Bumper stickers may seem inconsequential . But the willingness of people to put the name of a candidate on their car is a sign of commitment. They add to the visibility of the campaign and the candidacy. And enough of them, particularly in comparison to the lack of visibility of those of an opponent, can help with the bandwagon affect, that this is a candidacy going places, one to which others will also want to commit themselves. Conversely, the lack of bumper sticker may indicate a candidacy which lacks appeal, or is simply too disorganized to get materials out to those who wish to support.
I can offer you my personal experience. When it comes to bumper stickers, the Webb for Senate campaign is now getting its act together.
Regular readers of this space know that I have been an advocate of Jim Webb running for the Senate since several months before he finally declared. I am not a paid campaign staffer, but I am a committed volunteer. I have done a variety of tasks for the campaign, including serving as an advisor on educational policy. I have tabled and made phone calls. I have a yard sign on his behalf on my busy front street. We have bumper stickers on both of our cars, put signs in the windows when we park them. I have a t-shirt and campaign buttons. And yesterday I did a mailing.
The campaign has taken a while to get going after winning the primary. Jim got into that campaign late, at the end of February, and was outspent by his opponent close to 3-1 and yet still won a solid victory. His margin would have ben larger except for an organized effort by Republican to help his opponent, someone viewed by the Allen supporters as a far weaker opponent. Since then the campaign has been raising money, beefing up staff, putting together a plan and a budget, contacting volunteers, doing all the things that are part of building a successful campaign.
Yesterday I spent several hours helping get out a mailing - of bumper stickers. New ones had come in and been stuffed in envelopes, onto which address stickers had been placed. My task, with some occasional help from other volunteers who were between tasks, was to get stamps on each envelope. Then, at the insistence of the volunteers, we had staff print up return address labels which we also affixed. Shortly before 5 PM we took them the a nearby post office. In the next few days 1510 people around nation will be receiving their brand new Webb for Senate bumper stickers. The vast majority will of course go to Virginia, but as put on the stamps I noticed several hundred going to almost every state in the union (as far away as Alaska) and to Canada. A few perhaps will be to people who collect political paraphernalia. Most of the out-of-state mailing was to people who are financial supporters, and willing to show their pride in supporting this good man. It is something of a sign of the national appeal of Jim's candidacy.
I also saw addresses from all over the commonwealth. And I recognized some names that went along with those addresses. A few were people I personally knew - at least two were those I know from Quaker Meeting, others were names I have seen in the news, including one prominent former government official who had attempted to prevent the misuse of intelligence by the administration in the runup to war.
I also had dinner with a fellow volunteer, one who helps coordinate tabling and visibility. He had just come back from delivering campaign materials - including bumper stickers, shirt stickers, fans, palm cards and the like, to several sites around the state. There has been a pent-up demand by people who want to show their support of Jim Webb. And there was also a demand for material to have as volunteers cover events around the state. Here in Northern Virginia we have people at all except the tiniest of the many Farmers' Markets. Every County Fair, every ethnic festival sees a group of Webb volunteers with literature and other material.
As I was working in headquarters yesterday I got a sense of the vibrancy of the campaign. I was able to hear as people followed up with volunteers, to assess their background and their interest, to get them committed to staffing various activities. There were walk-in volunteers, who were quickly vetted and then put to work. I could hear phone banking to generate support, with the traditional ringing of a bell each time we got a commitment from a voter. During one 10 minute stretch all except one of the calls made by the 6 volunteers working on that task resulted in the ringing of a bell.
There was another kind of phoning. Jim is going to Chicago and Los Angeles for two major fundraisers next week. The one is Chicago is being hosted by two very prominent Senators who clearly want Jim as their colleague, Democratic Whip Dick Durbin and the very charismatic Barack Obama. The one in Los Angeles is largely focused on the entertainment community - remember, Jim has worked in Hollywood, having written material used for movies and been involved at the producing end. The calls for these two events were followup calls to people who had been invited but not yet responded. I made a couple of calls for the Los Angeles event. When I heard about it I asked to see the contact list. There were many well-known people. There were also several people I personally knew, so I offered to call them. One, a high school classmate, is one of the top agents in Hollywood. He has another commitment that evening but is considering giving a major contribution to the campaign. The other is someone in the sports industry whom I know as a college alumnus who may or may not come, and will try to decide over the weekend.
