Campaigns are Not Hard

Say who you are and attack your opponent

Since I started writing this blog, I have tried not to make my posts just rants about something I read that annoys me. I usually save that for my colleagues on Slack. However, I don’t think I can read or hear any more suggestions on how generic Democratic candidates should campaign. For anyone seeking office or considering running for office (You should!!! Running for office is the best experience for anything you plan to do later in your life), here are a few simple suggestions for structuring your story:

• Say what you are for and what you believe. Be passionate and logical.

• Be yourself, speak clearly, look people in the eye, and listen to what they are saying.

• Savage your opponent.

If you are running because you think you can improve your community and your opponents can’t, make that the story instead of attacking your own side or trying to run against an amorphous Democratic “brand” that no one can shape or redefine. You have limited time and resources to communicate, and voters have even more limited brain space to think about you and your campaign. None of that should be spent telling them why they shouldn’t vote for Democrats.

My former boss once walked into a big meeting of all the top campaign strategists and said: “The campaign is simple: (Democratic candidate) is on your side. (Republican candidate) is not.” That’s the Christmas tree. Everything else is an ornament.