5 essential web tools for political operatives
So…what are they?
Well, you’ll have to visit our Under The Power Lines site to find out.
Jazzing up your press releases with audio
Radio stations are always wanting audio from folks, so many campaigns and elected officials save time by providing mp3s. I’ve always thought this was a good idea and last year my good buddy Greg Foster with Speaker Bobby Harrell’s office impressed me a good bit by being the only guy I’ve seen in state government to utilize the strategy. The only thing that bothered me was that Greg’s emails were massive and they brought my Outlook to a screeching halt.
So what’s the solution?
I found a cool website called odeo.com that allows users to upload mp3s and embed them into their website. Listeners can then download the mp3 straight to their computer. Unfortunately it looks like the upload and create new content options on Odeo have been shut down for most of the year. That’s a shame because it seems like a fantastic website.
I then I thought about podcasting, but it seems like a big pain in the arse. We politicos need something fast, nearly instant. I want something that is fast to upload, shareable, embeddable, and easy to download in a mp3 format.
So, back to my question – what’s the solution?
Please post below if you have any suggestions. In the meantime, I’ll keeping playing around and let you know what I’ve figured out.
Is my family supportive?
Part 6 of - Should I Run For Office? A Ten Point Check List To Help You Decide.
I ain’t Dr. Phil, but I’m going to be completely honest with you for a minute. If your spouse doesn’t want you to run for office, they will make your life completely miserable. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that they will give you a headache. I mean that they will make you wish that you were dead.
Trust me. I’ve seen it happen about five or six times now. It ain’t worth it…for you, for your team, for the universe. If you’re spouse doesn’t want you to run, just don’t do it. Don’t even think about it.
I’ve seen a wife leave her husband. I’ve seen a wife quit her job and spend her husband’s savings on a new car, shopping trips to New York, and a vacation to Ireland. I’ve seen one wife leak information to the press that harmed her husband’s campaign. These all seem extreme, but no one ever said that marriage is sane.
Most spouses are on the same page and want to see the other happy. Very rarely does a spouse object to a campaign. In fact, most embrace it and want to get 100% involved in the campaign…a huge headache for us, but a very welcomed one.
I’m just saying this – don’t assume anything. Sit down with your spouse and weigh the pros and cons of a campaign. Move forward only after you both get on the same page.
Should You Get Personal?
“Why Harbison Chickfila better than Main Street? Drive thru and cheaper!”
- SC Representative Nathan Ballentine, 5:40 AM Nov 21st, via Twitter
(cross-posted at politicalnetroots.com)
I’ve been trading emails with a South Carolina State Representative for the past week about a new website and social networking. He’s a little hesitant because he wants to increase his presence on the Internet, but he’s worried about the time commitment.
You know, we often forget that our legislators are citizen-legislators. Most of them have full time jobs and full time families. Truthfully I don’t see how they can balance their family and professional lives with serving in Columbia, constituent services, and community projects. I believe that when going out and attacking them as “status quo politicians” as many bloggers do, we should remember the commitment they have made and the extremely small return on their personal investment.
While trading emails, this State Representative asked, “if I go forward, should I blog and twitter about my personal life or just my political endeavors?”
The answer – 100% absolutely without a doubt blog and twitter about your personal life.
I believe that elections are only 40% about issues. 60% is about the candidate…the person. It’s about trust, honesty, hard work, and all those personal traits that connect you with the voter. You can’t even get to the issues if you don’t first gain their trust.
Take a look at John McCain and Mitt Romney. Poll after poll showed that Republican primary voters were much more in line with Mitt Romney than John McCain. Many Republicans had issue with McCain’s stances on immigration, values, campaign finance reform, and taxes. But Mitt Romney was labeled as the flip-flopper. Voters didn’t trust him and John McCain was the known commodity. McCain was the straight talking candidate who told you what he believed, whether you liked it or not. In the end Republican voters went with the guy they trusted, not the guy they agreed with.
