Common Courtesy
Trying to run a political campaign is not easy…and that’s the understatement of the month. It’s bad enough to cover the ground necessary in a city or county race…imagine the difficulty when it’s a national race for president, especially when four geographically diverse states are the battlegrounds.
Each state campaign chair pleads for more time with the candidate in their state, more resources, etc., and it’s up to the national campaign folks to keep the peace and make the most of opportunities.
So it’s with plenty of respect that I say that it seems this caucus cycle is even more frantic and disorganized than ever…and I’ve had others who have seen a lot of these tell me the same thing.
Last minute planning of events, very little promotion…then complaints that not enough people turned out. We in Iowa love to attend political events, but you have to give us some notice beyond a day.
And you have to treat your local volunteers better. A few months ago, a candidate asked local volunteers to set up a big schedule of events in a region of the state, over a multi-day period. Then abruptly, the candidate cancelled because he did not make the first debate stage and was considering dropping out. That’s understandable; there’s a point where you say it’s time to step aside.
But as it turned out, the candidate did not drop out and pledged to keep pushing. So the same local volunteers were happy to set up multiple events over multiple days again this month, because the campaign promised it was “in it to win it” all the way to the caucus in less than three months.
That happiness again abruptly turned to disappointment when again, the candidate pulled back under the guise of evaluating the campaign. More work, more time wasted.
I’ll give you the first one. But to get your people all fired up to schedule days of events at a variety of cities and venues, only to reverse course so quickly it gave everyone whiplash…that’s not how you treat people you pledged to lead…and that agreed to follow you.
I’m sure this little rant will have no impact, because apparently these days it’s cool to run campaigns by spur-of-the-moment thinking and social media-led whims. But it sure worked better the other way, and when candidates and campaigns show they appreciate supporters.
