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gently caress yes it's an on year again.
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Jan 11, 2014 23:57
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this_is_hard posted:They're not effective at all. Campaigns that rely on them are usually hilariously low effort I feel like it's the opposite. Yard signs are not only ineffective, but they're hilariously high effort. For some reason, it became a tradition to deliver yard signs to people rather than having them come pick them up.
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Jan 30, 2014 20:28
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Mooseontheloose posted:But there are ways to use lawn signs to your advantage! You want to give out lawn signs, that's fine so long as you give me a list of names, numbers, and addresses of where you dropped them off. Than you make recruitment calls based of that. Does this really work? In my experience, the guys who ask for a bunch of signs just end up storing them in their garage.
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Jan 31, 2014 17:33
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Slaan posted:So what is the general 'hiring' time for paid full-time campaign workers? I'm thinking entry-level volunteer organizers, office work, etc kinds of things; more or less one or two rungs on the ladder. I am out of the states currently and will be coming back in early September, which I think might be past the time to get hired for the Fall elections. I'm wanting to do it because of the connections to be made and long hours (good for saving up school money). I suspect this year it will be possible to get an organizing job in very early September. There's a glut of field organizing jobs this year and a massive shortage of people to fill them. I would expect a salary in the range of $2500-2750 a month regardless of where you go. I would not expect a field organizing job to get you any sort of substantial connections into government proper. While there is some cross-pollination between the campaign world and the government world, this mainly occurs at senior staff levels.
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Mar 29, 2014 14:20
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Mooseontheloose posted:If you work directly for a candidate in field, it can pay off. A lot of organizers get hired to staff after the campaign. Maybe if you're electing a new candidate for something like a congressional and you want to be part of the new staff answering letters or whatever. I've never seen a FO get hired after a statewide for the politician's office. Especially if Slaan wants NC, I can't imagine Hagan is going to be hiring very many of her 150~ FOs to fill all of the zero vacant spots in her slashed office budget. But if you want a career in government, I honestly don't think campaign work is helpful for that sort of thing anymore. Especially since there have been legislative and ethical reforms to prevent exactly that sort of move.
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Apr 9, 2014 16:22
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Tim Pawlenty posted:Anyone here ever worked on a superPAC campaign? Yeah. Ofaloaf posted:Long hours at minimum wage with no break, sitting in a windowless office trying to reach quotas day after day. No, higher-ups say, we won't do the door-to-door canvasing, that'll be the volunteers we recruit. Visibility events? We'll still be holed up in the office. That "frequent travel required" thing in the job description? Eventually maybe you'll get your own office in part of the county, where you'll be holed up doing more quotas. You don't interact with the campaign, you treat the press like the plague and this is basically your life until November. If it makes you feel any better, you will definitely be canvassing. Be really glad you're not doing visibility.
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May 20, 2014 14:29
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Tim Pawlenty posted:How would you compare it to working on an electoral and legislative campaign, field side? I've done some work on both and am about to start working for a superPAC. My SuperPAC worked on behalf of a candidate during a special - exclusively field. It was tougher to get volunteers than I experienced on the campaign side, but we also had vastly more money for paid canvassers/equipments/offices/salaries. Besides that, it was pretty much the same.
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May 20, 2014 18:10
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Ofaloaf posted:During the first introductory day of work, everybody really emphasized the chain of command. What if our direct boss is already breaking into fits of nervous giggling and we still haven't found anyone who will tell us straight what our pay is? What's the best way to actually break the chain of command? is this a statewide or local?
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May 21, 2014 14:31
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Ofaloaf posted:There's no primaries that we have to be concerned about, and primarily all we seem to be doing is phone banking to build up volunteers. We're not even doing that good a job of it- the paper lists have a depressingly low rate of return, and nobody seems to've bothered properly stocking VB. Wouldn't it be more useful for us to physically go out and attend local party meetings, and just try to get people from those face-to-face contacts in groups we know are already interested in seeing us succeed? Calls are the best way to recruit volunteers. It's really hard. Keep calling anyway. Party meetings are terrible places to find volunteers. I think you should talk to your boss about your pay, or other FOs. I'm not sure how you didn't find out your pay prior to taking the job, to be honest.