Now take a look at Representative Nathan Ballentine. Sure, he talks a lot about issues, but he also talks about his kids, his wife, and how much he just paid for gas. He talks about those things that connect us with Nathan the man and not just Nathan the legislator. Agree with him or not, you can’t help but feel some sort of a connection to the guy who talks about how much he craves Chic-Fil-A every morning but knows he shouldn’t eat it.
Besides, talking about personal stuff is a lot more fun and much easier. No, people might not care that you just ate the best hamburger of your life at Five Guys, but they eat at Five Guys too. That’s just one more connection and it took you 15 seconds to post it on Twitter. Getting back to my second paragraph rant, that’s how you balance a new web presence with everything else you are doing.
A quick warning - obviously some things aren’t meant for the web and you should discuss it with your spouse before you start posting personal stuff. It might not be a good idea to post pictures of your children or to talk about where they go to school. That’s between y’all. My wife is extremely cautious about what pictures we post on the web. For example, pictures of me funneling beers while tailgating before a Gamecocks football game are a big no-no.
Oh, and don’t worry about the dumb anonymous comments. They do sting a little more when they’re about personal posts rather than issue based ones. Just realize that idiots will be idiots. Ignore or respond and then move on.
So get personal. It saves time. It connects you to voters. It works.
Should I Run For Office?
Well, should I?
Okay, not me. Obviously I mean you. Although, when I tell people what I do they always ask if I’ll ever run for office. Well, we all know that ain’t going to happen. But heck…if Al Franken can run with all the crazy crap he’s said, my dumb antics in the past might not be that bad afterall.
Enough about me. Let’s get back to you. Should you run for office? How should you decide?
I started a series of blog posts back in October and then got slammed up with the election. I’m going to try my best to finish it up this week so be looking out if you’re considering a 2010 run.
And if you are considering it, give me a buzz at 843.460.7990.
Become an Information Drug Dealer
(cross-posted at politicalnetroots.com)
A few weeks ago, SC House member said to me:
“You know what really gets to me Wesley? We cut taxes by $850 Million in the past four years and nobody cares. Voters demanded property tax cuts and we slashed them by half a billion. They didn’t care. We cut income taxes and eliminated the grocery tax. And still, nobody cared. In response they tossed out a bunch of our guys.”
Yup. That about sums it up.
The voters tossed out a bunch of incumbents because they lost trust in them and felt the need for change. That’s because you aren’t sharing your accomplishments.
In The Blogging Church, Brian Bailey writes:
“Information is a drug. Want proof? How else do you explain our insatiable desire to stay informed? No matter how much news and information we have, we’re constantly searching for more.”
You know the feeling too. It’s why you watch the news. It why the 24-hour news cycle became the 24-hour news cycle. It’s why you always look at those trash magazines in the grocery store line and why you listen to gossip around the Statehouse (or whatever your state capital is called). And it’s why you get up and read the blogs everyday. You want to know everything that’s happening.
Well, so do voters. They want to know what you’re doing – the good and the bad. The problem is that you’re not talking to them and telling them the good stuff you’re doing. You’re letting gossip blogs and the MSM tell the story for you! Big mistake! You just expect the voters to read through the voting records and understand what they’re reading. That’s freakin’ ridiculous!
If you don’t give voters the information you want them to know, they will go get it someone else.
And chances are that somewhere else is going to be an outlet extremely biased against you.
The Internet is cheap, simple, personal, and immediate. At a very low cost you can spread all your positive news minutes after it happens.
Information is a drug and most folks are addicted. It’s your job to feed the addiction. If you don’t, someone else will.
8 Ways You Can Build Trust
In my previous post I wrote that accountability + transparency = TRUST.
Here in South Carolina, many political activities occur behind closed doors without transparency and accountability. Lax campaign and ethics rules create a hard burden on campaigns and leave many organizations operating in darkness. These are eight simple examples of how South Carolina’s legislators and the South Carolina General Assembly as a whole can use the web to strengthen accountability and gain trust. Although SC specific, these examples can be used to spur innovative ideas anywhere. Just remember – sunshine creates trust. Trust gets you reelected.
