It’s another Saturday so for those who tune in, welcome to a Saturday Diary of Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic Campaign. Each week, we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns, and once a month we look into “Horrible mistakes you should avoid” (last Saturday of a month). If you’ve missed prior diaries, please visit our group or follow Nuts & Bolts Guide.
For those who have been following, you know that our candidate, Jessica Jones, is preparing her run for a state senate seat. Her campaign has already assembled data, gathered local resources, she’s begun to interact in a way designed to generate some earned media. We also took time to discuss how to not screw up your campaign by keeping online expenditures in control.
This week, we’re going to take a step back, and we’re going to look into the Nuts & Bolts of candidate recruitment — how exactly did we get Jessica Jones into the race, and how do we get other candidates to join her?
Over the years, several terms have been used for the process of candidate recruitment. Hunting trips. Fishing expeditions. Making the pitch. Spring Training. Most of the time, it’s simply candidate recruitment, but I am often reminded of something a candidate said in the late nineties: it’s a bit like blowing on a dandelion and making a wish. Blow hard enough and weeds will spring up everywhere.
Candidate recruitment is a time consuming process that traditionally was handled by state parties. Before Obama in 2008, Dean in 2004, and widespread use of the internet, candidate recruitment was job number one of state parties. The only way to really do it was the hard way: hop in a car and hit the road.
Candidates don’t often come to you, you have to go to them. This weekend, for a lot of different reasons, I’m engaging in a bit of a dandelion hunt, and next week, we’ll follow up on how it went.
Finding Candidates Takes Time. Starting Early Matters.
When you think of people who are going to run for US president or US Senate, for the most part your mind flashes to currently elected officials — who there is ready to take that step up? But when you are looking for someone to run for the US House or state races, it’s often a matter of finding someone to run for the first time in their lives. To quote virtually everyone I’ve ever met in politics “heaven help us for 1st time candidates”. I joke a bit that first time candidates are a bit like being a parent the first time. They know the least, worry the most, and are most assured they are right ;) For all of the jokes, though, first time candidates are the lifeblood of both parties, and recruitment is a big part of it. Before Jessica Jones decided to run for office, someone had to give her the pitch on WHY she should run, and lay out a campaign plan for him.
So, a big part of getting successful candidates into the race is taking time to talk to them and providing them very basic information — what their district looks like, how much it will cost, and how much time is needed.
Before the internet, state and local party officials looked at what was called the 18 month window. By the summer of 1995, for example, state parties had hoped to have potential meetings, in person, with candidates that might run for 1996. In our series on Crowdsourcing the 50 State Strategy, we’re working to bring a big part of this practice back.
The earlier you reach out to candidates, the more time you have to build them up and formulate a plan. What kind of plan can you set for a campaign 18 months away? You can set a plan that helps make sure your candidate is financially solvent and able to run. Giving your candidate time to prepare their family finances and work on how they will afford to run for office and manage their time.
Close or Far Away, In Person Visits Are Still the Rule
On Friday, I began this recruiting trip in Clinton, Missouri. We’re waking up in Salina, Kansas, before heading to Hays this afternoon, Kiowa County, a Daily Kos gathering & recruitment in Pittsburg, KS tomorrow, Overland Park, KS Sunday night, and finishing in Jefferson City, Missouri Monday.
Recruitment is something that is very difficult, approaching impossibility, without someone meeting a potential candidate in person. Potential candidates will want to meet with you and hear from you directly not only how they will run a race. They have reasonable questions, and the internet is frankly too impersonal to get a feel of what you are walking into with a campaign.
While recruiting state races can take a lot of time and travel, many state races are right in your backyard. Cities and counties may have several state house, state senate, city offices and even US House races depending on the size of your municipality.
When you’re aware someone is considering a run for office, don’t shoot an email; find a way to meet them, in person. Don’t just drop a Facebook message, grab a coffee.
Do not under estimate in person communication.
2016? 2017 Races coming into focus.
Here is the terrible, terrible news for Democrats nationwide. Candidates who declare for US House right now, for the 2016 campaign who do not have significant name ID are likely to struggle in an uphill battle. The problem is for many candidates, a declaration at this point will give them very little time to build their name ID before the national races take over the local media and drown out any attention they hope to get.
That’s bad news for challengers, good news for Republican incumbents. This isn’t saying stellar candidates can’t jump in now and make a successful run, but it is saying as time goes by, it gets more and more difficult to do so.
The more local the race, the more time you may have to decide you are interested in running. For state and county parties, though, late recruiting causes another problem: they may have already committed resources to other local races.
Right now, while declared candidates prepare for their 2016 run, Republicans are already feeling out potential candidates to run for spring 2017 and fall 2017 campaigns.
Successful recruiting matters.
Is My State Recruiting?
Your state and local parties hire staff for many purposes, but the most significant role of a state party is to help elect more Democrats. There is no other goal that trumps that one. In order to elect more Democrats, you have to have candidates. It doesn’t matter how good your message is, how awesome your website is, or how right you are on the facts, if no one is running for office, you cannot win that office.
I know this sounds crazy, but I can promise you, if a Republican is running unopposed, a Democrat has no shot to win that race. When you attend your county or state party meetings, part of the nuts & bolts of this is to make sure that your state and county party are currently putting an effort into local, state and federal recruitment.
Counties who successfully identify a party member for District Attorney may be putting into play the next state Attorney General. Your mayor may be the next state senator or Secretary of State.
Many counties have recruitment committees, and getting involved in those can be a big benefit.
Our State Senate Candidate
Now we’re back with our state senate candidate, Jessica Jones. For Jessica, it’s early February and her election is 9 months away. Her state senate race contains 4 state house districts in it. Two of those house districts will have good races, one is already solidly Democrat, her strength. The other is a toss up district, but currently held by a Democrat.
The other two districts are held by Republicans and there is no Democratic challenger. For Jessica, finding a Democratic challenger for those races can make a significant difference in how effective her campaign will be.
Candidates who have more support under them benefit from other Democrats helping to do ground work to turn out voters and reach unaffiliated voters. Republicans, however, look at the races differently. They may say “district 1 is solidly Democrat. We’ll leave that unchallenged, and we’ll make sure we have candidates in every other district”. This helps drive up Republican turnout in 3 of the house races under Jessica Jones, and in that reliably Democratic district, it means the local candidate won’t have to work as hard as they are assure of a win whether they stay at home or knock doors.
Its a successful strategy to depress voter turnout. This is where, from Jessica’s perspective, finding candidates under her is VERY important. Whether or not they prevail, a Democratic candidate who can do damage to a Republican candidate in one of her districts helps her; and if they can raise Democratic turnout even slightly, all of that helps Jessica overall in her fight to become state senator.
Recruiting candidate isn’t about recruiting just into a win, it is about building a stronger party overall.
Next week: A coordinated campaign
Nuts & Bolts: Building Democratic Campaigns
Contact the Daily Kos group Nuts and Bolts by kosmail (members of Daily Kos only).
Every Saturday this group will chronicle the ins and outs of campaigns, small and large. Issues to be covered: Campaign Staffing, Fundraising, Canvass, Field Work, Data Services, Earned Media, Spending and Budget Practices, How to Keep Your Mental Health, and on the last Saturday of the month: “Don’t Do This!” a diary on how you can learn from the mistakes of campaigns in the past.
You can follow prior installments in this series HERE.