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fandomhigh2006-09-13 10:29 am
professor-lyman.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-09-13 10:29 am
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American Political Campaigning (1st period)
Josh was tacking a large map of Ohio to the wall as his political campaign students filed in. When they had all arrived, he turned around, pointed at Dana and said, "how many days until the election?"
He waited for the answer before continuing. "Today we talk about campaign strategy. Or in other words, why you should win and the other candidate should become a cocktail party joke."
Josh walked over to the board. "At its most basic, the campaign strategy is the political equation that will get your candidate the majority of votes cast in the election: 50 percent plus one vote."
He wrote "50% + 1" on the board and smacked it. "This seems ridiculously obvious, but it's a hard lesson to remember. You only need 50 percent plus one vote. You're not out to convince everyone. You're out to get your people to the polls and as many undecideds and soft voters of the other guy to get to 50 percent plus one. Any votes past that is gravy. You just need enough to win. An election, if you think about it, is the ultimate pass-fail grading system." He smiled. "The strategy gets you to win. Or as Lee Atwater put it, 'if you insure the other candidate can't possibly get elected, you should do okay.'"
He looked down at his notes. "Few other things to remember: the strategy can't be static. If the political climate changes, you have to change with it. Think the Congressional races in 2002--if you didn't say something about terrorism or the military you looked hopelessly out of touch at best, and bordering on criminally negligent at worse." He made a face. "I've seen some of the political ads that were rolled out for that election. It wasn't pretty.
"Anyway. You also need to remember there is always someone running against you--either in the general election or in the primary. If you're really lucky, you'll get both. Politics isn't solitaire: it's poker. And assume your opponent is just as smart as you are. They'll attack you where you're weak, and defend against your attacks. Never assume they're stupid, blind, or lazy.
"The entire key to a campaign is communication." Josh paused. "Sorry for the regrettable amount of alliteration in that last sentence. So. Don't forget that the entire point of this is to get voters to support your guy. To win, you need to figure out who would be in your winning voting coalition, find out what they care about, and go about convincing them that you're the one that can deliver it." He smirked. "And make sure that your voting coalition is enough people to get you to that 50 percent plus one, please. There are an embarrassing number of campaigns who failed at math on this point."
He put his notes down. "Okay. Say you're running as a Republican incumbent in Ohio this election cycle. What would be a good strategy for getting elected that doesn't include changing your name, your party affiliation and making the voters forget you've ever met George Bush?"
He waited for the answer before continuing. "Today we talk about campaign strategy. Or in other words, why you should win and the other candidate should become a cocktail party joke."
Josh walked over to the board. "At its most basic, the campaign strategy is the political equation that will get your candidate the majority of votes cast in the election: 50 percent plus one vote."
He wrote "50% + 1" on the board and smacked it. "This seems ridiculously obvious, but it's a hard lesson to remember. You only need 50 percent plus one vote. You're not out to convince everyone. You're out to get your people to the polls and as many undecideds and soft voters of the other guy to get to 50 percent plus one. Any votes past that is gravy. You just need enough to win. An election, if you think about it, is the ultimate pass-fail grading system." He smiled. "The strategy gets you to win. Or as Lee Atwater put it, 'if you insure the other candidate can't possibly get elected, you should do okay.'"
He looked down at his notes. "Few other things to remember: the strategy can't be static. If the political climate changes, you have to change with it. Think the Congressional races in 2002--if you didn't say something about terrorism or the military you looked hopelessly out of touch at best, and bordering on criminally negligent at worse." He made a face. "I've seen some of the political ads that were rolled out for that election. It wasn't pretty.
"Anyway. You also need to remember there is always someone running against you--either in the general election or in the primary. If you're really lucky, you'll get both. Politics isn't solitaire: it's poker. And assume your opponent is just as smart as you are. They'll attack you where you're weak, and defend against your attacks. Never assume they're stupid, blind, or lazy.
"The entire key to a campaign is communication." Josh paused. "Sorry for the regrettable amount of alliteration in that last sentence. So. Don't forget that the entire point of this is to get voters to support your guy. To win, you need to figure out who would be in your winning voting coalition, find out what they care about, and go about convincing them that you're the one that can deliver it." He smirked. "And make sure that your voting coalition is enough people to get you to that 50 percent plus one, please. There are an embarrassing number of campaigns who failed at math on this point."
He put his notes down. "Okay. Say you're running as a Republican incumbent in Ohio this election cycle. What would be a good strategy for getting elected that doesn't include changing your name, your party affiliation and making the voters forget you've ever met George Bush?"
Re: OOC
Unless it's the Lieberman campaign. Where stupidity is always a possibility. Yes, let's host our website on a $15/month shared server and then wonder why it crashes the day of the primary.