2008 Primaries, Grass Roots Organization, Leadership, Messaging • June 30th, 2008

The best use of resources…?

by Chris Lato

Good-government types are always bemoaning the fact that Wisconsin’s legislative incumbents often sail to re-election without even facing a legitimate challenger – which makes this piece from Wispolitics all the more interesting.

Take a poll of friends and neighbors of what they think of their representative, and the answer is often the same when you drill down to it: the Legislature is corrupt, but MY representative is A-OK. Why? Because if the incumbent has half a brain and wants to keep his or her job, a constant presence will be maintained in the community. Appearances at parades, mailers to constituents, open houses/townhall meetings, good constituent relations, etc. are all part of keeping up appearances with those who put you in office. A good level of contact typically keeps constituents satisfied and maintains the profile of the politico.

Anyway, Wispolitics reports the Democrats are taking it to the GOP, fielding candidates in all but a handful of Wisconsin’s 99 Assembly districts. There are two ways to look at this development.

The first: the Democrats are clearly counting on a repeat of ’06, when virtually anyone with a ‘D’ next to his or her name rode the wave of anti-GOP (and anti-Bush) sentiment, regardless of actual merit as candidates. It’s also a perception game: give the impression that Dems will be out in force and aggressively take it to the other team. Remember the ‘Barack Obama invades Wisconsin’ story?

The other side of that coin is that Assembly races are extremely localized and people will respond not just to the political affiliation, but to the person doing the job. Some of these districts are so safe that Democrats are running as little more than cannon fodder.

Also, a lot of it depends on resources. If the Dems are actually willing to commit to supporting those candidates, then this tactic will be interesting to watch play out. However, if it’s all a smokescreen - these candidates are sub-par and are only out there to put someone with a ‘D’ on the ballot, and are left to twist in the wind without support from the state party - then local voters will be smart enough to see through the ploy and will likely vote accordingly.

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Branding Politix, Grass Roots Organization, Views on News • June 26th, 2008

Shameless self-promotion…and another take on Twitter

by Chris Lato

After a couple days in sunny L.A. to work with one of my finest clients, I am back in Wisconsin with this commercial announcement: turn your radios to Wisconsin Public Radio this Friday, June 27 at 8 am to enjoy yours truly on the ‘Week in Review,’ with host Joy Cardin and fellow guest Matthew Rothschild of ‘The Progressive.’ I anticipate more shouting than your average episode of ‘Hannity and Colmes.’ As always - if you call in, be kind.

Since we’re in the middle of a promotion break, ever heard of ‘Twitter?’ A techie genius I work with tipped me off to this…and its possibilities as a promotional tool for political campaigns.

It’s interesting, because not too long ago I remember reading a story (from a reporter, I think – might have been a PR guy) about how the news release is dead – an outmoded way of communicating. Now, Twitter is here to tell us that e-mail is dead, too – if you can’t boil down your message to 140 characters or less, fuggetaboutit.

Read Jon Tingley’s take on Twitter below – as you can see, the Obama campaign is on top of this trend, while McCain’s team isn’t quite there yet. It offers a striking difference – Obama supporters are more technologically savvy based on these numbers. Obama is counting on the youth vote this fall, so it all makes sense.

Twitter has its place in an information-overloaded world where even brief e-mails will cause one’s eyes to glaze over before hitting the ‘delete’ button. Tweets can help connect with voters and volunteers. It is another arrow in the campaign’s quiver that should be deployed. As part of a well-considered campaign that fully incorporates social media opportunities, one shouldn’t ignore these trends.

However, it’s a mistake to over-rely on these trends and proclaim traditional methods of information disbursement dead. They aren’t. For example, there’s a reason every campaign spends millions upon millions of dollars on TV ads – because huge amounts of people can be reached with a single ad. News releases, when well-targeted, provide more detailed information for the media and those who want to do more than skim.

Call me an old fogey (I can take it) but there’s still more smoke than fire related to online campaigning. Again, I stress it should play a role – potentially a big one, depending on the size of the campaign and the resources available – but for the vast numbers of those potential voters out there, who want to feel close to a candidate and who can’t get a sense of who to support from a 140 character message, they need more ways to connect.

