The Problem: One of the happiest results that came out of the Texas Primary was the win by Fighting Dem Vet
Ted Ankrum in TX-10 who led the poll in a field of four. But Ted had a problem. Ted polled the most votes in the primary against 3 other candidates by doing his job in on the ground campaigning, but he faced a runoff (held on April 4/11/06) against another vet, Paul Foreman who is a published author. An analysis of the primary votes showed that Ted did well in the urban areas of Austin and Houston, but fared less well in the rural red counties that ran in a strip between Austin and Houston in the gerrymandered district. Since Ted had been endorsed by all the Dem organizations and by the newspapers, it was clear that it was name recognition in these areas where the folks just did not listen to the radio or read newspapers.
The Winning Strategy: Ted noted that in one of these rural counties where he had done well, there had been a grassroots post card effort. Therefore, he determined that he would use the same method to reach likely voters in the runoff with post cards. The total price? About $6,400. Of course, there is nothing new under the sun. Postcards have been used before effectively. But in this election in which many "Red: districts are being contested, it has proven in Ted's case to be a powerful weapon and is now honed for the General.
The Result: And not only did Ted win, he won in a landslide with 71% of the vote (in the 80s in some counties and one with 88%). Read about it below as described in Ted's own words.
ABOUT TED ANKRUM FOR U.S. CONGRESS (TX-10)
Military service: Captain, U.S. Navy; retired. A 30-year veteran with four tours in Vietnam. He has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, Navy Commendation Medal, Vietnamese Medal of Honor and Cross of Gallantry, Purple Heart; Member of Nuclear Navy Personnel selected by Adm. Rickover. He is a 20% Disabled Veteran. You can see Ted Ankrum's Military Separation Form, DD 214, including Medals, Commendations, Dates, etc. that he received when he retired from active duty and was transferred to the Naval Reserve.
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Texas CD 10 Profile: This is LBJ's original district before he was elected to the Senate. Ted's opponent is Bush rubberstamp and DeLay crony Michael T. "Mike" McCaul. He is a freshman congressman, the most vulnerable of candidates. He won in a district specifically drawn for him by Tom Delay. He has supported Delay in every vote affecting the House Ethics Committee and 95% of the time on all other votes. But this district can be turned Blue.
Endorsements: Ted has been endorsed by every major newspaper in the District. He has been endorsed by every Democratic club that endorses after head-to-head debates between the candidates. He was rated "Highly Qualified" by the Texas Women's Political Caucus. Ted earned VetPAC's (Veterans' Alliance for Security and Democracy) endorsement through his extraordinary commitment to bring integrity back to Congress and his thoughtful stance on issues of foreign policy and national security.
Professional Background: Ted is a Fighting Dem and More. He has a resume that is hard to beat: Off the Cuff's review, says it all. "Ted Ankrum's qualifications for Congress are extensive: NASA Special Assistant to the Director [- the only astronaut to ever head NASA]; Deputy Director of Facilities Engineering, Head of Environmental Compliance. EPA Deputy Director of Superfund Hazardous Waste Cleanup. Carter Administration Dept. of Energy Chief of Conservation and Renewable Energy; Chief of Program Evaluation for Unconventional Oil and Gas Programs. Chief Quality Inspector for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Director of the Congressionally-mandated Report to congress on what went wrong with the Commercial Nuclear Power Industry. [He was a] Clinton Administration Diplomat in Australia."
Education: Ted is an engineer with his B.S. on a navy scholarship from University of Colorado and his MBA from Loyola University on the G.I. Bill. Ted was the first of his family to go to college.
Family: Ted, his wife Ann, two of their four children and all of their grandchildren live in Cypress, Texas. Ted's father was a career Air Force man, and Ted spent most of his boyhood in a number of Texas towns (Grand Prairie, Mineral Wells, and San Antonio) after his father returned from WW II; and both of his sisters were born in Texas. Ted graduated from a High School in Europe, where his father was serving at the time; and went into the military, himself. After serving his country all over the United States and the World, Ted retired and returned to Texas. "I am like many poor boys that joined the Military for a better opportunity and an education. The Navy and this country have been very good to me. I've done my duty before, and I stand ready to do it again."
