Money, mailers and manpower
Yesterday I saw the Jack Davis mailer for the first time (you can see it at The Albany Project). It occurred to me that this mailer is in stark contrast to Jon Powers’ grassroots campaign in NY-26. Davis has money and mailers, Powers has manpower, with dozens of volunteers going door-to-door constantly. Isn’t that the kind of leader you want representing you, one that gets out and listens to voters in person?
Related posts:
I want politicians who promote progressive policies. I don’t particularly care about their campaign style. In fact, their campaign style is irrelevant to me.
I can still recall, with horror, way back in 2004 how people would say “Oh, but Bush is a regular guy, someone you’d like to have a beer with”. Judging a politician by anything other than his stances on issues is dangerous, and I think, wrong.
Jack is far from progressive. Jack lost twice because of his unwillingness to go and campaign. He thinks he still thinks he can buy an election.
How can you represent a district without getting out and listening to voters? That is the point. Sending out mailers is not listening to the people.
Paige, I’ve got to disagree here. I get the comment about Bush and having a beer. I also recall folks saying after Clinton well it can’t get that bad.
But this is about Powers and Davis and two styles
One of engagement one of distance. Powers is actually meeting people, speaking with them shaking their hands looking in their eye and most importantly allowing the voter to detemrine his sincerity.
I don’t know what Davis will do this time but last time it was all about a carefully crafted image via media outlets. There was little to no voter contact - In fact, I’d argue the reason voters pulled for Davis last time because was more anti-Reynolds. than pro-Davis
So crafted issues on a mailer or TV ad or up close personal contact where the voter decides- I’ll take up close and personal.
Does this mean that Powers won’t be sending any mail?
GA - you are right, you have to get out to meet voters. No one has knocked on my door yet, but expect some, if not all candidates will soon, they usually do.
I’m with Paige - I vote on my issues, not on campaign tactics. I will watch with great interest to see where people come down on Iraq, the economy, and ethics.
Your absolutely correct. Elections should not go to the highest bidder or the richest guy in the room.
I agree. To me, policy is the most important thing but politics is important.too. I’m going to favor a candidate who runs a grassroots campaign that brings more people into the system over one who buys his seat or sells it to special interests.
It’s not about the tired regular guy cliche, it’s about changing the system.
You can’t. He’s arrogant, out of touch and thinks he can buy his way to Congress without the people. This is the people’s house and the people are with Jon Powers.
Jack Davis and listening to ANYONE doesn’t make sense. This is what people need to understand. If he doesn’t listen to the voters (the people responsible for voting him into the office he seeks), he won’t listen to anyone. That includes staff. I know a number of former Davis staffers. They all say the same thing: He doesn’t listen.
I was at a Powers house party in January and a man spoke up and said that Jon needed money to buy television ads. Apparently, this same man showed up at a local organizing meeting for Powers because a similar remark was delivered. Television ads are quick and only build name recognition - unless you attack your opponent, which then gives people (possibly) a negative perception of that candidate.
Howard Dean told us what the best way to reach out to voters is. Of course, what does Howard Dean know? Jack Davis obviously knows how to campaign. After all, he… has… lost… twice. Oops.
By the way, I have to disagree with Paige’s comment. Campaign style does matter. It has mattered for Davis in two elections now. Someone engaged in a debate with me, arguing that the 43 percent Davis got in Monroe County was the best he could do. I argued the opposite - it was the worst he could do. I said that because he didn’t focus on Monroe County. The same goes for the rural counties. He did nothing in the GLOW counties and got crushed. So the votes he got in those counties were the lowest numbers he could have gotten.
So campaign style has a lot to do with it. Policy matters, but you have to find a way to best implement your policies with a grassroots campaign style.
Jack Davis is attempting to buy an election. He believes we Democrats will over look our values and select him again, just for the money he can throw around. It’s better to fight for the right person and lose than, stand behind a guy like Jack Davis. Jack is far from progressive and does not care what we think. He doesn’t campaign because he feels he is above the masses. My vote isn’t for sale.
Who said he wasn’t? We are talking about the effectiveness of campaign tactics. Sure, Powers will buy TV ads, send direct mail pieces, etc. But Howard Dean said it. Those are all good things, but nothing beats neighbor-to-neighbor contact.
Campaign tactics matter. Campaign tactics involve (or should involve) getting your issue platform out to the public. If you don’t do that effectively, that means you have bad campaign tactics.
Grassroots matters - But television ads and finances matter too - even if we don’t want them too. Remember how Kuhl dominated the airwaves in the days before the elections with his inaccurate ads concerning Social Security? Depending on the district, even the most mobile candidate isn’t going to shake a majority of hands. And shaking hands may not persuade voters who aren’t politics nuts like us. They really do watch the ads. So a politician’s got to be ready to respond at all levels. One of the benefits of the grassroots campaigns is generating a lot of money from those who don’t have it so they can do the mailers and the ads. It’s unfortunate, but until elections get cleaned up, or the public wakes up, money and mass media really do have an impact.