1. Personal websites.
Can you believe that there are some legislators who still don’t have websites? Yeah, and not just SOME. I haven’t actually done the research, but I would bet that close to 75% of South Carolina’s legislators do not have their own websites.
The Internet is the ultimate tool for transparency. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that voters are moving online and when they want to find out about you they are going to look on the web. Get active. Get online.
2. Twitter
Twitter is a social networking site that answers the question “what are you doing” in 160 characters. That’s what it was created for, but today it’s used much more as a micro blogging platform than to answer the question. Basically it’s a way for you to send a quick message to your voters in two sentences. You can tell them what you’re doing, or that a bill just passed, or that you need their help in calling Senator So and So to stop blocking whatever bill. You don’t even need a computer to use Twitter. You can do it from your cell phone or blackberry.
3. Roll call voting and a searchable database
Roll call voting just makes sense. To not tell your voters how you vote on important legislation, including all spending bills, is like spitting on accountability. But roll call voting isn’t enough. Hiding the record in some 500-page pdf that no one will ever read is ridiculous. Enact roll call voting and build an easy to use searchable database that allows voters to look up bills by subject, date, and legislator.
4. Nathan’s Bill
South Carolina State Representative Nathan Ballentine will be introducing legislation that helps clean up South Carolina’s ethics laws by mandating “after the pre-election filing, any contributions between that report and the election must be reported within 48 hours of receipt.” Amen brother Ballentine. Now make sure your bill makes it very clear that the reports have to be put online like all the other reports. Loopholes are loopholes and attorneys are DANG good at finding them.
5. Fully rewrite ethics laws
South Carolina’s ethics laws are a complete freakin’ joke. As I’ve said many times “just tell me what I can’t do and I won’t do it.” That’s the problem with our laws. They are so screwed up that the normal operative like me has no idea what we can and can’t do so we have to go blow a ton of money getting an attorney’s opinion. And their opinion is almost always completely different from another attorney’s, both of which are different from the SC Ethics Commissions’. Speaking of the Ethics Commission, they have absolutely no teeth, so just go break the law. They won’t be doing anything about it. (btw…that’s a joke.)
Seriously, we need to fully rewrite our laws and give the Ethics Commission some real teeth. Then we need to put those laws in an easy to understand format on the web so that everyone knows what you can and cannot do.
6. 501c4 disclosure
Everyone else is doing it. I’m not going to harp on this one. They should disclose online.
7. Post all committee and floor debates to YouTube
Committee meeting rooms and the House and Senate floor are wired with videos so that they can be aired on ETV. No one is going to sit and watch this stuff on ETV just like one no one is going to sit and read the dictionary. It’s a research tool. These videos need be placed somewhere so that voters can go back and watch them when they need to. YouTube is the best place.
8. Video updates
Let’s come full circle. Can you believe that there are some legislators who still aren’t recording video updates and placing them on YouTube? Seriously! What are you thinking!? It’s FREE! Yes, free!
Just last week President-elect Barack Obama announced that he’s going to be moving the traditional Presidential weekly radio addresses to YouTube. Want to know why? Because that’s where folks are starting to get their information. It’s the same reason that newspaper sales across the country are declining. Voters are moving online and you should to.
Voters Don’t Trust You. Become Trusted. Get Reelected.
Unemployment, high taxes, and wasteful spending are big problems. However, the primary issues that must first be addressed are accountability and transparency.
The most serious problems cannot be solved until voters trust you to solve them. Trust can only be gained through accountability and transparency, thus they must be addressed before all others.
Is there any wonder why voters distrust our leaders? We all know why South Carolina tossed out so many incumbents during the primary, national voters continue to dump Republicans, and we elected a fresh face as President on the promise of “Change.”
Think about this small sampling of stories in recent years:
- High-powered Washingon lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sent to prison, taking down many with him, including Ohio Congressman Bob Ney for accepting bribes.
- Congressman Mark Foley resigned from Congress after making sexual advances toward teenage boys. The Congressman who replaced him was recently caught up in a sex scandal himself.
- The FBI found $90,000 in cash in Congressman William Jefferson’s freezer.
- US Senator David Vitter was named in the DC Madam scandal and publicly admitted to hiring prostitutes.
