It’s another Saturday, so for those who tune in, welcome to a Saturday Diary of Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic Campaign. Each week, we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns, and once a month we look into “Horrible mistakes you should avoid” (last Saturday of a month). If you’ve missed prior diaries, please visit our group or follow Nuts & Bolts Guide.
For those who have been following, you know that our candidate, Jessica Jones, is preparing her run for a state Senate seat. Jessica has done a pretty good job following the prior steps of this diary series, from making contact to controlling expenses.
Every week I focus on one thing Jessica should be doing, or problems she can avoid. This week we’re going to talk about the necessity of campaign rest, especially in small, down-ballot campaigns. Occasionally, you’ll hear from people like myself about “lazy” campaigns, campaigns that aren’t active at all, they just list themselves on the ballot, and that is it. Maybe they Facebook a few updates. What they aren’t doing is actively engaging the voters, showing up at events, or building community.
Jessica Jones, though, isn’t one of those kinds of candidates. She’s been participating in local events, actively canvassing, attending county and local meetings and making plenty of call time. She’s committed to the race because she wants to win.There is just one thing Jessica needs: to make sure her campaign gives her some time to get good rest, enjoy her family, and avoid campaign anxiety.
This week, we’re going to be discussing the plan for campaign “rest” and how candidates and staff who use rest effectively run better races.
Schedule Downtime for your Volunteers
Campaigns ask a lot of people who work in them, from candidates to volunteers. Volunteers give a lot to your campaign and they aren’t paid well. Remember, Democratic values brought about the five-day work week, and while weekends are a great time to campaign, asking your volunteers or staff to work around the clock with you will lead to burned out, unhappy workers who may love your public values, but view your taskmaster controls as barbaric.
Because the weekends are often the most ideal for canvassing, phone banking, and other services campaigns typically make Friday a rest day. Local campaigns have a tendency to shut down phone calls, take a day off from canvassing, and just give their volunteers and others a break. Unless there is a major news story, Friday is the day where the press is eager to go home, average citizens are ready for the weekend and people want to go out—and not to work.
If your campaign uses a lot of volunteers or paid staff, you can work swing schedules, making sure everyone gets at least two days or more off in a week. Giving people rest means that they will work harder when they do work, and you’ll have less grumbles when you need them. Positive campaigns are where your volunteers and small staff appreciate your efforts show to the public.
Jessica Jones has a small paid staff: her outside consultant, who is managing her mail and data outreach, her scheduler who keeps track of her events, and her advance person/SPOX. Jessica is running for state Senate in a mid-population state so this configuration is pretty normal. If she was running for House, she might only have one paid person, an outside consultant or manager, while she relied on the state party or county party for other resources.
Either way, she will need the help of her volunteers, of which she has many, to do a lot of work for her. The more her volunteers canvass for her, call for her, or do work for her, the more your group becomes a bit like a family—and the better they get at what they do. Repetition improves performance—but that doesn’t mean that volunteers feel obligated to work unfair hours.
Schedule Downtime For Yourself
Candidates choose to run, and they have an obligation to run hard, to make every effort to win the vote. This can mean days of walking, early evening phone calls, nights of meetings and weekends back walking. It’s the life of a candidate.
Jessica Jones, though, has a husband and two great kids. They are part of the reason why Jessica Jones is running, because she wants to make sure her state improves for her children in the future. Jessica doesn’t want to burn out on her own campaign. To avoid that mistake, Jessica Jones should schedule some time, on her own, or with her family, to have downtime and get away from her own campaign.
No matter what race you are running for, there has to be some balance between your personal needs and the needs of the campaign. Managers and consultants want you to work as hard as you can, but they don’t want you to work yourself to the point where anxiety or exhaustion make you a potential problem. No candidate is immune to lower defenses due to exhaustion. Campaigning itself can be exhausting. Public meetings can have individuals who just don’t like you because you are a Democrat. You may run into people who are your greatest ally who can’t stop twisting your ear.
Candidates need to know their limits and be willing to “take a break,” whether they need to read a book, go to a movie, get extra sleep in a day, candidates need to recharge their batteries. Candidates are human beings. Jessica has been working hard with all these events, and on a Friday evening, she just wants to go out to a good movie with her husband, shut down the cell phone, and enjoy a date night with her spouse.
Good candidates often worry or get anxious they aren’t working hard enough, or they feel as though there is still something left “undone” on a Friday or Saturday night. If only they could make a few extra calls, go to a few more doors, attend another meeting. The truth is, a candidate who wakes up the next morning well-rested who had a fun, non-campaign oriented Friday or Saturday night is far more likely to perform better the next day because they’ve had rest, and for at least a bit, they don’t feel as though the campaign has taken over their life.
Constituents Also Need Rest
Ever think you could get volunteers to stay out longer, make more phone calls and it would pay off? There are a lot of people in Jessica Jones’s district and if she just calls a few more of them … remember, your constituents need rest too. They work all day and when they come home, at a certain point they want to go sit on the couch, watch a game, spend an evening with their significant other or kids, and they do not want to be pestered.
Do not knock on doors of homes after dark. Leave people alone—Democrats respect the value of a person’s work and the fact they deserve to be left alone at a certain point. Yes, we want them involved, but you’ll turn off a lot more voters than you motivate if you start showing up at their house at 9 PM or calling them after dark.
Final Thought:
Remember this: the Democratic Party is the home to union and labor who have long argued for the right of individuals to be respected for their work and not put into conditions that are harmful to them. Don’t make your campaign such a burden on anyone that it would be the kind of work environment you wouldn’t sign onto. You want a sane, happy, ready to work campaign. Not a campaign that is tired, agitated and annoyed.
So, take some time in your campaign to rest. Have a special evening with your significant other. Go read a book and not think about the campaign for a few hours. You’ll be better off for it.
Next week on Nuts & Bolts: “Who Am I? The value of oppo research of yourself.” Later today, I’m posting “Just bolts, a guide to the lingo.” This will not be a traditional diary, but a glossary of terms that several had asked for in order to define roles within a campaign, what they mean, and how they come into play. Done for several candidates who asked.
Nuts & Bolts: Building Democratic Campaigns
Contact the Daily Kos group Nuts and Bolts by kosmail (members of Daily Kos only).
Every Saturday this group will chronicle the ins and outs of campaigns, small and large. Issues to be covered: Campaign Staffing, Fundraising, Canvass, Field Work, Data Services, Earned Media, Spending and Budget Practices, How to Keep Your Mental Health, and on the last Saturday of the month: “Don’t Do This!” a diary on how you can learn from the mistakes of campaigns in the past.
You can follow prior installments in this series HERE.