CUNA Educational Programs
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This book covers the following areas: Entering the Arena, Campaign Planning, Fundraising/Budget, Voter Contact, Earned Media, Get Out the Vote. To order a copy of this manual for $7.00 contact Elizabeth Furey at efurey@cuna.com. |
ENTERING THE ARENA
IS NOW THE TIME?
Trying to decide whether you should run for elected office can be very confusing. Torn between
your principles, politics, and the demands of personal and professional life, the process can
quickly become overwhelming. Moreover, the campaign process will have long-reaching effects,
regardless of the election’s outcome. Careful planning is required just to make the decision to
run. The temptation is to not make the leap until everything is perfect. Politics is a fluid
process, if nothing else. There is no such thing as static perfection. We will discuss many of
the factors you should consider in making the decision to run. Other chapters of this manual will
help you make solid plans and good decisions throughout the campaign.
CAMPAIGN PLANNING
INTRODUCTION
Campaigns revolve around two equally important functions: raising money and
communicating with voters. Virtually every activity during both the primary and
general election is directly or indirectly related to one of these two functions.
There are only three resources available to a campaign: people, money, and time.
Each of these is interchangeable. Campaigns with volunteers can accomplish things
that campaigns with money have to pay for; campaigns with money can buy services
that will be completed in a fraction of the time required for volunteer activity. The
most critical resource is time. If you had more time you could always raise more
money and find more people.
All effective campaigns have one thing in common: they develop a campaign plan. Within this plan, define a campaign theme (the “message”). This campaign plan guides all activity throughout your campaign.
Although these crucial elements are usually prepared by a few senior staff members, advisors, and the candidate, everyone in your campaign will be responsible for utilizing them to bringing in a win on Election Day.
VOTER CONTACT
Every candidate believes that if they could only meet everyone that was going to vote in the election and talk to them for five minutes, the election would be a snap. There are only a couple of problems: you don’t know who is going to vote or how to find them, and it would be well into the middle of the century before you are through spending five minutes with each voter. Even if you broke up the job and assigned everyone who was helping your campaign, you couldn’t get it done. You don’t have the time, people or the money to undertake that kind of effort. Make prioritized decisions about how to deliver your message based on:
- What you want to say,
- To whom you want to say it,
- Where these voters are,
- When you are going to say it, and
- How the message gets delivered.