- US Senator Ted Stevens was recently convicted on six counts of making false statements in court.
Right here in South Carolina we had two statewide constitutional officers sent to prison in just six years.
Voters are mad at high-energy costs, illegal immigration, the Iraq war, and the economic crisis, but they are angrier and want change because they don’t TRUST our current elected officials to solve the problems. That’s because you aren’t showing voters what you are doing to fix the problems and that’s because you aren’t being transparent.
People want transparency and the inside scoop. It’s why Will Folks is so popular among South Carolina’s politicos. You may call it gossip, but that’s what one-sided transparency is. When someone is paid to pick and choose the angle of the inside story, and no one else tells the other side, the gossip becomes the reality. It becomes the transparency.
You can choose to ignore it, but you will only kill your trustworthiness. You are accountable to voters, so you must become transparent. You must tell the full truth to become trusted.
Transparency must start in a medium available to all voters – the Internet.
In The Blogging Church,” Brian Bailey writes “Having an ongoing conversation with people, whether customers, members, or constituents, builds a relationship of trust and connectedness. When an organization begins to share its story, including mistakes and missteps, people begin to feel a part of it. Before long, they want to help write that story and tell others.”
Telling your story creates transparency, gives the voter a sense of accountability, and makes you trusted. Bailey goes on to write “There is a new generation, though, that is no longer satisfied by this one-way relationship. They have grown up in an Internet-driven culture that celebrates participation. The passive consumer has been replaced with an active, engaged, and empowered contributor.”
The more you become active on the web and allow voters to participate in the process, the greater their trust in you will become. They will know you are listening to their needs and serving as their voice…accountability and democracy in their truest forms.
Tomorrow I will give you 8 examples on how you can make this happen.
Do I have the energy, desire, and motivation to do the hard work it takes to win?
Can you work as hard as Andre?
Part 5 of - Should I Run For Office? A Ten Point Check List To Help You Decide.
Campaigns require hard work. As I said in my last post, your life will be consumed by the campaign. So the question is – do you have the energy, desire, and motivation to do the hard work it takes to win?
If you’re lazy, don’t run for office. Seriously. Just stay home, sit on the couch, and save yourself some grief.
I’ve learned a valuable lesson over the years – I would rather have the hardest working candidate in the race than the one with unlimited resources. Money has a ceiling. There is a point where the return on an investment levels off, especially in a local or state legislative campaign. That ceiling is high, but it does exist.
That fact doesn’t hold true for hard work. You can’t knock on too many doors. You can’t personally call too many voters. You can’t spend too much time with voters. It’s just not possible unless your district holds 25 voters.
If you spend close to what your opponents spend, but you significantly outwork your opponent, you will most likely win. Here in South Carolina, everyone knows about Lt. Governor Andre Bauer. Even if he doesn’t work that hard (which he does by the way) he does a fantastic job making perception become reality. His signs used to read “South Carolina’s Hardest Working Legislator.” Everyone has seen the image of Andre holding signs on top of highway overpasses. No one will ever forget the image of Andre propped up with crutches, waving at cars on the side of the road after his plane crash. Remember the time Andre walked from downtown Columbia to Lexington to file for re-election? Even when Andre got in trouble for driving over 100 miles-an-hour, he blamed it on trying to work too hard. Can you believe that?
Andre gets it. Voters like the guy who works his butt off and they hate the guy who benefits from laziness. Hard work is the American Dream. Voters work hard to provide for their families, pay taxes, and enjoy life. Hard work connects the candidate to the voter in more ways than the obvious personal voter contact. It connects them through shared values.
Let me give you two examples from current campaigns I’ve run. The hardest working State House candidate I’ve ever worked with is South Carolina State Representative Keith Kelly. Keith was running in a high profile State House race in 2006 against two other gentlemen during the Republican primary. All three candidates spent about the same amount of money, but Keith knocked on every single Republican door in the district, some twice. The guy was a machine. He was everywhere, all the time. His hard work paid off and Keith captured 51% of the vote. He won the primary outright in a three-way primary with no run-off.