The news media often evaluates the health of a campaign by only two measures, polling data and how much money you have raised. The two are often related, because money is what enables one to advertise to raise name recognition and increase the candidate's standing in the polls. Jim Webb has trailed his opponent in every single poll. Given that George Felix (he hates that middle name) Allen has served as a Congressman, Governor, and Senator, his name recognition is widespread and deep, whereas Jim Webb is still unknown to over half of the residents of Virginia. That will change. We are not overly concerned by recent polls showing Jim trailing. When voters are pushed as to their preference, the uncommitteds often break heavily in Jim's favor, and when positive characteristics are offered about each man and people learn that Jim was an early opponent of the war, served as Navy Secretary and is a highly decorated (including Silver and Bronze Stars) veteran, the gap between the two men shrinks to less than the margin of error. This race is winnable, if Jim has enough money to be competitive.
And that is the good news. The last FEC reporting cycle was as of the end of June, only two weeks after a primary in which as noted Jim was heavily outspent. At that point there was not much in the bank, and people expressed concern that we would not be able to compete financially. Many in the Allen campaign have begun to get a bit smug on that point, especially as Jim has publicly made clear that he does not like the fundraising part of politics. He often talks about coming from a culture where it is impolite to ask for money for himself. He and I have talked about this, and he understands that there is a different way of looking at it: he is in this campaign because we - grass roots people like Todd Smyth and Lowell Feld and others - asked him to get into the race. He represents our hopes for having a Senator who is not simultaneously running for president, who will represent the people and not the corporations. He is asking us for money so he can represent us.
And let me assure you, this campaign will have sufficient money. I know the fundraising figures for last month - they are impressive. There will be no additional FEC report until October, so there will be no public statement as to the total raised. The campaign expects that the Allen campaign will discount any statement we make about how solid our fundraising is as wishful thinking on our part, and we are happy to have them think that way. Party organizations such as DSCC and DNC know how well we are doing, and thus know this is a campaign worthy of supporter, a real chance to pick off a seat currently held by a Republican.
And editorial boards and news coverage is also beginning to help. When Allen's campaign manager attacked Jim for opposing the flag desecration amendment several newspapers in Republican areas offered some criticism of the Allen camp, including one political campaign contrasting Jim's military service on behalf of this country to Allen's lack of service. In the debate before the Virginia bar Association Allen sandbagged Jim with a question ab out "Craney Island" down in Hampton Roads, trying to give the impression that Jim didn't know about an important local Virginia issue, one with serious economic possibilities for the region. Well, recently the Virginia Pilot, the most important newspaper in Hampton Roads, pointed out that Craney Island is useless without a major upgrade of infrastructure, starting with roads, and that Allen has opposed almost every attempt to upgrade the roads in the area, and upgrade without which, as the paper put it, Craney Island will remain nothing more than a mosquito infested dump.
I think the Webb campaign is about to move into the next gear. I am gratified by what I saw and heard yesterday. The website has just been reorganized and upgraded, and more and updated content is being constantly added.
The Democrats need at least 6 seats to take over the Senate, assuming we hold all current Democratic seats. According to hotline, the 5 best opportunities are PA,MT, MO, OH and RI. We all know that. The real question has been where could we find the 6th. It is gratifying to see Jack Carter starting to close the gap in Nevada. Some look to TN and the charisma of Harold Ford Jr. I would argue the best bet is Virginia. Jim Webb is the kind of candidate who grows on people as they get to know him. He is generating a huge response of people who want to help, whether by volunteering, putting signs on their lawn, or even putting bumper stickers on the car.
We do need money. If you have some extra and are looking for a place where it can help make a difference, consider going to Jim's website and making a contribution.
After all, we need money to keep printing and distributing those bumper stickers. I'd be happy to spend another day getting them out to supporters. So if you do go to the website and contribute, consider asking for a bumper sticker as well. Maybe then the next time I do such a mailing, I will recognize your name and address on the envelope.
Have a nice weekend.