Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 7, 1 Iulai 1992 — Running to win: creating a campaign plan [ARTICLE]

Running to win: creating a campaign plan

by Deborah L. Ward

Editor's note: the fo\lowing article is presented to inform readers of Ka Wai Ola 0 OHA who are contemplating running for office, or assisting in a campaign. The OHA Master Plan encourages the political empowerment of Hawaiians. How to organize a successful political eampaign was the topic of a workshop held last month by the Hawai'i Women's Political Caucus, the state chapter of the National Political Women's Caucus. About 65 aspiring candidates, most of whom had never held office before, turned out for the daylong training. Topics covered were: how to organize a eampaign plan, how to recruit volunteers, how to raise and budget funds, media relations, polling, campaign ethics, campaign spending requirements, getting endorsements, and tips for enhancing personal presentation skills and publie speaking. Experienced legislators, candidates and eampaign managers shared what worked and what didn't in their own campaigns. Above all they stressed the need for strong commitment ("Run to win," ) acceptance of personal sacrifice, the personal touch, and the importance of advance planning. Organizing a campaign plan A written campaign plan is critical, said eampaign consultant Jill Frierson. It should contain these four elements: assessment, strategy, tactieal tools and resources. First, the plan needs a realistic assessment of the candidate's strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of the opponent. Is the candidate an "unknown," or is he or she already well known in the community? This will determine how mueh effort needs to be put into building name recognition through publicity. Frierson says, "The poliheal arena is no plaee for someone who cannot do realistic self-evalution." The opponent's record and vulnerability should also be studied and the campaign should address this. A demographic study of the district population needs to be done to find out the age and sex distribution, social and eeonomie characteristics, and voting history of residents. This tells campaign planners how to gear activities to effectively reach and persuade voters in favor of their candidate. The second element in a campaign plan is development of a strategy. Frierson defines this as the "continuous determination of creating or exploiting perceptions in a unified message to get a significant majority of voters to vote for you or against your opponent." The third elemerit is development of tactical tools, such as sign-waving, door-to-door visits, direct mail publicity, and paid media advertising.

The fourth element involves using the resources of money, time and the talent of individuals involved with the campaign. Proper timing is important to a campaign, Frierson says. In order to develop a "unified message," Frierson suggests, "Listen to what constituents are saying. Polling is not just a tool for big eampaigns... Keep track of what they see as important issues and leam from them. Be willing to adjust your strategy if it's not working." "You need to be able to define your message in short, clear, memorable phrases," she adds. The campaign organization The "ideal" campaign organization, especially in a large campaign, divides the workload into manageable components. Rep. Jane Tatibouet suggests a campaign should start with a "kitchen cabinet" of 10-12 individuals whom the candidate fully trusts. The group may include a eonsultant and campaign chair and should include one or more family members. Their job is to keep the candidate centered and tuned into publie opinion. Generally this group includes the finance committee chair and "movers and shakers" in the community. The cabinet approves strategy and tactics provided by the consultant. Other key players in the campaign organization include: • a political/communications consultant who develops the campaign strategy, frames the political plan and media/direct mail efforts and keeps all campaign chairs moving together; • a campaign chair(s) to link the campaign and consultant while the candidate is out campaigning; • a finance chair and committee to handle the budget, raise funds, monitor expenses, and prepare accurate spending reports. This committee should include representatives from all areas of the community — business, law, education, medicine and labor — for example. • community/ethnic/occupational committee co-chairs whieh ean provide access to large and specific voter groups, community organizations, business and labor groups and ethnic and oeeupahonal communities; • a manpower chair(s) to solicit volunteers and find work for them in the campaign; • an events chair to coordinate special events, eaeh of whieh will probably need its own chair; and • a research/issues chair, to coordinate eampaign research, including clipping files, voting records, old campaign brochures and other useful materials. This person should be involved with the mail and mass media efforts to make sure all written material produced by a eampaign is accurate. Rep. Jackie Young recommends finding good strategists who ean help a candidate move quickly and be proactive as the campaign develops and opportunities materialize.