The hardest working State Senate candidate I’ve ever worked with is SC State Senator Shane Massey. Shane decided to run for the State Senate in 2007 when Democratic Senator Tommy Moore vacated his seat to become a DC lobbyist. Shane had little money, but he had heart, great ideas, and the desire to shake up the status quo system in Columbia. Shane got outspent significantly in the primary, runoff, and general elections, but he worked around the clock. He knocked on over 10,000 doors during the election and called thousands of voters. In the end Shane blew away his opposition in the primary and won the general election by a close 138 votes, becoming the first Republican to ever hold the Senate seat. 138 votes! That close election just goes to prove that every door knocked on and every voter called matters.
If you don’t have the Andre Bauer, Keith Kelly, and Shane Massey drive, you shouldn’t run for office. But if you do, you can win.
How To Rock It Like Nathan Ballentine
Nathan Ballentine is the Man
You know it. I know it. SC State Representative Nathan Ballentine is the man. Well, at least online. In real life he’s just a big geek like me.
Okay, that’s not necessarily true. He’s a cool guy.
As one of South Carolina’s most conservative State Representatives, he’s making transparency and accountability his top priority. That’s why he’s using the Internet to keep his constituents informed 24-7. Tomorrow morning I will be posting my latest unscripted web video titled “How To Rock It Like Nathan Ballentine” outlining why he is the Palmetto State’s most innovative State Representative. In summary, it can be boiled down to these points:
1. Nathan understands branding and messaging.
2. Nathan keeps his content fresh.
3. Nathan gets linked.
4. Nathan connects with people using social networking tools.
5. Nathan uses emails effectively.
6. Nathan empowers his staff.
How To Survive The Next Three Weeks
So there’s three weeks left until the election. There’s no time for sleep, much less the gym. The biggest problem…the weather is just now changing, which means everyone and their mother is about to get sick as Hell. Even worse, you are about to go on vacation to some sweet tropical island right after the election and you don’t want to have just gained fifteen pounds.
What do you do?
1. Go to the gym.
I know. I just said there’s no time to go to the gym. Well guess what? There’s always time to go the gym. And No, you don’t have to get up an hour earlier. You just have to be more productive during the day. Quit surfing the dang Internet all day. Don’t lie, you know you do.
Make a to-do list and get it done. Reply to emails only twice a day. The more you reply, the more people reply back. Try to limit conversation. Don’t take phone calls or check email first thing in the morning. It will throw your entire game plan off. Spend the morning knocking out your to-do list and then return calls and emails.
Limit meetings, including lunch meetings. You will just end up wasting time. Pack a lunch, eat it at your desk and then get to the gym.
Going to the gym will build your immune system during these hectic weeks and clear your mind so that you can think clearer. Make it a priority.
By the way, going door-to-door or putting up 4×8s all day works too.
Do I Have Time To Campaign?
Time, why you punish me?
Part 4 of - Should I Run For Office? A Ten Point Check List To Help You Decide.
I’m going to keep this one short because it’s three weeks until the election and I don’t have a lot of time today to write. That’s because campaign season consumes my entire life…and I’m just a consultant.
Multiply that by two if you’re a candidate. If you can’t handle it, don’t run.
There are a few conservative groups in South Carolina who recruit businessmen to run for office while constantly attacking attorneys. I’m not going to discuss the merits of their argument because I believe we do need more business leaders in government. However, that isn’t going to change until we change they system.
Elections and government are set up so that younger leaders and businessmen cannot run for office. Elections require 24-7 work for 6-8 months. And that’s just for state office. Statewide and Congressional campaigns take much more. I don’t know a lot of businessmen who can take that much time out of their busy schedules to campaign, much less spend 3 days out of every week for 5 months serving in Columbia. Many attorneys and retirees can, which is the reason why the legislature is dominated by attorneys or older people.
Want to change the demographics of the legislature? Change the system first.
I say all this because running of office is incredibly time consuming. It will dominate your life for at least six months. Don’t plan on working. Don’t plan on going to a lot of Little League games. Don’t even plan on sleeping. Hobbies? Forget ‘em.
