Retooling the Democratic machine

by | Feb 9, 2017 | Editor's Blog, Politics | 4 comments

Democrats have long way to go to get out of the hole they’re in. In the last seven years, they’ve lost both Houses of Congress and the presidency. They’ve lost 1,000 legislative seats and Republicans now control two-thirds of state legislative chambers across the country. In addition, thirty-three of the nation’s governors are Republican.

In North Carolina, after devastating losses in 2010 and 2012, Democrats have done a little better. They’ve added seats in the state House in 2014 and 2016 and unseated a Republican incumbent governor, no mean feat. Still, there’s work to be done.

Before they will become competitive again, Democrats need to reform their election machinery from top to bottom. Party committees and caucuses have developed a consultant-driven campaign model that restricts innovation and rewards failure. As the world moves through a communications revolution, Democrats continue to rely on tools that worked well a decade or more ago, but don’t get the job done today.

The party has created a top-down approach to campaigns, with direction coming from caucus organizations in Washington or state capitols. They control the structure, the hiring, the message, and the budget. Strategic decisions are often driven by consultants who have more interest in tactics than strategy. A great ad or 2,500 points of television or 10 pieces of mail are tactical. Figuring out the coalition necessary to reach 50% plus one and determining the most cost efficient ways to reach and persuade the various audiences is strategic. Democrats have become more of a tactical party than a strategic one.

Television and direct mail continue to be the primary vehicles for message delivery in Democratic campaigns from state legislature to the White House. While they certainly still have a place in the toolbox, their impact is becoming increasingly limited. Both mail and television depend on driving a message instead of engaging voters. The rise of cable news and social media is creating an audience that is suspicious of messages delivered by campaigns or third party groups.

Democrats should spend more resources on digital communications, especially to reach the younger voters important to their coalition. Social media is more about creating sharable content than force feeding a message to a target audience. It’s as much about organizing as it is about persuading but it’s far more decentralized than traditional message delivery. It’s using supporters to encourage people to join a campaign.

Democrats prided themselves on their data operations but there’s evidence that Republicans, or at least Trump, surpassed them in 2016. Data that Democrats have needs to be more fully integrated into campaigns. It’s not just to target messages. Data should drive canvassing conversations, improve fundraising, and become more part of the research now dominated by polling and focus groups.

To succeed, Democrats need a new generation of operatives trained in modern techniques of organizing and communicating. Instead of sending managers and staff from other states, the party needs to train campaign operatives in states where they live. Democrats need to build an army of people, particularly in competitive states, who can run campaigns and build on their knowledge cycle after cycle.

We still need party committees, but they need to be updated, too. Their role should be more oversight and less micromanaging. They should be working to build local operatives and consultants instead of protecting the consultant class in Washington. Instead of centralizing messaging and operations, they should be tailoring them to specific districts and campaigns.

Democrats need to retool. Republicans have built campaign organization that are more decentralized and use more local talent. Democrats should do the same. They should also do a better job of keeping up with modern communications. This year, businesses will spend more on digital advertising than they do on television. Most campaigns continue to put far more than half of their advertising budgets on TV. Consultants who have a vested interest in communicating on a particular medium have no business driving budgetary decisions in campaigns.

These changes will be difficult because they require an organizational culture change in a risk averse industry with an entrenched group of stakeholders. Unlike businesses, campaigns only get one shot at a sale. If they make mistakes, they’re out of business. That mentality discourages risk and experimentation. In addition, the party would need to pry itself loose from the grasp of consultants who’ve created a billion dollar industry and have a vested in interest in preserving the status quo. It’s not going to be an easy journey.

4 Comments

  1. Bridget McCurry

    Non profits, especially environmental non profits, were texting young people last fall. I know you have to get permission for a campaign to send a text. But I think that ‘permission’ can be garnered by pushing a meme that says ‘text yes to 12344 if you think ____’. So, if you tailored your asks, such as to environmentalists, feminists, etc, you could text them messages, in the form of memes, sparingly, to keep connected to them. By October 1, you could text, If you live at xyz, the early voting site nearest your home….’.

  2. Stephen Lewis, Sr.

    The party has two wings in this state and always has. Sometimes the two wings work together but right now there is a lot of mistrust between them. Nearly a century ago the two factions consisted of two families one out of Burlington the other out of Shelby. Those fights were somewhat brutal, but back then Democrats so outnumbered Republicans that they could afford to be that brutal. Today Burlington is a Republican stronghold and Shelby is only slightly better. When I first registered to vote in 1984 75% of the voters were registered Democrats, today less than 50% are. Back then the Republican party consisted of Textile Executives in the foothills, Myers Park corporate lawyers, Scalawags from the Northwestern part of the state. Some counties that once identified with the Whig party in the northern Piedmont and the cattle industry who had no voice with the Democrats because the Pig and Chicken industry were so dominant in the Democratic party. Today it is not the case anymore.

    I would like to see the party stop fighting some of these outdated fights thing are getting ready to happen and the party better get with it. Nationally I think the Nancy Pelosi needs to announce she is retiring after this term, and the next nominee for president does not need to be Hillary, Al Gore, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or Joe Biden. It needs to be someone fresh. And we need to move on.

  3. Dorothy Verkerk

    So ncdp skipped out of the historic March last Saturday to elect an insurance guy who lost his election bid. Wow. Wet your finger, hold it up, and see which way the wind is blowing. It is fierce, it is dedicated and it will leave the ncdp behind if they don’t set their sails.

  4. Norma Munn

    Even this old person throws the political mailers in the trash immediately, and avoids the TV ads as often as possible. I do, however, at least click on the email. Sometimes to my regret, so if someone sends me boring or shrill emails, I tend to put them in the “will do later – maybe” category. Consequently, I agree with you about where the communications has to come from.
    As for “message”, would someone please, please, please tell people running for office to answer questions briefly, and stop using every question to come back to what they think is their message. Drives many of us nuts. That approach assumes stupidity on the part of the listener, which is dangerous regardless of whether it may have some reality to it.
    Finally, inspiration is essential, so at the risk of getting hurt, anyone running for office has to tell me something about their heart, as well as their mind. And it better be real, not concocted for public consumption. Especially hard for women, and Hillary’s losing will not make it any easier.
    As for the consultants, I have worked in enough political campaigns to know that local is essential. No substitute for that awareness, nor for the connections that can help if things are going wonky — as they always will at some point. I watched an out of state, out of city, advance team put a political banner across the entrance to Central Park the night before the marathon. Sounds great. Every TV camera cover that, several times. But, all hell broke loose. No one, and I mean, no one politicizes the NYC Marathon. Banner was down within the hour, but still made brief bad news. Everyone in the office, volunteer and paid, could have told them not to do it. Not the first, nor last time, I saw outside consultants/advance teams roil the waters.
    I hope those in Raleigh and DC are listening to all this good advice from the rest of the country. Finding a little passion for us, and not just their roles/media contacts, etc. would be helpful.

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