Have you ever seen a political campaign say "we've got enough money, donate elsewhere?" Me either.
The conventional wisdom is more money means you win. Hillary Clinton raised over a billion dollars, approximately double what Donald Trump raised. Trump won. Amy McGrath raised 37 million, over double what Mitch McConnell raised. McConnel won by 20 points. And in both those campaigns as well as every other their primary ask down to election day was for more money.
Money is unquestionably important. It's critical up to the amount that funds a decent campaign. It's important up to the amount needed for a useful level of advertising. But after that point it's not only a waste, but it diverts from useful efforts.
Why the all consuming focus on money? Maybe because it's easily measurable. Maybe because it is a simple answer that allows people to continue on efforts that are familiar & easy. Maybe because it's what people know. But it's detrimental to campaigns.
Once a campaign has a reasonable amount of money, what's the most important thing they need from voters? No, not more money. They need the voters to help on two key efforts. First, to get all people that would vote Democratic to actually vote. Second, to get people that are persuadable to select the Democratic candidates and then actually vote.
At the same time, when campaigns are trying to get people to cast their vote and to select the Democratic candidates on the ballot who is the most effective at making this happen? No not a TV ad, it's their friends & family. Asking people to donate money to run a TV ad to accomplish the same is incredibly ineffective compared to the direct route.
So what should be done? As a campaign approaches a reasonable amount of money (which is a lot less than every campaign will claim it is), the emails, should all be focused on getting supporters to talk to friends & family. The website should have two main calls to action - for those learning to go through the issues, why they're important, and where the candidate is on them. The second CTA should be for supporters to reach out to friends & family. And the digital ads - same two CTAs as the website, probably with most on the first - where the candidate is on the policies.
The party also needs to put a giant effort in on the door to door for the state legislative candidates - in all districts. Because a vote for that legislator is also a vote for the state wide candidates. In a safe district, that vote is every bit as powerful. In a Republican district a flipped vote is doubly powerful. And this close to home campaigning is incredibly powerful. And much more useful than the candidate taking time to raise money for one additional mailer.
And if you do want to donate, do so where the campaign is underfunded. But much more valuable is if you go door to door for a state legislative candidate and talk to your family & friends.
Candidates who get it - the following if you go to their websites you are not presented with a big contribute form. They ask you to volunteer. There's a contribute button but the big CTA is for volunteers. My prediction is the following will win because they realized that enlisting volunteers is more valuable then money.
- Steve Sisolak - Governor of Nevada
- {please let me know of any other examples in the comments}