Plan on knocking on doors all day, begging for money, and talking on the phone until your ear hurts. See the sample schedule above? Not a lot of time for work, huh? That’s what your day will be like.
No, it doesn’t suck. It’s very energizing and fun. I love it. A lot of people love it. You will love it too…just trust me.
Okay, a lot of people hate it. Not every candidate works around the clock, but those who do have a much better shot of winning. I’ve been outspent by opponents and lost, but I have never been outworked and lost. Come close in spending and outwork your opponent dramatically and you will most likely win. All it takes is time, darn good time management, and the willingness, desire, and energy to work your butt off. That part is coming your way tomorrow.
Oh…here’s the best advice I can give you - make sure your wife is cool with you running. You won’t be there a lot for the kids, to help with the chores, or to eat dinner with the family during campaign season. It’s going to be tough, so make sure your marriage is ready for it.
Can I get the money?
You won’t need to swim in money…or maybe you will. Figure that out first.
Part 3 of - Should I Run For Office? A Ten Point Check List To Help You Decide.
My wife is a South Carolina based political fundraiser. On her website, she states:
Fundraising…it’s why many incumbents fail and why many new candidates and groups never make it off the ground. There is some part of the brain that makes people despise asking for money, but it’s the life force of today’s political campaign. Local races require mail, phones, and signs. Bigger campaigns need television, radio, and staff. That all requires money and that means fundraising.
She’s right. And not just because she’s my wife and I have to say that.
Money is the “life force” of today’s political campaign. No money means no voter contact and that means no campaign.
I know what you’re thinking. That’s the lazy man’s way of thinking.
No, you’re wrong. That’s the winning man’s way of thinking.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met candidates who say “I don’t have any money, but I’m going to win by word of mouth and by knocking on every door twice.” Well, good luck with that, because if you spend $1,000 while your opponent spends $60,000, you’re going to lose.
I’m sure you can show me some freak occurrence…and it probably involves some Mark Foley type candidate who got caught doing something insane. In that case, even Lady Chablis could win in the most conservative district. Being a transvestite is better than being a pedophile.
I’m not saying that you can’t win if you get outspent. I’m saying that you can’t win if you have a legitimate opponent and you get outspent five-to-one.
I’ve never met a candidate who didn’t think he wasn’t smart enough or likeable enough to be elected. Money is nearly always the reason a person decides not to run for office because, again, my wife is right. “There is some part of the brain that makes people despise asking for money.” They would rather cut off their left pinky toe than call someone and ask them for money. I’m one of those people.
Notice I originally asked, “Can I get the money?” I didn’t ask, “Can I raise the money” because there is a solution to your hatred for fundraising problem. You can fund your own campaign. Many candidates are beginning to dip into personal savings to completely or partially fund their campaigns. Here’s a bit of advice if you’re a South Carolina candidate considering that route. Don’t just throw your money into a campaign account. Although that’s legal, it is illegal to pay yourself back (there is some law that says you can give yourself back some small amount of money within a few days after the election, but it’s pretty silly). Instead, take out a campaign loan. If you win your campaign you will be able to raise funds a lot easier as an incumbent legislator. You can then use those funds to pay back some of your campaign debt. If you lose, well, good luck fundraising. Debt retirement ain’t easy especially if you hated fundraising in the first place. It will just end up coming out of your pocket.
So how much will it cost?
This past primary cycle, six South Carolina Statehouse campaigns spent:
Ken Roach - $36,553.17
Keith Kelly - $47,847.18
BR Skelton - $52,773.26
Trey Whitehurst - $40,807.34
Bill Sandifer - $87,889.68
Ed Rumsey - $25,700.20
Average: $48,595.13
This past primary cycle, six South Carolina State Senate campaigns cost:
Jake Knotts - $413,029.08
Katrina Shealy - $174,864.11
Mike Rose – $63,345.39
Randy Scott – $88,767.64
Catherine Ceips – $94,020.97
Tom Davis - $314,994.36
Average: $191,503.58
So can you get the money? Answer that question before you decide to run.
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