John Kerry served in Vietnam, saved a man’s life and was wounded. Somehow, a lot of voters perceived of John Kerry as a coward who never served his country and would not be tough enough to be commander-in-chief. George W. Bush avoided Vietnam and even failed to fulfill his National Guard obligation. Somehow, Americans perceived of George W. Bush as a heroic military man and a courageous commander-in-chief.
This is called MANAGING PERCEPTION.
It's not just managing the perception the public has of YOUR guy, but more importantly, it's about managing the perception people have of the OTHER guy! In 2004, more people perceived that Kerry was bad and Bush was good - just enough people for Bush to win the election.
Which brings us to a cold hard fact: if the Democrats want to take back the White House in 2008, they must become as good as Karl Rove at managing perception. The good news is, it's not some trick only Karl Rove knows the secret to.
Don't be fooled by Rove being out of this one. There are a thousand people currently working for John McCain who are Rovian and will do exactly what he has taught them to do.
Managing perception is actually not all that difficult once you know the rules.
RULE ONE
Pick ONE INDIVIDUAL to head up your election team and give this person TOTAL AUTHORITY to manage all advertising messages and perception issues. Whatever he or she says – goes! And no more discussion!
There were 29 people in charge of Kerry, including Kerry himself. The public heard 29 different viewpoints. The Republicans had one person in charge. Rove. The public heard one viewpoint. Rove’s.
Americans, used to single-minded powerful selling messages, like a single-minded powerful point-of-view.
HINT!
Choose the roughest, toughest person who has ever created wildly successful advertising and PR campaigns. Make damned sure this person is a real marketer, doesn’t take any guff from anybody and is NOT a political stooge.
Make damned sure ALL money flows to this one person and all spending is coordinated through this person.
RULE TWO
Learn how to disseminate simple catchphrases the media can use. Like Rove, when he invented "cut and run", which Fox and the mainstream media lapped up like a thirsty dog. You need to do this with the same dexterity and speed. You will never exceed Rove in this, but you can do as well as Rove, which will neutralize his effectiveness in the media.
Just watch Fox News, Official News Channel of the successful invasion of Iraq and media/pr representative for the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth. You may hate them, but they're incredibly effective at spreading the Rovian catchphrase of the day, using it to rally the faithful - while keeping GOP politicians in lockstep and on message!
HINT!
You do not have a media outlet like Fox, so you must work twice as hard to get the mainstream media to carry your message to ALL voters. Importantly, do not believe the mainstream media is for you and against Republicans. They're not. If you somehow think they'll help you win an election, you've already lost.
RULE THREE
When the other side hands you a bone; do not bury the bone! USE IT! The best way to negatively affect the public's perception of the other side is to use their bone against them!
"I voted for it before I voted against it" was a bone Karl Rove shook in our face the entire campaign. It perfectly defined Kerry as a "flip-flopper". When Bush said, "I don’t think much about Bin Laden", Kerry should have said, "Bin Laden murdered 3000 people and you promised us you'd kill him! Why didn't you, you flip-flopping coward?"
HINT!
Cheer up. You missed your chance in 2004, but there’ll be more. John McCain will give you tons of them! Remember how both McCain and Hillary jumped all over Barack because he suggested using missiles against Al Queda in Pakistan? You can use that against old Blood 'n guts McCain now! In other words, who is going to be toughest in the fight to bring Bin Laden to justice? Big hint: make damned sure people understand it's not John McCain!
RULE FOUR
Understand that you are dealing with a public that doesn’t care enough or simply refuses to devote the time to learn the real facts regarding the real issues. Instead, their perception has BECOME the reality!
The target audience fervently believed Saddam Hussein WAS behind the 9/11 attacks and there WERE weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Just as they believe today that the second in command of Al Queda has been killed or captured at least a dozen times - AND they've conveniently forgotten that Osama Bin Laden is not only still alive, but also happily and calmly planning future attacks against our country.
HINT!
Do not try to change this reality. Work with it! The perception you create IS the reality! Take heart! If the public perceives something despite obvious evidence to the contrary, you will be able to make them perceive any number of things! Including your point of view! Rove knows this and uses it. To neutralize Rove, you must too!
RULE FIVE
Stop playing by Marquis of Queensbury rules. Before you get punched, you punch. Hard. Whenever possible, you punch below the belt. And most importantly, even after they are down, you keep punching.
George Bush. Cocaine. Alcohol. The National Guard. Deserter. With 40 days to go before the election, there should have been 40 awful revelations about George Bush – one each day, each worse than the one before it.
HINT!
Keep your head down, keep moving forward - and do your job, which is to punch hard and neutralize their negative attacks by being just as nasty. And for heaven's sakes, stop being a candy ass. If you start lamenting, "I'm becoming just like THEM", you have just guaranteed their victory. They currently OWN the battlefield. You either play by their rules or YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE.
IF you make it into office, you can then start working to reform how people get elected and figure out ways to make Americans smarter about their politicians.
But for now, you either get mean or you're going to stay on the outside looking in.
