The Field Issue
Inside: NGP leader thinks Dems have field edge, how to do field down-ballot, managing a field program, how to grow your field operations
How will winning campaigns harness digital?
That’s the question on the table at Digital Campaign Summit on May 9-10, where the campaign industry’s best digital operative are assembling to talk about what works, what doesn’t and set’s successful digital campaigns apart.
To learn more and secure your ticket to the digital campaign event of the year just click here.
1 - “I think it’s going to be absolutely critical to our success in 2024.”
NGP VAN’s General Manager Chelsea Peterson Thompson sat down with C&E’s Editor Sean J. Miller to talk field in 2024, and why she thinks Democrats have an advantage: friends in high places.
Influencer outreach and AI-generated digital content are the outreach tactics that have gotten the most attention as 2024 has gotten underway. But Peterson Thompson insists that campaigns discount traditional field organizing at their own peril.
“I think it’s critical to success, at every level of the ballot,” she said, pointing to how her children’s school reaches out to her. “I get emails from both of my [kids’ schools]. I get follow-up text messages, I get robocalls. If I’m on Zoom at work, I’m missing all of them,” she said. “But if somebody comes to our door, we’re much more likely to answer it.
“So when I even think about what would be the best way to reach me or my wife, that’s the way to do it right now because we’re getting so much just from school and soccer and all those other things out there.”
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2 - How to make 2024 a great year for field organizing
C&E’s tech columnist Colin Delany has advice for down ballot campaigns on how to leverage a historic opportunity for field organizing. But he has a warning, they need to start early.
For down-ballot candidates, a normal presidential year can cut both ways. Yes, many more voters will turn out than in an off-year election, particularly in states deemed battlegrounds by the strategists-that-be. In those areas, state and local campaigns may rise or fall based on factors largely beyond their control, including the quality and quantity of GOTV investment from the national campaigns, from independent-expenditure groups or from the state party.
Campaigns outside the battlegrounds will have to do much of the turnout work themselves, unless they happen to enjoy high-functioning state parties or allies. Few local campaigns will be able to count on much in the way of media coverage, since the presidential and congressional races will suck up most of the attention. Even ad placement may be a problem, particularly for campaigns without the early budget to reserve TV space well in advance of the big guys.
If this were the year 2000, down-ballot candidates might be in a bit of a pickle. But in 2024, campaigns can enjoy the benefits of a quarter century of tactical and technical GOTV innovation.
3 - Managing your field program
Do what’s tried and tested. That’s advice you hear a lot in campaigns. And often for good reason. So we’re turning the clock back to a piece written for C&E in 2011 that lays out three key factors in managing your field program.
Build the program first, then the team. You’ve developed a goal to, say, “supplement the presidential field operation with a strong rural persuasion program,” or to “engage grass-tops leaders in fourteen districts for in-person meetings, radio call-ins, and op-eds.” With that goal in mind it’s time to plan the “how.”
Field staff can to utilize many tools—volunteer calls, door knocks, staff calls, paid canvasses, events and more. Figure out what your staff needs to be doing to meet their goal. If it’s all of the above—prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. And once you know just what your staff will be focused on, hire the right people for that job. Good canvass directors don’t always make good volunteer recruiters. Good volunteer recruiters don’t always do grass-tops organizing well.
Remember: You can train staff as long as they’re willing to learn, but you can’t teach attitude and work ethic and you can’t fix bad habits if they’re already ingrained.
Also, be skeptical of “local relationships” warranting a higher level of compensation. Sure, it’s different than your home state, but it’s not that different. Most of your local field activists will have a group of people that love them, and a group that clearly doesn’t. If the former is larger than the latter, then the local staffer brings knowledge and relationships to the team. There’s value in that, just don’t get carried away.
7 ways to grow your field program
Ash Wright, former political director and Texas Victory director for the George P. Bush Campaign for Texas Land Commissioner shares his seven tips for growing your field program.
Since running my first field office a decade ago in Houston, Texas, many aspects of campaigning have changed. At the time, the best technology we had included flip phones, bubble sheets and stacks of paper with call notes waiting to be hand-entered into VoterVault by volunteers or staff.
By 2010, there were vast improvements in campaign technology when I worked for the RNC Victory campaign in New Mexico. VOIP phones and walk books were considered innovative. Across the country, both parties made millions of phone calls and worked to collect data and build turnout models that are now archaic.