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May 22, 2014 19:04
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Ofaloaf posted:Yesterday I got one (1) scheduled volunteer out of ten or so hours of calling, and out of something like 14 contacts total and about 300 dials. I (or any other FO) could've gotten one volunteer from attending one of the party meetings going on last night, and it wouldn't have taken 10 hours or cost the party 10 hours' worth of wages. I'mma real talk you here Ofaloaf. It sounds like your RFD is maybe no so great, but I also feel like you need to (wo)man up a bit. 1. You should be making far more than 30 calls an hour on a 5% contact rate. Each call should take you about 45 seconds including dialing. That means about 800 calls at a theoretical maximum, but realistically you should be making at least 600 in that time. More calls = more vols. My suggestion is to dial more. 2. 1 volunteer from 14 contacts is a good conversion rate in May. I wouldn't be too concerned about that. Your lists will improve as you call into them more. You would get zero volunteers from a party meeting, not one. Many will not allow you to even make a volunteer pitch. Trust those of us who have been doing this for awhile - if these people were going to volunteer, they'd be the first ones you'd call. 3. Does HQ load your VPBs, or your RFD? They should be having you call seniors during the day and younger people after 5pm when they come home from work. If it's your RFD, maybe you might suggest to him that he load the list differently since the contact rate is so low.
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May 22, 2014 21:37
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GlyphGryph posted:I was basically going to say the same as that guy just said. You should definitely go and volunteer. Just go to your candidate's website of choice and click the volunteer button. Look for a field office near you. Unless it's for one of my opponents. Then you should stay home.
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Jun 18, 2014 13:19
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The pause depends on the training of your staff plus the dialer you are using. The VAN dialer tends to have a longer pause than some other products, in my experience. The pause may be longer if there is a lot of stress on the system (i.e. very large numbers of people on at once will cause the computer to take longer to direct a call to a person on the dialer). It's important that staff and volunteers say hello as soon as the tone occurs. Even an extra second can turn a conversation awkward. However, I wouldn't blame difficulty with persuasion calls on the dialer. People don't like to get calls in general, regardless of whether they are on the dialer or manually placed. You just gotta roll with the punches and push through. Even with a one to two second pause it's still many times more efficient than manual dialing.
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Aug 29, 2014 00:35
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CobwebMustardseed posted:What's up superPAC buddy? This post is a bit old but: You can hang out with your friends on the campaign side. That's totally OK and not at all illegal. The "firewall" between SuperPAC and campaign is even looser than the firewall between official and campaign side for electeds. There are only a few things that are restricted. In general, the SuperPAC doesn't have to worry what they say. They can basically communicate whatever they want. The campaign side should avoid giving an opinion on the SuperPAC's activities or talk about what they are doing.
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Aug 29, 2014 00:54
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Fried Chicken posted:Hey when you are tinkering with cutting VAN lists what rang do you use on your likely voter scale? I've been using 50-100, but I don't know if that is good or not First, talk to your state party's data person about getting more information about your models. They will have recommendations on how to use the particular model you are using. I will use numbers that tend to be accurate but are not always. As for your program, what are you trying to do with your lists? If you're trying to solely find targets for GOTV, you probably don't want to go above 90 on turnout score. Those people are going to vote, so it most likely won't be worth your time to GOTV them anyway. In general, you can probably safely ignore very high dem/very high turnout in general. Between 40-70 turnout is a good range for most programs. Adjust based on volunteer/paid capacity. If you're looking for persuasion targets, you might want to throw in people who are middle support score (40-60) and high turnout (70+). Keep in mind that middle support score doesn't mean that they are just leaning one way or another - it means that if you took 100 people at 50 support score, 50 of them would support you. In other words, it's really people we just don't know about. It will, however, have a somewhat higher population of persuadable voters than the rest of your ranges. If you have a persuadability model, throw out all of that and just use that model alone. There is a good chance (again, consult with your state party's data department) that it has already been interacted with your turnout scores so there's no need to do it again.
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Sep 26, 2014 15:17
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Well. That was certainly a night.
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Nov 5, 2014 16:01
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Jackson Taus posted:Yeah, sometimes it's hard when the campaign wants you to push a "our opponent is an extremist on immigration" line and then puts you on persuasion calls with voters who think the problem with immigration is that we don't shoot em when we catch em at the border. This is really a problem with how persuasion is done on phones/doors. A lot of strategists think of phones/doors as the same as a TV ad - a one directional message. On TV, if you put out an ad, it will gain you votes and lose you votes. Hopefully it gains more than it loses. On the phone, you only have a limited number of quality contacts. It's not worthwhile to employ the same messaging you use on TV/radio/mail as you do on the phone. Live persuasion is a back-and-forth affair and involves actual conversation with a voter. If you attempt to use the same strategy you use on TV/radio with voters on the phone, you'll find that you will gain very few votes. Certainly, much fewer than you'd gain through actual persuasion.