It is awfully easy to appear to have an army of support out there by manipulating the online community – just ask Ron Paul. However, there has to be more to fully communicating one’s campaign. Otherwise it will eventually be exposed as the empty exercise it is – just ask Ron Paul.

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2008 Primaries, Grass Roots Organization, Strategic Blueprints, Views on News • June 11th, 2008

In search of…Obama’s ground troops

by Chris Lato

Well, this is interesting. Turns out Barack Obama may not have a gargantuan campaign operation running full-steam ahead in Wisconsin after all. Please refer to my Tuesday column for more about this fracas, but it does make my point that campaigns routinely talk tough about organizational strength, but the hot air often can’t be backed up by facts.

I know what you’re thinking: this is a news release from the Republican Party. We all know it’s full of lies and scurrilous innuendoes. How can we trust it? more »

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2008 Primaries, Grass Roots Organization • June 10th, 2008

Are McCain’s Wisconsin ground troops MIA?

by Chris Lato

At first blush, this doesn’t sound good.

What has John McCain been doing these past few months? Is an opportunity now lost? Has Barack Obama laid the groundwork for an unstoppable juggernaut of a campaign in Wisconsin?

Hold your horses a moment. In past columns I have discussed the need to have a strong ground game, and the importance of field organization in winning races in Wisconsin. It’s not the sexiest part of the campaign, it doesn’t get much attention, but it is absolutely vital, especially in a battleground state such as ours. And the Trib article suggests McCain is already falling behind. more »

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Events, Fundraising, Global Concerns, Grass Roots Organization • May 13th, 2008

Help needed ASAP

by Chris Lato

Regular visitors to this site know we’re all about the politics, the public affairs, the public relations, the messaging…you know the score. Today I’m doing something a bit different - asking for your help for a good cause.

This Saturday, in downtown Milwaukee, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) – Greater Milwaukee Chapter is holding its annual NAMIWalks event. The honorary chairman is Green Bay Packer Greg Jennings and his lovely wife Nicole, who I understand will be there to walk as well.

Avicom Marketing Communications is involved as a sponsor of the event and has a team entered in the fundraiser. I will be peeling my butt off the couch and taking part. I’m asking you to do what you can to support the cause and give what you can. The program is worthy, the effort needs your help and anything you can pitch in would be welcome. NAMI is heavily involved in supporting those struggling with mental illness, along with offering support services to their families. Check out their website if you’d like to learn more.

If you can even give a few bucks, it is very easy to donate online by visiting my NAMIWalks webpage. I’m aiming low ($100 in donations) and hoping to succeed beyond my wildest goals. But I need more than donations from mom and dad to help out.

A sincere thanks for anything you can do. And now we return you to your regularly scheduled blog…

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Grass Roots Organization, Messaging, Views on News, wispundits • April 2nd, 2008

Oh, what a night

by Chris Lato

For a spring election, which typically doesn’t do much to excite the voting population, this one had a whole lot of twists and turns.

One thing’s for sure: Gov. Jim Doyle can’t be happy about the results. Consider:

1. Doyle’s hand-picked Supreme Court justice, Louis Butler, loses in a squeaker to Michael Gableman – the first time a challenger has picked off a sitting justice in more than four decades. More on this race in a bit, but suffice it to say for now that Gableman’s win was in no small part a repudiation of the current high court’s left-leaning makeup and resulting decisions since Butler ascended to the high court.

2. Incumbent County Executive Scott Walker sails to victory against state Sen. Lena Taylor. Taylor has said she never spoke with Gov. Doyle about running for County Exec, but it’s hard to buy the notion that the governor never took more than a passing interest in knocking off Walker, an all-but-certain GOP candidate for governor in 2010. Walker is now positioned to make that run with the lessons of his ’06 bid to build on and the momentum from Tuesday’s decisive win to propel him forward.