Today, in the age of GPS-equipped walking software on our smart phones, real-time data collection and advanced turnout modeling, it’s easy to think campaigns have changed. In reality, working with volunteers has not. We may communicate in different ways, but the need for leadership in your campaign and field offices hasn’t changed. Here are some ways to help build and manage a successful volunteer army:
1. Understand motivation.
Working with volunteers is one of the most challenging aspects of campaign work. But when we take the time to ask volunteers personal questions, field representatives can get a better understanding of their motivations. What drives them? Why are they supporting your candidate?
The more we understand our volunteers, the better we can lead them. The first thing you ask a new recruit should never be, Can you walk or call for me? Always lead with at least two personal questions and they’ll work twice as hard for you.
A field team is more likely to recruit and retain volunteers by listening to their personal stories and beliefs then pontificating about the importance of volunteer work.
2. Spread credit around.
For the field director, your field office(s) will be more successful if you forget about personal glory and focus on helping others maximize their potential.
You don’t always need the credit and, often times, passing the credit to your staff will motivate them and benefit you in the long run. This is the method of management that’s been employed by some of the greatest leaders in history, and is the same method used today by great leaders who are far from the spotlight.
3. Keep complaints to a minimum.
One of the biggest traps campaign staff fall into is complaining about campaign resources, leadership and the candidate to volunteers and supporters. This is a critical mistake because it diminishes the volunteer’s belief and commitment to the team. By learning to be low maintenance and use available resources, staff can ask the same of volunteers during the final weeks of the election.
4. Promote teamwork.
In your field office, every volunteer is an extension of the other. Every field team has volunteers who are dedicated and others who, unfortunately, devalue the team’s work. We have to accept they’re all connected and will feed off of each other. If the majority of the team is work-oriented that will help the marginally motivated to perform higher numbers. Using volunteers to motivate volunteers will increase the whole team’s production.
5. Make changes quickly.
If you need to terminate someone, do it quickly and with little drama. But don’t use those instances to instill fear into staff. While that might get people to work harder in the short term, longer term it will only foster resentment toward leadership.
The most important type of feedback is praise. We need to celebrate big and little moments for volunteers and staff. Praise staff big during the first months of the campaign, and they will remember at the end of the campaign.
6. Always prioritize individual meetings.
While individual meetings are more time consuming than a conference call, email or text, they’re worth it. Communication is the heart of success for the volunteer-and-staff partnership. We need to take time to make every person feel valuable if we’re going to retain them through a cycle or more. Every meeting should cover a clear topic and finish with clear goals for the volunteer.
7. Hand out titles.
Outlining a clear role for every volunteer and assigning tasks to accomplish these goals will help them be more effective. Regardless of skill level, each volunteer should have a title within your office. By working hard and adding volunteer hours, promotions can be gained. Give volunteers something to brag about outside the office and they’ll soon be recruiting other volunteers for you.
Editor’s picks
C&E announces the 2024 Reed Award winners (C&E)
Biden’s campaign is in trouble. Will the turnaround plan work? (Time)
Hal Malchow, data-minded Democratic strategist, dies at 72 (WaPo)
Campaign despair is crushing our mental health (CNN)
The viral ‘bloodbath’ clip and the rise of the liberal video influencer (Semafor)
Hats, T-shirts and dolls reflect outgoing Mexican president’s outsized presence in upcoming election (AP)
A simpler time that as never so simple
Have a piece of campaign memorabilia you think our readers would enjoy? Reply to this email and tell us about it.
This week Rob Hennings of McCarthy Hennings Whalen shares a gift from a friend that reminds him of how campaigns have changed (and how they haven’t).
About 10 years ago, a dear friend from college was sorting through some items at her parents’ home and came across a campaign poster that had been stashed away. She thought of me as someone who would appreciate political memorabilia, and gave it to me as a kind of housewarming gift. I appreciated the gift for the kind thought. I also admired the poster for its relative simplicity and for the many ways it reminds me how things in our business have changed – and yet from a “big picture” messaging standpoint, how many things are really still the same. I am sure that many people look back at this era as a simpler time, but for those of us who lived through it, we know that the stakes were high – and it was anything but simple.