Democratic Political Campaign

In the world of political campaigns political power is often achieved through the party convention process. Whether you are running for state representative, county office, or President of the United States conventions still matter in many places.

Kim Rogers is an Executive Director at the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS) where she focuses a lot of her attention on electoral politics. The DASS is committed to both electing and protecting Democratic Secretaries of States.

Say it! Say it loud and say it proud. Political communications can spread fast or move like molasses depending on how you use it. We live in a world where political and advocacy campaigns have a lot of ways to communicate and influence their community advocates and opinion leaders.

Self-care is a must after a grueling election cycle. Getting through Election Day is a huge accomplishment, but it takes a toll. Late nights, too much pizza, a prolonged, laser-like focus on work—it can leave you feeling drained, foggy and exhausted. Moral of the story, you deserve to kick back with a good book (or a great crossword, if you’re a nerd like me) and an even better drink in hand. Cocktail, mocktail or wine, the choice is yours, but the sentiment is the same: treat yourself.

A campaign manager contract is a important a step to write and sign before you start. Whether you are a candidate who decided to run for office and you quickly found out that you couldn’t do it alone or you are a campaign staffer hired to work on a campaign and you want to make sure you know your compensation, having a campaign manager contract or other agreements is critical. As the days get longer and the campaign picks up, it’s easy to forget to formalize the campaign manager and campaign staff roles. Make sure you have a campaign manager contract or campaign staff letter of agreement. Whether you are a staffer for a candidate, a treasurer, or you fill another role, you want to make sure you put it in writing.

Every year and every election cycle, we all have important decisions to make about which political campaign to throw our time and resources behind. Whether you’re looking for a full-time job on a campaign, or simply a volunteer opportunity, it’s important to be thoughtful and strategic about which political campaign you choose.

Eric Schnure is a former speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore who has been a freelance writer and communications consultant for over 20 years. Eric has spent his career helping elected officials, business and nonprofit executives, and entertainers hone their public speaking. He is known for incorporating humor into his speechwriting which led him to cofound the Humor Cabinet, a communications consulting firm.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to crafting a winning campaign strategy, there are a couple rules of thumb when it comes to building a budget with communications tactics that will set you up for election night elation (and of course, some broad fundamentals to keep in mind for running to win). Let’s dig into the thought process that will drive you toward the tactics that are right for you.

The process for finding good political candidates doesn’t involve filling out a job application. When a candidate decides to run for office, they may not realize that the time commitment requires hours of work and many more hours in the day. Sadly, the time commitment it takes to be a political candidate is not changing anytime soon.