The Campaign Workshop Blog

A Political consulting firm comes in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Each undoubtedly has its own strengths, weaknesses and areas of expertise. However, regardless of the medium in which they specialize, there are a few traits that stand out in any good political firm. Below is a general, but crucial list:

Opposition research, or “oppo” for short, is something we have mentioned in this blog before, but have not discussed at length. Such an omission is unforgivable, and can only be chalked up to missing the obvious. Like, for instance, when a newspaper has a typo in its front-page headline because everyone was looking for little, nuanced stuff but missed the big, glaring oops! before going to print. So let’s right this wrong now, shall we?

Political direct mail printing: #4:  In previous installments of this series we covered finding a printer, managing schedules, specifying paper and digital vs. offset printing. This week is the final installment of the series and we’re going to talk about photos, file preparation and proofing.

Running for office, campaign management, and working on campaigns for that matter, are really about making quick, informed decisions and a lot of them. Particularly at the beginning, there are a lot of things to decide on right away in your campaign management process: what office, what party, who to hire, who to target, what medium, who to call for money, how much to ask for, etc. The whole process can get away from you and turn into a paralyzing rumination if you’re not careful.

“Nasty, brutish and short,” doesn’t just sum up Thomas Hobbes’ feelings about the state of nature – it also applies to the often-lonely life of a piece of Democratic direct mail. It’s tough to get noticed and stand out from the other items stuffed in the mailbox, and even if it does get noticed, it’s usually quickly tossed out and forgotten.

We’ve talked a lot about targeting online, but lately micro targeting has gotten even more specific and it can really help boost your online advertising campaign. It’s common knowledge these days that online advertising can get the same type of sophisticated targeting that direct mail can. One way advertisers are using micro targeting online advertising is with geo-fencing.

Political direct mail printing part 3: In previous installments of this series on political direct mail printing we covered finding a political direct mail printer, managing schedules and specifying paper. Today, we’re going to get technical and talk about presses. We couldn’t have political direct mail printing without presses to get the job done, so let’s examine the differences and uses for digital and offset printing.

In part one of this series we talked about the characteristics of a good printer for political direct mail printing and how to find them. This week we’re going to talk about schedules and paper.

Political Campaigns usually don't work alone. It’s highly likely that you are not the only political campaign being waged in your turf at any given time. Things can get especially dicey when you have to share a turf, and also run your political campaigns out of the same party headquarters.

Your organization has developed a strong campaign supporter list. That’s great news! Now let’s make sure we keep your campaign supporters involved with your campaign or cause. Email is undoubtedly one effective method of communicating with your campaign supporters. There are, however, a variety of other ways to engage with your campaign supporter list as well. Here are a few suggestions:

I have heard the story many a time; "I am running down ballot in a state-wide primary, so I am only going to do television." Sadly, if you are still using a Television only strategy you may miss many voters you need to reach.

In a nutshell, franked mail is mail sent from congresspersons to their constituents to communicate official business. You might even say that franked mail is the original political mail. The history of the congressional frank dates back before the founding of the United States, to the English House of Commons in the 17th century. The frank was authorized by the American Continental Congress in 1775 and the first franking law was enacted in 1789.

Is Graduate School of Political Management worth it? In a word: Maybe. It depends on what your goals are, like just about everything else in life. There are ever increasing opportunities to get master’s degrees in non-traditional ways and, depending on what you want to do with this degree, it may make sense to devote the time and resources to school.

The recent off-year elections may not have gotten a ton of national press, but for people living in states where major offices were decided, they were extremely important. In some ways, a campaign is a campaign, and your online communications program should be reflective of that.  In others though, off-year elections are pretty different, and planning your digital strategy with those differences in mind can yield some great things.

I’m sure it’s no surprise to any of you that last Tuesday Terry McAuliffe won the Gubernatorial election in Virginia – though the Attorney General race is still too close to officially call – and Chris Christie easily won re-election in New Jersey. It also likely doesn’t come as a surprise that Bill de Blasio wrapped up a big victory in his election as Mayor of New York City and that Marty Walsh, a former Labor organizer, and current State Representative, won in the first open race for Mayor of Boston in over twenty years. But, I’m guessing not as many people were paying attention to the various ballot initiatives around the country, including the Tea Party-backed Question 4 in Cincinnati that looked to overhaul (read: destroy) the public pension system in the city.

Before Election Day it’s important that you have a chance to test your campaign’s ground operation. After all, even the best-laid plans can go awry. Testing ensures that your organization can maintain its composure under pressure and gives you an opportunity to iron out any snags before the big day. The best way to test your operation is by creating an Election Day stress test that simulates your operation on the big day.

Photos are a great way to enhance your communications. We work to use custom political photography and custom photo shoots for nonprofits and organizations whenever we can but based on budget and timing it is not always possible to do a shoot. So many time rights managed and royalty free photos are your only options.

Over the last two Presidential election cycles, the Obama campaign has done some really innovative work online. There has been a lot of discussion in the progressive community about how other campaigns and organizations can take some of these tactics and apply them to their own causes.

Many times it is difficult to distinguish between what is considered political mail vs. election mail. Here’s a quick rundown of the differences between the two.

Want independence from student loans? As we break for the Fourth of July, we have students throughout the country facing a greater burden of debt. This is an issue that not only affects students; it affects our economy as a whole. Yes, Congress should act to retroactively decrease the rise in student loan rates, but there is still more that can be done.