2012 Elections - because It Is Never Too Early
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 6:56AM Hello fellow Greens, Progressives, Liberals, whatevers!
2012.
There, I said it.
It is not too early to start planning. In fact, now is exactly the right time to start planning your electoral strategy for 2012.
Which way do you want to go?
When thinking of Green Party electoral strategy for 2012, at the national, state, and local level, the first question is:
What is your goal? While the obvious answer is "to get elected," the reality can be more nuanced. Are you running to build membership in your local Green Party organization? Are you running to maintain ballot access? (Many states/cities require political parties to get a certain % of the vote in order to maintain official party status). Are you running to give voice to issues that the two corporate-funded parties are ignorning?
Once you know your goal, planning gets not only easier, but much more meaningful. Running candidates for office for the sake of running candidates is not a good enough reason.
If you have decided that running for office is for you, or running candidates is the way to go, check out these two articles for more info about running for office, and tactics for progressives:
10 Rules of Populist Power -- The Progressive's Guide to Raising Hell
Rule 1: Forcing Opponents to Make Mistakes Is the Goal of Effective Advocacy for Change; Promoting Issues Is Not Enough
Rule 2: To Make Big Changes, Target the Little Things and a Few People
Rule 3: Simple Moral Sentiments Can Change the World When Public Opinion Propels Them
Rule 4: Forget Sun Tzu: The Bigger the Fight, the Better the Odds; Fight Even If You Cannot Win Today, and Someday You’ll Win without a Fight
Rule 5: Creating the Record Creates the Seeds of Change
Rule 6: Keep It Human, Put People First
Rule 7: Make It Personal for Decision Makers
Rule 8: Seize the Moment—Don’t Pick Your Time, Have the Goods and Let Your Time Pick You
Rule 9: Exploit a Powerful Opponent’s Fear of Falling to Achieve Victory without Combat
Rule 10: Don’t Worry about Your Seat at the Table; Find the Rock to Throw through the Window
And here are some tips from Linda Piera-Avila, Green candidate for the California State Assembly (41st District) in 2010. From an email dated November 8, 2010:
Nuts and bolts:
Set up a campaign committee even if you don't intend to raise more than $1,000. You never know!
Keep track of all the filing deadlines - mark them on your calendar or iphone.
Identify a solid campaign manager. That person will be your lifeline.
Get a good webmaster and share the password with a trusted campaign volunteer. Set up paypal.
Get a political advisor who has an institutional memory for the party and its stance on the issues.
Get professional photography head shots for web and printed material so it's ready to go at a moment's notice.
Develop your "top three priorities" early on and expand as the campaign evolves.
Write your platform or borrow from others, with permission. Post on your website.
Translate your platform into Spanish or other significant second language for your jurisdiction.
Practice discussing the issues with colleagues to increase your comfort level discussing them before a larger audience.
Be ready to give interviews and answer questionnaires at a moment's notice - this is the nature of political campaigning.
Write op-eds and letters to the editor of local papers.
Raise donations for a specific goal, like producing a campaign video.
Hold meet and greet events.
Decide what form of publicity makes the most sense for your targeted voters with the money available; allow enough lead time to get the address lists and produce the piece to get it to voters the week before the election.
