Politics
Who Are These Fellas?
May 18, 2010
By Steffen Schmidt
By Steffen Schmidt
I recently watched a debate and blogged on it at the Des Moines Register. The debaters were:
Scott Batcher, West Des Moines; Pat Bertroche, Urbandale; Dave Funk, Runnells; Jim Gibbons, Des Moines; Mark Rees, West Des Moines; Brad Zaun, Urbandale; Jason Lee Welch of Grimes.
Who are they?
Why do they want to debate each other?
They are Republicans who want to run against Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Des Moines for that Iowa 3rd District Congressional Seat he has occupied forever.
As I wrote in my Des Moines register blog NAME RECOGNITION is their number one problem. FACE recognition is their number two problem. Too many choices make primary voters crazy is their number three problem.
With this many guys (no gals here) there is no focus on the incumbent Leonard Boswell except during the debates. Primaries are all about beating up the other job applicants.
Finally, in order to get traction these gentlemen need to have distinguishing characteristics. Each needs to emphasize what makes him special - what makes Rees different from Zaun? It’s easier for busy voters to remember the “Anti-Gay marriage Social Conservative,” from the “Tea Part Sarah Palin Candidate,” and the “All Business and Jobs” choice. Often candidates forget that branding themselves is politically THE most important step an aspiring candidate can take. Wear a bow tie or a cowboy hat. Jump out of airplanes and parachute to each campaign event. DO SOMETHING!
Who will win the GOP primary? I already know the answer and I’ll tell you at the end of these ramblings.
Maybe as I write in the Register blog “this year nothing matters in the end except that you are NOT the incumbent! I am hearing that from all the punditocracy around the country. “Vote 'em all out of office!” may be the winning bumper sticker for 2010.
On the other hand if I were a betting man (I am not and I did not have 5 cents on Paddy O'Prado) I would probably say the odds are that Boswell will get another two years in Washington.
The GOP candidate who will win the primary and run against Boswell is the guy who can get the largest number of relatives and friends to vote for him on primary day. AND, the guy who wins is the one who gets early and absentee ballots to the largest number of people because everyone forgets to vote on a nice summer primary day.
I think in many of these races debates are nice but kinda worthless.
First of all, who’s goanna be watching at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday?! Well, I guess desperately bored people, people whose detention center only allows one channel of radio and TV, total politicoholics like me. But seriously, who watches?
Second, we already know almost every single person who is likely to vote in a 3rd district GOP primary from previous years. People DO NOT walk off the street to vote in one of these! So the winning strategy is for candidates to use every cent they have to direct target people who have voted before and Registered Republicans. You don’t run TV ads, you don’t spend a lot of time “shotgunning” your message - you do strictly a surgical sniper shoot on the only people who will vote in this event.
“Schmidt, how do you know any of this anyway, ya ever run a campaign?!”
Yes I have “run” several behind the scenes and off the books as personal advisor not as a campaign consultant and EVERY SINGLE candidate I’ve worked with (GOP and Democrat) has won! Why behind the scenes? Because as a professor and as a state employee I do not think it’s appropriate for me to take money for or publicly endorse anyone. Also, because I am that fairly rare guy who is not a partisan hack who supports anyone from “his” party for reasons of loyalty and solidarity!
So may the best man win the 3rd District nomination, or should I say, may the guy who is best organized, brings all his relatives to vote, and does not waste a lot of money on irrelevant primary expenses win.
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Steffen Schmidt is a Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Iowa State University. He provides weekly political analysis for Iowa Public Radio, and periodically in Spanish for CNN en Español. He also serves as chief political and international correspondent for InsiderIowa.com.
