, ads, or publicity. Most money, instead goes to actual field organizers and GOTV.
I was mortified. GOTV and organizing are very valuable, but in 2010 you can bet Republicans are spending an incredible amount of money on consulting, messaging, and publicity.
To think that Dems in California don't spend money on strategy, ads, and slogans because they're afraid of seeming too polished or produced is ridiculous. It shows us the type of loser mentality that gave us Dukakis, Kerry, and Al Gore (who did actually win but still was a horrible campaigner).
Please Jerry Brown Campaign! Can you engage in a few tried and true campaign methods:
ADVERTISE!
Talk about RECENT accomplishments!
Respond to attacks succinctly and to multiple media outlets.
Get your messaging together and
FOR GOD'S SAKE- STOP TALKING ABOUT BUSH!