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Nov 15, 2014 14:29
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Jackson Taus posted:The problem is that the average actual volunteer has an IQ of 100 who (at best) watches MSNBC/CNN regularly. They signed up for a two-hour shift and may or may not come back. In that context, you can't really afford to take too long training then or you won't get any actual voter-contacting done. I agree with you that the current system sucks though. I think we do need to review the idea that, in a world where we're spending hundreds of millions on field, we still need volunteer labor. That said, certain kinds of persuasion - centering on values, rather than specific issues - can be very effective. It also doesn't require encyclopedic knowledge of the issues.
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Nov 30, 2014 08:25
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JIZZ DENOUEMENT posted:I want to attain office on my City Council. I am in my mid 20's and just acquired my masters. What resources should I look at? I realize there's not going to be a "collect 5 stars and then hit up-down-b-a-b-a for office", but where do I go from here? First, do your research. Who currently occupies the seat you'd run for? How big is the electorate? How much money was spent in past elections for this same seat? If it's partisan, make serious consideration as to whether your partisan profile matches what the community might typically vote for. I don't want to discourage people from running for office, but realistically a fresh out of grad school kid isn't going to flip a blood red district blue. Then you need to research the laws or local practices in your municipality/state - specifically, ballot access laws. Some states require signatures. Others, you just pay a small fee. You also may or may not need to open up a bank account and form a campaign committee for disclosure purposes, depending on your state and the size of your municipality. Have you spoken to anyone about your intentions? You may need to court the endorsement of a local party. Some states give preferential treatment on the primary ballot to whoever gets the local endorsement. Additionally, if you're a good fit for the office, they may discourage others from challenging you. Even if your race is non-partisan, parties often endorse candidates. While this can often only affect a handful of votes, it will be tough to win a local race without at least some institutional support to show that you're not just some random. Even if the endorsement is not valuable, they might have resources to aid you. Maybe it's just a few clipboards, but also potentially connections to donors, volunteers, and lists. Local political knowledge is always going to be good. On small scale races, the winner is often the candidate that works hardest. Be ready to knock on doors. If you are a very small scale campaign (i.e. it's just yourself) you can usually get a copy of the voter rolls from your local election board and use this to guide which doors you go to. Focus on people who tend to vote in municipal races - your goal is persuade voters to vote for you. It won't help to try and persuade voters to show up and vote and then vote for you. If you are working with a local party, they *may* already have specialized software from the state party that (i.e. VAN for Democrats) will make this process much easier. Finally, don't forget. Local office is often boring as hell and people are passionate about very minor and specific issues. Try to learn as much as you can so you don't come off like an idiot when someone asks why the city charges $10 more for sewer access on the west side of town.
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Dec 29, 2014 11:25
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A couple things, knowing a bit more about your situation: 1. Definitely keep researching. Regularly attend City Council meetings, even if you're just listening. Hearing what people spend their time talking about matters. It's one of those things that's a bit tough to do when you're thinking about running instead of actually running - you need to talk to people, but they don't necessarily see a reason to talk to you. So look for local areas where people are expressing their views. 2. It is definitely possible to *overestimate* how much the support of establishment Dems happens to be. If you think that the primaries represent maybe 10% of all voters in a district, the establishment represents less than 1% of the total. Certainly, if you're planning on spending entirely your own money you can get away without their support. But it will just make your life more difficult. Even if you win, they will not go away and they will not support you if they don't like you. Because you're in a very blue area, they will see your re-election as an opportunity to remove you. So it's definitely helpful to get their support. As far as third parties: unless your city has a history of supporting third party candidates, don't bother. It's not worth your time. If you see city council as a stepping stone to higher office, you're arguably better off losing as a Dem than winning as a third party. The DNC has involved itself in municipal elections on occasion. It is not common, and basically only to win competitive races against the GOP. The "big four" Dem committees are (in order of size/influence) DSCC (US Senate), DCCC (US House), DGA (Governors), DLCC (State Legislatures). There is no committee for municipal races. 