CHAPTER VII District Spadework, Choosing a Candidate, Caucusing

Even an excellent candidate can lose by neglecting the basic rule that elections are won with votes and votes are in the precincts. Don't attempt to elect a candidate until you have built up a precinct organization.

Selecting a Candidate:

1. Suitability - "sound" on issues from the viewpoint of you and your party; unquestionable character and integrity; record of unselfish public service; intelligence, education and experience.

2. Availability - able and willing to devote enough time and hard work to the campaign and able to afford the financial sacrifice of holding office.

3. Electability - if suitable and available a candidate is usually electable provided he has acquired immunity to "candidatitis" - a form of buck fever peculiar to inexperienced candidates, their managers, and their families - and provided he is willing to be managed in all respects save his stand on public issues. The superficial aspects of electability are usually quite unimportant. A suitable, available, and electable man is unlikely to want the job - you must seek him out and convince him that his sacrifice could be worth while, through the reasonableness of your plans and budget, by your analysis of the district, and by the strength of your precinct organization.

Budgets should be prepared and funds raised before your candidate announces.

Caucusing: Caucusing is a democratic process whereby like-minded individuals agree to work unanimously to a common end; it is a usual method for getting political associates behind one candidate. Unanimity is the essence of caucusing. The original

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terms by which the caucus is bound cannot be changed other than by unanimous consent - these terms must be clear to everyone before the caucus is signed.

There are no circumstances under which a man may honorably break a caucus. Be sure what you are signing - then don't kid yourself later!

You are justified in using any available legal means to enforce a caucus once bound.

If you cannot get a strong caucus behind your favorite candidate then he is not yet ready to run nor you to manage. Drop back and be a precinct worker for another candidate.

CHAPTER Vill The Grass-Roots Campaign

Two Rules f or Effective Campaigning:

(a) Is the action directed at specific, individual votes?

(b) If not, is it directed at your own district? Can it be done without sacrificing anything under (a)? Can it be done with minimum effort and at no cost? If it costs anything at all is it covered by your original plans and budget?

Effective Methods: Anything which goes after an individual vote, especially:

(a) canvassing by the candidate

(b) canvassing by precinct workers

(c) canvassing by the manager Put the candidate on a 40-hour week of doorbell-pushing for three months; the manager should canvass two afternoons per week.

Ineffective Methods: Meeting outside the district, signs outside the district, radio speeches.

Borderline Methods: Meetings inside the district, publicity by signs, newspapers, and radio spot plugs.

The Campaign Committee: Use a large "public committee" for advertising purposes, the officers of which have nominal duties and have been selected to

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represent the community - Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and minority groups. The working committee is the candidate, manager, money raiser, publicity man, field supervisors, and precinct workers.

Headquarters: Public, swank headquarters are a waste of money. You need nothing but floor space, chairs and tables, a typewriter and a telephone. Take drastic measures to keep the telephone from being used for toll calls except by specific authority of the

manager.

Campaign Funds: Handle by check, require two signatures out of three, provide an audit.

Unavoidable Types of Expense: Filing fee, printing, postage, telephone bills, election night party

refreshments.

Conditional Types of Expense: Signboard rental, newspaper display advertising, handbill distribution, salaries of publicity director and office person, lunch money and car fare for volunteers, radio spot plugs, extra personal political expenses of candidate and

manager. No other types of expense should be tolerated in a

volunteer grass-roots campaign.

Training and Management of Precinct Workers: Form a club with membership limited absolutely to doorbell-pushers; build its morale in every possible way. Be lavish in praise. Require the candidate to spend all evening at the weekly meeting of this club without fail.

Split your workers into area squads often or less using the best leader talent available. Train them at dub meetings, in the field by sending freshmen out with old hands, and by means of photocopied instructions.

Emphasize recording and filing all doorbell data for

election day follow-up.

Never canvas "blind"-use lists. Afairly accurate list of members of your party who vote in primaries may be prepared from official records of voters "signing the

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book." Don't tackle a primary campaign until you have prepared such a list.

CHAPTER IX Landmarks and Booby Traps

Don't waste volunteers on the blanket distribution of political literature.

"Volunteers" who won't or can't punch doorbells

should be worked hard at office work. Don't let them

lounge in headquarters - especially the Big Operator.

Make people come to see you - unless it's your idea.

Insist that the candidate conform to your discipline.

Lay it on the line!

Brace yourself for phonies, sell-outs, and other disappointments.

Publicity: If humanly possible, get a professional publicity man.

Never mention your opponent by name, neither in printing, signs, meetings, nor in doorbell pushing. Don't budget too much money to newspaper ads and publicity.

Short radio spot plugs during the last week may be worth the money.

Prefer 6-sheets to 24-sheets. One-sheets, half-sheets, quarter-cards, and bumper strips are cheap and useful.

The prime purpose of publicity is to strengthen the morale of your workers and supporters by creating a bandwagon atmosphere. Publicity gets very few votes but it keeps the campaign from dropping out of sight. Pinch the pennies - publicity can bankrupt you.

Party Harmony: A successful primary fight is worthless if it splits open your party. Keep it clean!

A party-wide Sunday breakfast club is a cheap and easy way to keep the party factions friendly during the primary.

Scouting and Heckling: Scout opponent's public meetings for information; heckle only to nail a lie. For

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heckling use well-dressed, well-mannered, small women who can keep their tempers and their wits under stress. Train them to attack the lie and not the liar.

In coping with a heckler, treat him with great politeness and insist that he talk himself out. Then refute him after he has returned to his seat.

If possible, give direct unequivocal answers to questions from the floor. If the question is irrelevant, impertinent, or loaded, counter-attack by demanding details from the questioner and publicly set a date for a (private) meeting with the questioner to permit detailed investigation.

Don't use the above device to duck a proper issue, even though embarrassing.

Sampling a District: Cultivate skill in predicting election results by making and recording all possible predictions, then examine your results in the postmortem. Try to analyze your mistakes.