TED'S STRATEGIC WEAPON -- THE POST CARD
In Ted's own words: In the primary I dominated the field, but did not gain more than 50% and so had to stand in the required runoff. All four candidates ran low-funded campaigns, but one candidate got a lot of local and national media because of his age and slogan. It was Sid "At 95, Who Needs term Limits Smith. He finished third with 15% of the vote. The second place finisher had the same name as a famous boxer, who is on TV all the time plugging his BBQ equipment. Why is this important? Because a name seems to mean a lot to Texas voters when they don't see you on TV. For example, Barbara Radnofsky, who has been campaigning Statewide for the nomination to go against Kay Baily Hutchinson for the past year, was just forced into a runoff by a candidate named "Gene Kelly". Mr. Kelly is a perennial candidate, sometimes filing on the Democratic ballot and sometimes on the Republican. He never campaigns. He is just a name on the ballot. He polled 44% to Ms Radnofsky's 45%.
In Texas, a runoff usually gets half of the original primary voters back. I had thought that the most likely primary voters read the newspaper and knew what the political clubs did. They didn't. Since in one rural district in which I did do well, local grassroots supporters had done a postcard campaign, it seemed that this was the ticket to winning the runoff -- or, down the road, to winning the General Election. I had to get out a postcard to all the primary voters (10,000) to inform them of these things and to capture the 27% that voted for the two candidates that didn't make the runoff, and convert the ones that voted for the other fellow without actually knowing the candidates. I estimated the cost at about $6,400.
For the runoff, we used a postcard to everyone that voted in the primary to introduce them to me and give them some information about me. After the primary, I got digital data of every Dem voter in the primary from each of the eight counties. Printed 12K postcards, mailed 10K for a total cost of $3700 (used bulk mailer, who merged the county lists and purged duplicate addresses for a fee of $345). We followed that up with calls and letters from friends and neighbors urging a vote for me. This was a killer combination. We worked very hard at this, and the results showed it. My thanks to each and every one of the volunteers that have been helping in this effort. The postcard effort was the best money I've spent. It is telling that I did not do postcards in one county and it was the one where I won runoff by least amount (61%). The proof is in the pudding.
Here is a copy of the postcard I sent out and below that the detailed results of the runoff.
Simple but effective.
I was called the winner by the AP an hour after the polls closed in Texas, but I waited to get the final results. Newspapers said I "trounced" Foreman. With all precincts reported, I won the primary runoff with 71% of the vote. In Washington Country I got 88% of the vote and in the 80s elsewhere as well. And an analysis of the results seems to indicate that we had both NEW voters and CROSSOVER voters -- both of which will be vital in the General Election. Therefore, I have become the official Democratic Party Nominee for Texas Congressional District 10. As LBJ's original District before he was elected to the Senate, I do not have words cannot describe how I feel about representing this district. If someone had said to me even eighteen months ago that I would be doing this, I would have laughed -- I only started a year ago.
And now it is on to the "Big Fish". In the General Election Campaign I am running against a Republican Incumbent multimillionaire whose Father-in-Law owns Clear Channel Communications. Leave it to me to run against someone that owns 1200 radio stations and 12 TV stations. But I have the mighty POST CARD for those who do not pay attention to the mass media. And signs and door hangers and a wonderful band of volunteers and friends to make personal calls.
Lessons learned:
1. Best professional advice I had before primary was to do a robocall, for name recognition; and that signs were not important. Robocall was a bust. Will not waste money there again. $1923 for 25,653 calls. 5K live answers, 13K answering machines, 2K disconnected lines, 2.6K hangups (50% of the number of live answers, so I presume that at least 50% of the ans machines were hangups), and 2K no answer.
2. Not only postcards, but yard signs were important for candidates with no name recognition. Many voters did not vote in my race in the primary, and I think many who did, did so because they saw a sign on the way to the polls. Voters don't know anything from reading newspapers. I won in urban areas, particularly Austin, but Foreman had more signs up and he won the sign war. You have to tell them what was in the newspapers, and a postcard worked. I'll repeat this for rural areas. I have a much better volunteer base for the general election, this time, and I'm considering using door hangers in the suburban areas because they are half the cost of a postcard. But in the rural areas, the postcard is our secret weapon.
Primary voters are CERTAIN general election voters. I will certainly repeat my use postcards in the general. There will be three: 1) One for Dem voters, 2) One for independents, and 3) One for Republicans. I will send postcards in that order of priority, with the amount of money I have determining how far I go down the list. Postcard for each group will be very different.
Please help with your Contributions.
Ted Ankrum
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You can read a recent Op-Ed by Ted on Military.com here: A Fools Mission All Over Again