3. Another thing - one party areas are often very much personal relationship based. You might think you're great friends with a local Dem chair and they'll back you, but maybe there's a big succession plan and you running would just muck it up. You don't need to become a member of your local Dem groups, but you definitely need to ingratiate yourself with them. Remember: many of these guys live and breathe local politics, and (some) of them see themselves as bizarre Machiavellian schemers on the least consequential scale possible. If you want to improve your odds: spreading a little money around won't hurt. Think of it as an investment in your future campaign. $1k to the local party a year out from your declaration won't hurt you at all. By the way, if you're thinking of taking on an incumbent, ignore everything I said. Unless they're hated by the local establishment, your campaign is very much uphill and frankly you're not going to get a lot of out persuading the locals to support you. 4. Yes, voter rolls are available to the public in all 50 states since the Help America Vote Act. These include: Name, age, address, sex, voting history, date of registration, active/inactive, etc. The availability depends on your state. In some states, it's open to anyone who asks (for a small fee). They'll print it off or put it on a CD for you. In other states, it's available exclusively to political parties, who will then sell you access to the rolls for a fee. Since you're a Dem, I highly recommend going through your state party and gaining access to VAN. They will charge you money for this, and the amount depends on your state. That will be vastly easier to work with than a giant spreadsheet, since it allows you to easily customize your voter lists or create walk lists with maps and GPS. You can also "enhance" the voterfile with data you've collected, such as a person's interests, whether or not you've mailed them, if they've said they're a supporter, etc. Very helpful. 5. As far as campaign accounts go, etc - talk with your local clerk about the law. Just flat out ask, "what do I need to do to run for office?" They may even have an already prepared document for first time candidates that clearly lists out what needs to happen. Typically, you just go to a bank and say "I want a bank account in the name of my political committee" and work it out from there, but obviously your state may have restrictions on the type of account you have or such. You usually do not need to do this until you announce your candidacy. Note that, depending on your local law, announcing your candidacy is distinct from filing. Oftentimes, the act of announcing requires a bank account and political committee even if you have not formally submitted the paperwork to be on the ballot yet. Again, this is highly variable based on state law. Consult a lawyer, a past candidate, or your local election clerk. Regardless, this is not an expensive or difficult process and I wouldn't worry too much about it. Even if you somehow majorly screwed up, which you won't, you'd probably just end up with a small fine. 6. And I don't mean to be moralizing about what I'm about to say - I'm trying to be realistic. Local politics are a huge drag. Make sure you're in it for the right reasons. It can be very draining to deal with the extremely personal and unprofessional drama in municipal politics. The issues are often fairly dull and your power to create actual change is limited. Even if you had every single vote, 95% of your budget has already been locked in by contractual agreements your predecessors agreed to. If you want to do City Council, that's fine, but remember that there are other options as well. There may be other low level positions, like in the state legislature, that you can get into. For example, if you're in California, their state legislators are term limited out frequently so there's a lot of room for fresh blood. I would think wisely and strategically about what you want to do. If you are passionate about municipal issues, people are going to able to tell - conversely, they can tell if you don't really care. If state issues mean a lot more to you, you might consider another route instead. Think about your timing as well - do you really want to run now? Planting some deeper roots where you live and developing a professional life in your city will make your eventual run much easier. That's not to say that your situation is unprecedented, or that a young person with a lot of energy and enough money can't win an election. It happens all the time. I would just take the time to think, in as objective a sense as possible, whether or not you have a message and personality that will be enough to persuade a lot of people that you have something to offer the other guys don't. If you think you do, then go all out and don't look back. If you don't, take a step back. And I don't mean this in the sense that I'm attacking your potential candidacy, because I don't know anything about your community or anything about you. I'm just saying that you should definitely plot through all your potential options before you commit to any course of action. Running for office sucks. Running for office and losing sucks more. Running for office and winning but realizing you hate the job sucks the most. So act wisely.
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Jan 2, 2015 15:28
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Slaan posted:The presidential race is coming up next year and so is the Tea Party 2010 wave senate elections. I'm guessing that getting in with a party now is probably a good idea to build up trust to get a good position on high profile campaigns? If you're looking to start in politics, you'll likely be starting from the bottom unless you have significant wok experience.
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Feb 26, 2015 21:51
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Dr. Arbitrary posted:I've got a question for the more experienced Campaign people. Don't worry as much about the frequency of your emails. What really matters is the content - if you consistently put out interesting and relevant email, people will open it. The key thing is to remember that you also want to keep the length of your emails down (people just don't like to read long email), so a weekly schedule is probably going to be more optimal than a monthly digest. If you start using the list for fundraising, you'll want an even more robust and frequent schedule. But most likely, at your level an email program will bring in relatively small amounts of money.
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Mar 23, 2015 20:20
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