RULE SIX
NO MORE NUANCE. The target not only fails to understand even the most obvious nuance, they actually HATE the idea there is nuance at all. (It even sounds French!) Nuance = bad. Black and white = good!
"I believe a marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman"
– George Bush.
"I’m personally against gay marriage, but I feel the states should decide."
– John Kerry (Too Nuanced By Half!)
HINT!
Come down off your high horse and make yourself forget the notion (no matter how correct) that detailed statements are actually necessary. Instead, trust that people today are motivated by simple ideas related in a heartfelt way.
Until November, pick a side on each issue and make sure your target audience understands CLEARLY what that side is. And relax! While some may think you're talking DOWN to the public, all you're really doing is talking TO the public - in a way they can understand and relate to!
RULE SEVEN
Choose ONE VERY CLEAR LABEL and NEVER let go of it. Keep hitting it hard until every American knows it is EXACTLY what you standfor.
George Bush was the "commander-in-chief who won the war on terror".
John Kerry was _______. Whatever he was - wasn’t bad - but we’re still not able to fill in that blank.
HINT!
Think of a one-word label the public can quickly grasp.
"America, I am the Change President!"
Choose one label and let that be the centerpiece. All other things youtalkabout should grow out of this one strong position. And remember - no matter how Rove tries to re-define you, and he will, constantly - make sure this one label sticks to you like glue!
RULE EIGHT
Devote a tremendous amount of time and spend a huge portion of your campaign money finding, recruiting, training and firing up VOLUNTEERS.
If you spend $100 million on TV, you MUST spend $200 million creating a massive, incredibly well coordinated volunteer effort.
Karl Rove used pinpoint research to find and motivate volunteers who went where no campaign had gone before – into parts of Florida where alligators were more likely to vote than people. In Ohio, Rove's volunteers dragged Republicans out of their corporate meetings to make sure they voted! It's why he won and Democrats lost.
Relax. Republicans do NOT own a patent on this type of research! Micro-targeting is used on Madison Avenue every damned day. It doesn’t need to be invented, merely adapted - and money needs to be spent to put it to use!
HINT!
Your volunteers MUST BE MEMBERS OF YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE. These volunteers must attend the same church, go to the same stores and like and dislike the same things your target audience does! Remember, you cannot spend TOO MUCH money or do TOO MUCH demographic homework and research making this happen!
RULE NINE
Do not give Karl Rove any help whatsoever. In other words, not start with as a candidate in a twenty-foot ditch. Rove will never let you escape.
Make damned sure the candidate has the gumption to come out swinging and immediately counter-punch every Swift Boat move Rove tries.
Aggressiveness isn't a suggested requirement. This time, it's mandatory.
HINT!
Work hard against the nomination of anybody who cannot remain strong and stay firm on base issues while also appealing to independents, disaffected Democrats and the disgruntled Republicans - in a convincing, spirited way.
RULE TEN
Stop trying to be All Things To All People. You will fail. There is no way in this great country of ours that you will ever be more than 65% of things to 55% of the people. That’s your goal, by the way. You reach it and you own the White House in 2008.
Karl Rove didn’t bother with liberals or most Democrats. He went after his base and the uncommitted voter and didn’t waste any time or money on anybody else. He also didn’t care what anybody else thought of him or his candidate.
HINT!
By all means, rally your base. Then go figure out what you can actually say to that uncommitted voter who feels abandoned by both parties and by the government in general. Once you've got the message high and tight, spend most of your time and money winning these people over.
And please - take a lesson from Mr. Rove. Don't worry about what hardcore conservatives and the religious right think about what you're saying. They're not voting for you anyway - and they never will. The Republican party could nominate Genghis Kahn or Adolph Hitler and the hardcore right would still feel perfectly justified in voting for either of these individuals.
RULE ELEVEN
Start today. Not later today. NOW!
By the time the Democrats got around to throwing a few punches in 2004, they were defensive punches and way too late.
Importantly, believe Ken Mehlman’s statement that the Republican Party has already targeted 4 million new ‘likely Republican’ voters and they intended to contact each one. If that scares you, good! Get off your ass and go target 5 million "likely Democratic voters" - now!!
HINT!
Don’t put off your homework for tomorrow morning. Collect data and dirt on John McCain. Spend some time NOW figuring out how to effectively use any goodies you turn up.
Have a rapid response team in place NOW that figures out in advance everything they're going to throw at you and is ready with a dozen INSTANT responses that will neutralize their attacks.
Start your micro-targeting machine and make sure it's oiled and chugging happily ten minutes from now. Get your volunteers recruited and organized. Give them one simple message to tell their friends. Then fire them up and tell them not to come home until you're elected.
RULE TWELVE
Keep a copy of these rules by your pillow and read them every night. When you wake up, make damned sure you follow them every day. If you do, you are going to NEUTRALIZE Rove's effectiveness and you are going to give your candidate a fighting chance.
HINT!
Relax. You can use The Rules and still stay true to your ideals. You're just going to be a lot better at effectively communicating what those ideals are.
Just remember one thing above all. Whatever it takes, no matter how much it takes, your job is to win. For America, in the year 2008, winning the election will be the single most important thing you've ever done.