3. Voters got out their pitchforks and torches and took down the governor’s ‘Frankenstein veto’ power by an overwhelming margin (as some of us predicted). There was strong bipartisan support for this constitutional amendment in the Legislature, due in part to what were viewed as abuses of the veto authority by the Doyle administration.

There were other big decisions, too. In Milwaukee, Ald. Michael McGee Junior’s constituents finally realized that having their representative locked in a jail cell is not exactly serving their interests well. McGee was defeated, in a bit of a surprise to some, to Milele Coggs, a member of a locally-known and politically-connected family. It feels a bit like the end of an era for the McGees, and the current Alderman hasn’t even gone to trial yet.
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2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Creative, Grass Roots Organization, New Media • March 17th, 2008

MoveOn beckons Web 2.0 to race

by Greg Batiansila

MoveOn.org, the outspoken left-leaning political website, is showing just how much the political grassroots landscape has changed in just one election cycle.

The site is calling on filmmakers, writers, directors, actors, editors, composers, graphic artists, and animators to use their creativity and create an ad supporting Barack Obama. MoveOn has even YouTubed their call to creative arms.

What you’re seeing and will continue to see is a move on the Internet toward social media, one where the audience creates content and essentially contributes in a conversation with itself and a website. The result is powerful – you give contributors their minutes of fame and priceless exposure, get free content, and engage the audience to share and contribute.

Politically, this is the first major step toward audience-created media that skirts campaign rules and campaign-driven “talking points.” If MoveOn.org posts its top 100 videos, and one or more are risky or take avant garde stabs at the opponent, both MoveOn and Obama can simply disassociate itself from the ad as something made by a novice and not from their campaign – even while displaying the ad under the context of a contest. But if something is truly moving and great, Obama or MoveOn can snatch the ad up and give it national play.

Locally, politicians could use the same platform to engage the electorate. more »

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2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Fundraising, Grass Roots Organization, Messaging • March 10th, 2008

I’ve seen the future & it will be… (part 2)

by Greg Batiansila

Barack Obama’s fundraising is making considerable waves - and not just because of the incredible amount of money he’s brought in (Obama reports raising 55 million dollars in February alone) - but how he’s raising the money - on the internet.

“Obama’s staggering sum is made all the more frightening for Republicans because much of it came over the Internet in small sums — support that not only underscores Obama’s organic appeal but that also signals an ability to raise more money from a donor pool that now totals more than 1 million individuals.” (read more here)

Running for office? Regardless of whether its local, regional or national - how’s your website? Today’s campaigns are using the web for more than some show ‘n’ tell. The web platform is quickly becoming the focus for practically every aspect of a campaign.

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2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Grass Roots Organization, Views on News • February 20th, 2008

Bell rung in Kenosha mayor’s race

by Dennis A. Shook

Message may still be more important than media

Even though most people follow the money when it comes to politics, having large amounts of loot is no a guarantee of victory.

It’s how you spend the money, whether from your own pocket or donations, that matters. Mitt Romney’s failure to turn cash into victory was a national example.

In the Kenosha mayor’s race, another example of that became apparent Tuesday with the third-place finish of Michael Bell, who spent a record amount — and more that a year — running to be the leader of the city.

Bell employed all the modern techniques. He sent several pieces of direct mail to Kenosha homes in recent months. He ran slickly produced media ads on Super Bowl Sunday 2007 on ESPN. He even ran a TV ad on the night of the final selection of last year’s “American Idol.”

So what went wrong?

more »

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2008 Primaries, Grass Roots Organization, Views on News • February 20th, 2008

McGee scores win from jail cell

by Chris Lato

This one just fascinates me. Milwaukee Ald. Michael McGee Junior has survived a major-league challenge in Tuesday’s primary.

The caveats: Michael McGee Jr. is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, etc.

What blows me away is this: McGee clearly understands his Milwaukee constituents, what they respond to, how to connect with them so deeply that they will stand behind him even while he’s sitting in a jail cell facing a host of criminal charges.

Lots of politicos would feel blessed to have this kind of connection with the voters.

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