Oops - to.
Louis,
I never said they didn’t matter. They do matter, but everything shows that grassroots politics is the best way to win. We learned this at DFA training and Howard Dean emphasized that point on Thursday.
It’s not about the candidate shaking hands. Neighbor-to-neighbor contact or voter-to-voter contact is the best way to do it. Sure, seeing your candidate helps (you want to know that this person will be around when they are elected) but grassroots politics is where it counts.
Money doesn’t buy elections. Jack Davis proved that.
Issues are of course important, but as a politician you need to have your own views and collect the view of the people you represent. I don’t want a politician who will “trick” me into voting for him by sending out mailers. His, or her, job is to find out what the people of this district want. That is what Powers is doing. It’s not a campaign tactic, it’s a job qualification and requirement.
Davis is only going to office with his mission, Powers is taking back the voice of all of Western New York.
Jack Davis is a has been. He is in the race for all the wrong reasons and doesn’t care if he ruins the Democratic chance of taking this seat by running a primary. He is selfish and doesn’t care about the people of the district. Jon and Jack are in totally different classes.
So if John McCain comes knocking on your door, and your neighbors’ doors, you’ll vote for him? Or you’ll be more likely to vote for him? Or will you say that I don’t like his policies so I’m not going to vote for him?
I agree with Robert.
Don’t undersestimate the power that the people in a grassroots campaign offer as surrogates. It’s obvious the candidate isn’t going to reach a hundred thousand or more voters, but a good grassroots campaign will have a network of volunteers reaching out. How invaluable are people talking to neighbors and friends, knocking on doors in thier own home towns, reaching out by phone? People to people contact is huge and is the basis of Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy. I trust people I know and like way more than I would ever trust a piece of lit or a television ad and this is what Howard Dean said on Thursday night.
Howard Dean rules — just take a look at the last three special elections.
I’ve never actively participated in an election campaign before. Since learning about Jon Powers about two months ago, I’ve joined the county committee, attended more than a 1/2 dozen meetings, taken a two-day/18 hour seminar on effective campaigning, canvassed 100 households in rural Elba, Genesee County, and went the next day and canvassed 40 more in Batavia. I’m in a position to represent anyone else who can’t get out like this, and I feel like its my duty to do it for them.
Talking to voters, young and old, I know personally that the way you campaign means a great deal to them. Almost without exception, they’re actually grateful that there are people who feel invested enough in a candidate to hit the streets and cold-call voters.
Its a “Back to the Future” strategy. Yes, TV and radio are going to have a part, but when local volunteers are going door-to-door in support of their candidate, it sends a powerful message. Greeted mostly with smiles and interest, its clear to me that people see grass roots campaigning as evidence that this candidate does thing differently. And doing things differently is part of change.
And who thinks we don’t need change?
Or will you say that I don’t like his policies so I’m not going to vote for him?
Of course that’s what I would say.
But I do think that being a good candidate is more than a list of proposals. When a candidate runs a campaign that is all about glossy mailers and advertisements as opposed to meeting with voters, motivating grassroots, and bringing more people into the system…that has to count against that candidate. I’ve always felt that way.
Geez paige oversimplifying here aren’t’ we?
Certainly policies are important. But personal contact is also important - personal as well as the grand orchestrated events - but personal voter contact.
You can’t remove the personal contact and replace it with a detailed mailer with everyone’s policy positions.
Actually, you need both but the personal contact helps the voter validate if the mailer and policies makes sense.
I agree with a lot of what’s being said about grassroots campaigns. But I’m not sure that we can credit the last three elections to Dean any more than Bush. Dean’s 50 state strategy is great, but we’re also reaping the benefits of what will likely be considered the most incompetent administration in history.
Louis’ point about the public’s Bush-fatigue highlights a key that opened the door for the 50 state strategy. A ‘grassroots effort’ is a phrase that defines itself. A slow, gradual spread across empty, untrafficked ground that’s been left untended for too long is what the Dean strategy is about. And what the Powers’ campaign is about. I lived in Batavia for more than 13 years and in Elba for 5, and no one’s ever knocked on my door or approached me personally on the street, asking for my vote. Before 2004, I don’t think that there were enough people who felt as dissatisfied and disappointed as do now. And 2006 was the first time we saw evidence that Dean’s strategy was starting to work. I know it gave me evidence that it had its merits and was a way that a middle-class schmo like myself could contribute without just sending in all my gas money. It comes all the way down from the red states to red counties, towns and villages.
People don’t change unless they have reason to, and then there’s still some work involved, and maybe a few fits and starts along the way, and grass grows slowly. But one day, you look out your window, and you see a sea of green where there was once lifeless dirt. One lawn at a time, I guess.
[...] another thread we’ve been debating the merits of grassroots campaigning versus money and mailers. I think [...]