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fandomhigh2006-01-12 12:28 pm
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Political Campaigning (Thursday, January 12, 4th period)
Josh was tacking a large map of Montana to the wall as his political campaign students filed in. When they had all arrived, he turned around, pointed at Parker and said, "how many days until the next election?"
"Welcome back," he said to the rest of the class with a smile. "Today I'll give you the assignment that will torture you for the rest of the semester." He pointed at the map. "Welcome to Montana!"
He passed around a handout. "This is a quick and dirty first look at the great state of Montana. By the end of the semester, I expect you to be able to bore the crap out of anyone who brings up Billings in your hearing. Because you will be writing the campaign plans for the three candidates running for Senate in Montana in 2006:Conrad Montgomery Burns, the three-term Republican incumbent, and his two Democratic challengers, John Jim Morrison and Jon Bob Tester.
He walked over to his desk and pulled up a list of names. "Okay, on the Burns campaign, we have Parker, Callisto and Donna,"--he pointed at Jake--"On the Morrison campaign, we have Rory, Alanna and Donna,"--he pointed at Angel--"and on the the Tester campaign we have Logan, Jessica, Elizabeth and no Donnas."
On the board, he scrawled "Elements of a Campaign Plan," then turned around to face the students. "First thing to remember in a campaign plan: if it's not in writing, it doesn't exist. I don't care if you've had the greatest epiphany in the history of politics since 'hey, why don't we let all of the grown-ups vote?' If it's not somewhere the rest of the campaign can see it, it never happened."
He turned and wrote Political Environment down. "This is what we were talking about last class. It provides the background for your strategy. It's what changes and why a campaign plan that was successful in one year might not work in another year. Ask the first President Bush about this--he ran the same campaign in 1992 and 1996. One year it worked. The other it really, really didn't."
He scrawled Strategy on the board. "In this political environment, who'll be persuaded to vote for your guy, and why?" He then added Tactics underneath. "And how, specifically, will you implement that strategy?"
Josh ran a hand through his hair and laughed. "This is covering everything you'll be doing over the semester, so don't think this is going to be your homework for next class or anything. Okay. Moving on." Critical Decisions was written onto the board. "Most critical decisions will come up as the campaign progresses, but there are a few questions you need to decide early: how many debates do you want? Will you run with or away from the national ticket? Or anyone who might be running in Montana? Who else is running in Montana?"
RESEARCH was printed in huge block letters. Josh tapped it. "This is the biggie. Information is power. You need to know your guy backwards, forwards and inside out. His family. The opponent. Their family. Voting records. School records. Personal history. Stuff you'd rather not know about. Stuff they'd rather not think about. Because believe me, there's someone out there who knows it all, and will use the exactly wrong moment to spring it on you."
He added Organization to the list. "Who works for who, where the consultants come in and who they answer to." Josh rolled his eyes. "Consultants are a pain in the ass." Media (Earned and Paid) was added to the increasingly crowded blackboard. "You'll need a separate plan for each--how will you get the media to care about your candidate is a completely different strategy than how much money you'll be shelling out for TV ads. Related to them both, though, is scheduling." He wrote that on the board, too. "Where the candidate will be, when, and most importantly, why. If the schedule isn't tied to the overall strategy, you have a candidate who is wasting his time. And as I mentioned last class and will continue to mention until you want to beat me to death with sticks, time is the one thing you don't get more of."
He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. The only things left are about money, which is the lifeblood of a campaign. You'll need a budget and a finance plan. How much money you'll need to run your campaign--campaign staff salaries, media buys, those stupid buttons the candidate will insist everyone has--all of it. And the finance plan should mirror the budget--if you need a million bucks for TV ads in September and the fundraiser people hadn't planned on having a big donor event for until a few weeks after that you are, in a word, screwed."
"Enough of me talking. Break into your groups. Based on the very, very limited information I've given you about Montana and the discussion we had last class about the national mood, come up with three things that you think your candidate will have to address in this election."
"Your homework, due in my inbox by next class, is to learn about your candidate. I want to know their personal background, their political history, their wives' names, how much money they have in their campaign coffers. Information, folks. Give me some."
Josh waved his hand. "You may now commence in your whining about what a horrible, evil person I am."
[OOC: Yep. This semester we will actually be looking into the RL Montana 2006 Senate race. I've changed the first names of the candidates, but a Google search of the oh-so-stealthily slashed out real first names will bring up the actual candidates. And with time zones being what they are, group conversations in this and all other classes will be open until the next class goes up.]
"Welcome back," he said to the rest of the class with a smile. "Today I'll give you the assignment that will torture you for the rest of the semester." He pointed at the map. "Welcome to Montana!"
He passed around a handout. "This is a quick and dirty first look at the great state of Montana. By the end of the semester, I expect you to be able to bore the crap out of anyone who brings up Billings in your hearing. Because you will be writing the campaign plans for the three candidates running for Senate in Montana in 2006:
He walked over to his desk and pulled up a list of names. "Okay, on the Burns campaign, we have Parker, Callisto and Donna,"--he pointed at Jake--"On the Morrison campaign, we have Rory, Alanna and Donna,"--he pointed at Angel--"and on the the Tester campaign we have Logan, Jessica, Elizabeth and no Donnas."