Recruiting volunteers "Money is the mother's milk of a campaign. Volunteers are its lifeblood," notes Jill Frierson. Young points out, "If you have a headquarters, you must staff it during day and evening hours to keep it open so people ean eome in and help out, or meet the candidate." Volunteers ean be recruited from just about anywhere, says Young. Find them while eanvassing in neighborhoods, through the groups you belong to, professionals you do business with, relatives, co-workers, high school and community college students, your union or church. Good volunteers must be willing to commit time, be reliable, and have a good attitude. Young says, "You ean train people to do the job if they have the right attitude." Media relations Robbie Dingman, TV2 reporter, said that eandidates should see that their media material includes basic biographical information, a current portrait (not a candid snapshot), day and evening phone numbers a reporter ean eall, and a concise statement of positions on current issues. Get to know who are the reporters covering politics, she advised. Get their fax numbers, ask them 'When is a good time to eall?' Be aware of media deadlines. Ask them what issues they like. She added, "Know what issues you're interested in, and what are your opponent's issues. It's especially important to make yourself available to answer questions on issues," she said. Political strategist Milton Hirata's advice to candidates is: • First, assess your campaign. Be able to answer sincerely and strongly why you are running. Define what your issues are and how they reflect the community. • Second, decide what your campaign needs to do. Are you known or do you need to build name recognition? First time candidates need to get people to know about them. • Do research on your opponents — where do they work, what is their stand on the issues? Know your strong issues. • Think about the image you want to convey. Are you perceived as a strong individual, forthright but perhaps argumentative? Carefully designed campaign material ean offset that image, Hirata said. A more "laid-back" person ean convey more strength in the same way. • Ask yourself how you ean compete to stand out. Voters are bombarded with many media messages. Hirata says, "You need to eommunicate visually. A brochure ean communicate a feeling about you even if people don't read it all. • Get good photos taken early in different settings — in a suit or casual wear, talking with different kinds of people, with your family. • Scheduling all campaign outreach activities is very important. Don't just drop off brochures. Follow-up contact is very important. Fundraising

Rep. Annelle Amaral has these recommendations: • Fmd out how mueh the opposition has spent. This is public information available from the Campaign Spending Commission. Get a spending history for as long as that opponent has been in office. This will give an idea of how mueh a campaign might cost. • Determine your name recognition. A candidate who is not well known will need to work harder and spend more to build name recognicontinued on page 11

Campaiqn plan /rom page 5

tion. A walking card is necessary or people will forget you, she says. • Buy a house-to-house list so you ean greet residents by name when you go to the door. • Find lists of campaign contributors, corporations and political action committees. • A campaign may need several mailouts and one ean cost $3,000 to $5,000. A good list alone may cost $300 to $800. Timing of mailouts is also critical. • A phone list ean be purchased to target ethnic voters. Amaral makes no bones about the need for asking everyone for a campaign contribution. "Make a list of every friend and relative and beg j for money. That's where you get money from." She suggests making a list of every professional a candidate has ever done business with, to solicit funds from. Send them materials too. Lastly, she recommends making a list of core supporters who know donors that ean give major contributions. City eouneilwoman Rene Mansho relied on grassroots fundraising in her low budget eampaign, focusing on the character of her eommunity. She recommends looking for ways a fundraising event ean fit in with neighborhood activities. Rep. Donna Ikeda recommends: • set a modest goal. How mueh will you raise? • set up a budget, how you'll spend it, what you need it for. "You need to be able to tell people why they should give you money before you go out and ask for it ... Don't apologize or make excuses for asking for money." She notes, "Women make the best fundraisers ... but when you have to ask for money for yourself ...( it's hard). Think of it as a cause and then go for it." Amaral adds: "Women have difficulty talking about money and power. You are worth the money. You have the right to ask people for money."

Getting your feet wet For those who aren't quite ready to take the plunge, the legislators suggest a good way to find out what it's like is to work on a campaign as a volunteer. Find out about the political process by reading, going to the legislature on issues you are concerned about. Work as a legislative aide. Leam about bills. Read the newspaper and watch television to follow the issues. Personal experiences: Above all, the workshop panelists encourage prospective candidates to have self-confidence and to "run to win." Rene Mansho: "To run for office is a true test of character. You really have to decide who you are." Mike McCartney: "Don't let anyone tell you not to run ...everybody ean do it ... Have a personal vision of you winning and what you'll do when you get it." Speaking to Ka Wai Ola O OHA, Rep. Annelle Amaral encouraged other Hawaiians to become involved. "Because of the discussion around sovereignty, the essence is about taking control back, to make decisions for ourselves. Anyone thinking about being involved in making a difference for Hawaiians should think about running for office." "OHA only has credibility because it has people representative of us Hawaiians, that means you. If you want to be part of the new vision for sovereignty, that means you stand on the line. Run or support someone who runs." "We need dynamic leaders to get people inspired. Every election is an opportunity to start the conversation again about power, to help change the organization to reflect your values."