Déjà vu All Over Again?

The 2010 off-year elections are hard upon us, and the there are many hopeful signs for Republicans: the base is energized, the opposition continues to flounder, younger voters (who tend to vote more liberal) may well stay home, and the Obama tidal wave is spent and receding.

This all bodes well for Republican challenger candidates, but if you are running, plan to run, helping a candidate, or plan to help a candidate you must learn from our past successes. Keep in mind the entire campaign cycle and preserve resources for the end when voters are finally focusing intently on the election. You need to finish strong: your message needs to penetrate for maximum impact at the very end. Repeated, repeated, repeated, often enough so that voters are truly familiar with it and feel that it is important enough to vote for

Candidate just starting out usually have three basic questions:

1. What do I say?

2. What do I do?

3. How do I pay for it?

Here are (hold your hat) thirty pieces of advice for a challenger candidate's first thirty days. The first thirty days in a new candidate's first campaign can be crucial to the last thirty days of the campaign. Let’s return to the three crucial questions: 1)What do I say?, 2)What do I do?, 3)How do I pay for it?

This all bodes well for Republican challenger candidates, but if you are running, plan to run, helping a candidate, or plan to help a candidate you must learn from our past successes. Keep in mind the entire campaign cycle and preserve resources for the end when voters are finally focusing intently on the election. You need to finish strong: your message needs to penetrate for maximum impact at the very end. Repeated, repeated, repeated, often enough so that voters are truly familiar with it and feel that it is important enough to vote for.

Part 1:

What do I say?

Candidates must be very careful in thinking through why they are running in the first place.

Start with some basic self examination. Why am I doing this? And what do I want to accomplish? You have to be very careful when running for public office. You want to be perceived as somebody who wants to DO something, not someone who wants to BE something. You are not running so you can be a congressman. You are running because you want to help change things. The "Why You Are Running" requires some careful thought, because you are going to be required to answer that question over and over again. Do you want to be able to look the questioner in the eye and honestly explain that "why?" It's an important part of your message. It establishes the credibility of the messenger.

# 1. Examine thyself before preparing to answer the "why," as in why you are running.

How do I talk about my candidacy to friends and associates?

Keep in mind a couple of things when approaching friends and associates about your desire to run for public office. You want to demonstrate the genuineness of your feelings and the commitment that you're making. But they already know you. They have some knowledge of the inner workings in your heart and mind, of what motivates you and what you care about. Let them know that you want their advice as well as their support. You respect them, you value them. So this is not a one-sided conversation:

· You want their candid analysis of your strengths and weaknesses as a candidate.

· You want their advice for campaigning and their help with the campaign itself.

· Know what you want to ask them as well as what you want to tell them.

· Above all, listen and ­hear them.

Your close friends may be critical of your decision to run, but keep in mind if you're going to be a candidate you need to have confidence in your own ability. Some of the barriers your friends might raise are things you must overcome with the electorate as well, so it's good to start with friends.

#2. Ask friends and associate why a particular negative is true and make them a part of the solution if you can.

How do I talk to party leaders?

How do they view you and what do they need to hear?" First understand this: party leaders are not the end all and be all in campaigns. Their influence is continuing to decline because of the power of old and new media. Still they can have influence. They probably can't help as much as you'd like - but they can hurt you. You definitely want to give them the courtesy of letting them know that you are running and ask for their support. Even if they say they cannot give it because there is a primary contest, or whatever, they will certainly respect you for asking them.

Many of them have worked in the political vineyards for the Republican Party for a long, long time. They don't ask for much, but like anyone, they appreciate being appreciated. So don't be shy about letting them know that you value what they do and what they've accomplished. The greatest praise you can give someone is to ask for advice. Party leaders want to know what you're planning to do and how you hope to win. They won't think much of your chances if you don't have enough sense to ask for advice from experts - namely party leaders like themselves.

Party leaders are looking for a winner. They judge you, even if they're not judgmental, on that issue. Above all, are you a winner? You need to be able to speak confidentially about your credentials without seeming like a braggart. You need to be able to talk about the differences between your opponent and yourself without seeming overly negative.

Now if you were in a party primary, most party leaders are trying to stay neutral. Don't despair. Party primaries should not discourage you. Not at all. Generally speaking primaries are a positive thing. They usually get more people involved, create excitement, and as a result of more controversy, there's more media coverage ­free advertising in effect. Naturally you don't want a primary to become nasty and ugly and personal - but there are usually positive results of a primary that offset the negative. The party is often better for it - and so might you be.

#3. Give party leaders the courtesy of letting them know that you are running and ask for their support

What do you say to reporters in the early stages of the campaign?

First you need to have your initial answer ready. It doesn't have to be scripted word-for-word, but you should have the idea in mind. "Yes, I'm seriously considering running" or "Yes, I've formed an exploratory committee." "The reason I'm interested is ... " - whatever that might be. And stating the contrast between you and your opponent - how you would frame that for the voters - is important in the early interviews with reporters.

If you are not prepared to speak with reporters, then you shouldn't. You don't want to be caught in the position where you haven't thought through the answers to obvious questions. You don't want to sound foolish in early statements because that can demoralize your supporters and would-be supporters. Plus you don't want to make a poor impression on reporters.

The key thing is to anticipate the obvious questions and prepare good answers. Have someone play "twenty questions" with you ­or fifty questions - and have your answers tape recorded. Play it all back and get someone politically astute to critique your responses. Was your answer persuasive? Accurate? The right tone? What follow-up questions might your answer generate in a smart reporter? Then prepare those follow-up questions, too.

#4. Anticipate obvious question, prepare good answers, and practice answering them.

What do you say to community leaders?

In the early days especially, you want to meet with as many community leaders as possible, one-on-one. Again it's important to exude confidence.

It's also important to let them know you're there to learn, to benefit from what they've learned. Leaders in the community, whether they're elected officials or leaders of community organizations and charities, want to know about people who are running for public office.and the issues they're raising. They are genuinely interested in what motivates you and what influence you might have through the coverage you draw, the people you get involved, the ideas you raise.

You want to win their support, of course, but there are a variety of ways people can help you. In many cases, community leaders can help you simply by drawing your attention to issues, making suggestions, introducing you to other people. I like the term movers-and-shakers when I think of community leaders. They can be city counselors, business executives, chamber of commerce leaders, school committee members, principals, clergymen

#5. Contact the movers-and-shakers: talk, listen and learn. Ask for their support ­and for their advice.

What issues should I talk about?

Instead of polling, try "trolling" to discover the right issues. This is especially useful in the beginning of a campaign. Practice the art of active listening - not listening in the superficial way we often do, with eyes glazing over while we're trying to think of a way to steer the conversation back to what we want to talk about.

If you ask sincere questions of voters, and if you really seem interested in the responses, you'd be amazed at how much people will open up to you. You'll hear some very personal heart-felt stories. The most important thing in listening is to remember that everyone is an expert on their own life and experience.

You want to master the art of asking: "And then what happened?" and "And then what did you do?" In that way you'll learn some very useful things for your new job ­the job of representing them. You'll learn about people's problems and new solutions. You'll learn about what voters fear, what they respect, what gives them hope - and often you'll hear the very words you need to express what you believe. Words that touched you and may touch others.

#6. Ask your potential voters what issues are important to them, then actually listen!

How do I speak on TV?

Practice a simulated interview on videotape. Have someone play Larry King or Ted Koppel and then have someone else give you an honest critique. They key is not to lose confidence from a bad performance, but to learn from it.

#7. Practice the taped interview.