On the board, he scrawled "Elements of a Campaign Plan," then turned around to face the students. "First thing to remember in a campaign plan: if it's not in writing, it doesn't exist. I don't care if you've had the greatest epiphany in the history of politics since 'hey, why don't we let all of the grown-ups vote?' If it's not somewhere the rest of the campaign can see it, it never happened."
He turned and wrote Political Environment down. "This is what we were talking about last class. It provides the background for your strategy. It's what changes and why a campaign plan that was successful in one year might not work in another year. Ask the first President Bush about this--he ran the same campaign in 1992 and 1996. One year it worked. The other it really, really didn't."
He scrawled Strategy on the board. "In this political environment, who'll be persuaded to vote for your guy, and why?" He then added Tactics underneath. "And how, specifically, will you implement that strategy?"
Josh ran a hand through his hair and laughed. "This is covering everything you'll be doing over the semester, so don't think this is going to be your homework for next class or anything. Okay. Moving on." Critical Decisions was written onto the board. "Most critical decisions will come up as the campaign progresses, but there are a few questions you need to decide early: how many debates do you want? Will you run with or away from the national ticket? Or anyone who might be running in Montana? Who else is running in Montana?"
RESEARCH was printed in huge block letters. Josh tapped it. "This is the biggie. Information is power. You need to know your guy backwards, forwards and inside out. His family. The opponent. Their family. Voting records. School records. Personal history. Stuff you'd rather not know about. Stuff they'd rather not think about. Because believe me, there's someone out there who knows it all, and will use the exactly wrong moment to spring it on you."
He added Organization to the list. "Who works for who, where the consultants come in and who they answer to." Josh rolled his eyes. "Consultants are a pain in the ass." Media (Earned and Paid) was added to the increasingly crowded blackboard. "You'll need a separate plan for each--how will you get the media to care about your candidate is a completely different strategy than how much money you'll be shelling out for TV ads. Related to them both, though, is scheduling." He wrote that on the board, too. "Where the candidate will be, when, and most importantly, why. If the schedule isn't tied to the overall strategy, you have a candidate who is wasting his time. And as I mentioned last class and will continue to mention until you want to beat me to death with sticks, time is the one thing you don't get more of."
He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. The only things left are about money, which is the lifeblood of a campaign. You'll need a budget and a finance plan. How much money you'll need to run your campaign--campaign staff salaries, media buys, those stupid buttons the candidate will insist everyone has--all of it. And the finance plan should mirror the budget--if you need a million bucks for TV ads in September and the fundraiser people hadn't planned on having a big donor event for until a few weeks after that you are, in a word, screwed."
"Enough of me talking. Break into your groups. Based on the very, very limited information I've given you about Montana and the discussion we had last class about the national mood, come up with three things that you think your candidate will have to address in this election."
"Your homework, due in my inbox by next class, is to learn about your candidate. I want to know their personal background, their political history, their wives' names, how much money they have in their campaign coffers. Information, folks. Give me some."
Josh waved his hand. "You may now commence in your whining about what a horrible, evil person I am."
[OOC: Yep. This semester we will actually be looking into the RL Montana 2006 Senate race. I've changed the first names of the candidates, but a Google search of the oh-so-stealthily slashed out real first names will bring up the actual candidates. And with time zones being what they are, group conversations in this and all other classes will be open until the next class goes up.]
Re: Homework (Political Campaigning, Jan 12)
Committees:
Appropriations [Senate]
Commerce, Science & Transportation [Senate]
Energy & Natural Resources [Senate]
Small Business and Entrepreneurship [Senate]
Special Committee on Aging [Senate]
Family: Wife: Phyllis Kuhlmann
2 Children: Keely, Garrett.
Republican Deputy Whip, United States Senate.
Voting Record (http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=S0521103), to be analyzed at length later.
"The Journal explores the possible role of Sen. Burns: 'Mr. Burns, the Montana congressman, helped one of Mr. Abramoff's clients -- the Saginaw Chippewa tribe in Michigan -- win a $3 million grant from Congress. Mr. Burns was the chairman of a key Senate subcommittee that allocated the funds to the tribe.'" [2] (http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Four_congressmembers_role_in_Abramoff_lobbying_1125.html)
"The [Washington] Post has reported that Burns, who received $137,000 in contributions from Abramoff lobbyists and their tribal clients, obtained a controversial $3 million school construction grant for one of Abramoff's wealthy tribal clients after pressuring the Bureau of Indian Affairs." [3]
Posted by balch3
On 01/14/2006 1:09:19 PM PST · 14 replies · 213+ views
Helena Independent Record ^ | January 14, 2006 | Noelle Straub
WASHINGTON D.C. (LEE) — Sen. Conrad Burns vowed last month to return most of $146,700 in campaign contributions connected with confessed felon Jack Abramoff to its original donors, but most of the money went to the Montana Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council, whose lobbyist is a former Burns staffer. A Burns campaign official said legal questions kept Burns from using his re-election funds to return to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Michigan Indian tribes, all former clients of Abramoff, the money they originally contributed to a different Burns account, which no longer exists. But at least one tribe originally wrote its check to Burns’ principal re-election account before the contribution ended up in the now-defunct account.
Burns decided to give the $101,000 in question to charity and donated it to the Montana Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council. Stan Ullman, who was Burns’ legislative assistant and worked in his Washington office for four years, is registered as that group’s only lobbyist.