Archive for Campaign Corner
The future of digital political campaign lies with holograms
Many technologies come along hyped as being the next big thing to change political campaigning. Not nearly so many make an impact. One of my rules for judging which is likely to make the cut is the question of scale. Quite simply, small rural divisions in local government aside, there are simply too many voters [...]
Does the internet win elections? It’s the wrong question to ask
I first started doing online political campaigning before the first tweet about breakfast was sent, before the first Facebook status update about reality TV was posted and before the first cute cat appeared on YouTube. All through that time questions along the lines of, “But is it worth it?”, “Can you win elections by using the [...]
Labour’s debate over the value of canvassing
The credible news that Labour's canvass contact rate in the South Shield constituency before its recent Parliamentary by-election was just 0.2% has triggered a debate in the party about the importance of canvassing.
Great political campaigners think big and think small
Two contrasting quotes I've come across recently capture the two conflicting approaches that good political campaigners need to reconcile.
How Richmond Liberal Democrats avoid making one of the five common errors
In my list of Five of the most common mistakes that Lib Dem campaigners make there is the love of inappropriate secrecy.
The War Room: how Clinton won in ’92 – and the importance of thanking helpers
For political campaigning addicts, the 1992 US Presidential election is a classic. A party coming back to win after a series of defeats. A candidate coming back from the depths of personal scandal to a landslide win. A campaign team headed by charismatic characters who make Jeremy Clarkson seem quiet and modest by comparison. An [...]
Sometimes to win an argument, you need to adopt your opponent’s point of view
Framing, that is the way in which a choice is presented, is often key to winning political (and indeed non-political) debates. Consider the following two statements...
Ground Wars – Personalized Communications in Political Campaigns by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
If you have been involved in grassroots electoral campaigning, reading Rasmus Kleis Nielsen's study of the grassroots part of two Democrat campaigns from the 2008 Congressional elections in the US is likely to produce a mix of two responses.
