The Campaign Workshop Blog

A Guide to Building a Clear and Simple Campaign Logo

Mixing Text with Visuals  The advertising world is well-versed in using and exploiting the visual language of typography to convey messages that go beyond the overt, verbal language on the page. Cal Swan, author of Language and Typography, says, “These two distinct areas often come together in practice as there is clearly a very strong relationship between the conception of the words as a message and their transmission in visible form.” Nowhere is this more important than in political…

Presidential Election Predictions Can Be Made in Pretty Weird Ways

Looking for accurate presidential election predictions? As Election Day approaches, it seems like every news channel will reference the latest polls or how many points ahead Trump or Biden are in the race for the White House. But as scientific and data centric as polls can be, there are a few unconventional ways to make presidential election predictions, and…

GOTV:  Get Out The Vote - Voter Turnout Strategies 

Get Out the Vote (GOTV) or Voter turnout, describes a campaign strategy for candidates or organizations to get eligible voters to head to the polls or return their ballots by Election Day,  GOTV is an essential part of any campaign strategy and can make the difference between winning and losing an election. There are a variety of ways to improve voter turnout, including  canvassing, campaign mail, digital ads, TV, radio buys, phone and text banking. Learn our tips for Get Out The Vote - Know…

Presidential Election Predictions for 2020 

We are often asked to predict the future in politics—especially when it comes to Presidential Election Predictions However, being a political consultant does not mean being the best judge of what will happen on Election Day. We are determined to help our candidates win, and that can make us less objective in predicting electoral odds than we should be. In other words, wanting to win is not always a predictor of actually winning. Check out our podcast on…

Mail-In Ballot Voter Fraud Is Extremely Rare

Mail-in ballot voter fraud is the biggest problem that doesn’t exist. No one should have to choose between making their voice heard in a pivotal presidential election and risking their life by voting in person during a pandemic. That’s why states have taken measures in 2020 to make mail-in voting easier for and accessible to more voters. This fall, states like California are automatically sending ballots in the mail to all registered voters (rather than just those who explicitly request a ballot).…

Answering Your FAQs about Early Voting in 2020

Due to the ongoing pandemic, we’ve seen a lot of talk recently about early voting in 2020. But early and absentee voting can be very, very different depending on where you live. While there are states that continue to limit absentee voting, early voting, or both, the trend across the country in recent years has been to make it easier for voters to cast a ballot. For instance, some states like New York and Michigan opened up access to early and absentee voting for the 2020 election cycle pre-COVID-…

Third-Party Candidates are in Your Race? Here is what to do... 

With a lot of talk about third-party candidates lately, you may be wondering if they can really affect a political race. Well, whether it’s bringing specific issues to the forefront of the race, syphoning off votes from a major party candidate, or even winning the race themselves, third-party candidates can have real impact.  What happens when a third-party candidate runs against you? Republican operatives in a number of states have been working to get Kanye West on the ballot as a…

Local Candidates- Don't Make these  Common Campaign Mistakes 

Campaigns for local candidates are different than those for bigger races. While you will still have to work to raise money, local candidates will depend in large part on the community for the resources and volunteers that they need. Local candidates also tend to go without the aid of consultants or those with expensive experience working on a lot of campaigns. Thus, there are often people running local campaigns where it will be their first experience doing this type of work. With…

Political Campaign Staff: Tips to Hire a Great Campaign Team 

Whether you're running for city council or congress, hiring your political campaign staff is an essential part of the electoral success. Managing budgets, raising money, running social media, building field programs, prepping candidates for public appearances, and implementing campaign strategies; the political campaign staff is the backbone of every campaign.  To save yourself from unnecessary stress down the line, it's crucial that you hire a capable staff to run your campaign…

Grow Your Email List if You Want to Win

If you’re running for office, you need to grow your email list, no matter how small the race. Building your list will take a long time, so it’s important to start as early as possible. If you’ve run for office before, you can start by reengaging your old list. If you’re new to campaigns, you can start with your friends and family, but where do you go from there?  How do I add people to my list? Begin with the lowest hanging fruit by ensuring that your website includes an easy way for people to sign up for…

Gang Printing for Your Direct Mail Budget win!

Let’s talk about gang printing and economies of scale. And—lest you think that “economies of scale” sounds boring—let me assure you that there is nothing boring about saving money. As campaigns get off the ground and start building out their plans, they often want to do several pieces of mail, segmenting their targeting universe (because, crosstabs!) and customizing messages across multiple mailers. But then they get the budget and think, “Welp, I forgot about postage and shipping. And oof, the…

Opposition Research and Self Research For  Your Campaign

Opposition research, or “oppo” for short, is something that every campaign needs to think about even if it as simple as doing a message box exercise or using Google.  Opposition research can be done by a specific type of political consulting firm. They specialize entirely in finding things out about people that a simple Google search would not turn up. (Though they can definitely get details on all Google-able offenses, too.) Opposition research political consulting firms subscribe to…

Challenges and Opportunities for Women Running for Office 

Since Donald Trump was elected in 2016, we have seen women running for office at all levels of government at an unprecedented rate—and winning. We’ve written ultimate guides for running for office in the past, but running for office as a woman comes with a unique set of challenges and opportunities.  Before we jump right into the challenges and opportunities that come along…

U.S. Post Office Delays & Slow Direct Mail Delivery in the 2020 Election

What is going on at the US Postal Service (USPS)?  Have you experienced post office delays? Beyond the current political dysfunction, USPS has fallen victim to inconsistent funding, under-capitalization, ill-timed cost cutting measures and a lack of respect for the system and its workforce. On top of the ongoing pandemic, USPS will be facing an unprecedented influx of absentee ballots. Some of these vote-by-mail ballots will be in states like New York and Michigan…

Pollster Ben Lazarus on State Legislative Races, COVID-19, and the 2020 Election. 

Pollster Ben Lazarus is currently the Director of Research Solutions at TargetSmart. He is a specialist in state legislative races and works as a principal pollster and analytics consultant for the New Jersey Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee, the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus, and the Indiana House Democratic Caucus. We asked him 7 questions on polling in state legislative races.  1. What has changed in the world of political polling since you started…