Political Campaigns Playing Nice in the Sandbox
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. While you may be, in theory, on the same team, it can feel like you are competing for the same finite batch of volunteers and phones. Here are a few suggestions on ways to work better with other, friendly political campaigns. Word to the wise, be sure to double check with your legal team on the extent to which your political campaigns can and cannot collaborate.
Communication
Think of your relationship with other political campaigns like your relationship with your roommate. For the relationship to be successful, the lines of communication need to be open. Try scheduling a quick weekly chat with the other political campaign heads and give them a courtesy heads up whenever you have big events planned. This will come in handy when any problems do arise, or be convenient when coordination between the political campaigns makes sense, for instance during GOTV.
Volunteers
Hey thats my volunteer! While it may be clear as day to you, a volunteer who came for your political campaign could just as easily have been convinced to volunteer for the neighboring State Senate candidate as well. Therefore it’s important to develop a personal connection with your volunteer right off the bat. That way when the volunteer walks through the door, they know they are there to see you and not just any old political campaign staffer who happens to be in your building.
Walk-ins
Nothing will instill more resentment between political campaign field staff than for one side to take more than it’s fair share of the walk-in volunteers. Know this and be fair when assigning each walk-in.
Protocol
Particularly if you are sharing space with other political campaigns, you should have clear protocols in place on what to do if someone wants their political campaign’s yard sign or lit. This will prevent any unnecessarily awkward encounters and make things generally more pleasant at your headquarters.
Scheduling
Whether you have to share the computers at the party headquarters or the phone bank at the union hall, it’s important to maintain a schedule with the other political campaigns. Nothing is worse than having a phone bank planned only to find out that another political campaign is using all of the phone lines that evening. And this really doesn’t need to be any more complex than a Google Doc.
Do you have any tips on how to work with other political campaigns in a constructive way and how to plan it into your political campaign? Add them here: