I was involved in a deep conversation/discussion/argument on the merits of various campaigning strategies, and wanted to open it up for public discourse. The main points under debate were as follows:
- Are paid canvassers more effective than volunteer canvassers?
- If more effective, are they sufficiently so to justify them as a campaign expense?
- How much does field matter in a statewide elections, or any election where mass media buys, especially television, are an issue?
- How effective is campaigning, specifically but not limited to field work, before labor day?
- Is scattered regional and field offices more effective than a highly centralized campaign?
Read on....
While I'm sure my opinions will be made clear by any discussion of these topics, I think there are a couple of things worth noting. First off, the differences from election to election are so vast that its hard to pin down anything for certain. For example, its a hell of a lot easier to get volunteers for a presidential race and to make sure they hit all the houses they need to hit than for a house race.
Furthermore, a game plan that works in Michigan will not work in Virginia, which will not work in Montana. I think the most important factor here is not so much the regional differences but whether or not the state has an effective and engrained party mechanism in place. (To go back to the Michigan example, labor will turn out the vote and be your grunt team, your labor, if you will. The party machine will produce the canvasses you need and help with GOTV. In Virginia, on the other hand, most counties haven't had a Democratic canvass since segregation. There are no mechanics in place, and that changes the answers to the above questions.
Lastly, it comes down to a matter of faith. Are you a true believer? Because a true believer is a dangerous thing. Very easily disheartened by the grind, but will be the first and last man behind the candidate. The trick with the true believer is that they can only work for true believer candidates. Otherwise, nobodies happy. They also tend to believe very differently than pragmatist campaigners do.
I think these are very basic questions, though, and the fact that the answer seems so difficult to come by explains a hell of a lot to me about why we don't win elections. Hell, we can't even decide what the average percentage increase of a good field plan is worth on the electoral chess board.