The Roles of the
Campaign Manager
Ned Barnett
Many a first-time candidate thinks that he can be his own campaign manager - this reminds me of the old saying, "A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client."
The role of the candidate is to be the candidate. The role of the Campaign Manager is to take the responsibilities of the campaign off the candidate, freeing her up to do what only she can do, interacting with donors, campaign volunteers and voters.
The
Campaign Manager is at the very core of the campaign. In simplest terms, the
Campaign Manager makes sure of everything else, so the candidate has only six
things to do, that only he can do:
· Fund-raising Calls
· Meeting with the
(Earned) News Media
· Participating in
Advertising Creation (photos, TV shoots, radio recordings)
· Voter Contact - Winning the Hearts and Minds and Votes of Voters
· Special Obligations
(family, party events)
· Downtime – you can’t
campaign 24/7
Those
are the six things that either only the candidate can do, or things like ad
creation that can’t be accomplished without the candidate’s full participation.
Literally
everything else is – or should be – under the direct control of the Campaign
Manager. The less the candidate has to worry about, or do, the better she can
do the things that only she can do.
To
accomplish these six things, the Campaign Manager must:
· Manage the Candidate’s Time Priorities – making sure he focuses on those are the six
things noted above, and nothing else
The Campaign Manager, first and foremost, must
keep the candidate focused on the prize, ensuring that she spends her time
wisely and well handling those things that either only she can do, or those
things that can’t be accomplished without her participation.
Everything else is added baggage that takes
away from his primary role in winning his campaign.
· Creating and Managing the Campaign Strategy
A campaign that tries to run without a plan is
like a trip taken without a map, and without consulting road signs. You may be
making good time and getting great mileage, but you don’t know where you’re
going and you’ll never know when you’ve gotten there.
Strategy involves not only an overall campaign
strategic plan for victory, but the following as well:
o
Fund-Raising
Plan
o
Market
Research Plan
o
Opposition
Research Plan
o
Scheduling
Plan
o
Strategic
Allies (Groups) Plan
o
Paid
Media Plan
o
Earned
Media Plan
o
Social
Networking Plan
o
Database
Creation and Management Plan
o
GOTV
Plan
· Managing the Budget
This involves a variety of tasks, including:
o
Developing
a budget (with input from consultants)
o
Developing
a budget spreadsheet, with timetables for fund-raising and spending
o
Tracking
the variance between budget planned and budget spent
o
Tracking
the variance between funds planned and funds actually raised
o
Tracking
the week-by-week cash flow in/out campaign budget (master spreadsheet)
o
Approving
all expenses in advance – if they're not pre-approved, don’t pay them
To a much greater extent than even most
experienced candidates realize, the budget IS the campaign – it defines every
aspect of the campaign.
Even if money isn’t involved (the candidate
tweets, or speaks to an ad-hoc group of voters) there is an opportunity cost –
could she have been doing something that would have generated more donors, more
campaign volunteers or more voters?
But generally, everything comes at a price.
· "Signing" Checks
Going hand-in-hand with managing the Budget,
and coordinating all of the activities in a campaign, the Campaign Manager must
have control of the campaign checkbook. Of course, especially in a Federal election, the campaign treasurer will actually physically control the checkbook, but in any campaign, the Campaign Manager has to be the person to authorize the expenditure of each dollar, in advance.
Each dollar spent represents a milestone on the path to victory – each
dollar must be treated as precious, and “invested” rather than spent.
“Invested” is a mind-set, but it is a very real one for campaigns.
A candidate who controls her campaign checkbook
is, in effect, her own Campaign Manager. She cannot escape the minutia of the
campaign, and her time cannot be invested wisely in activities that will earn her a
victory.
· Managing the Staff
This involves hiring the staff, managing their
productivity, motivating them to greater efforts, and discharging and replacing
those who do not work out.
The candidate may certainly be involved in the
review of key staff members – it is, after all, his campaign – but he needs to
leave the ultimate hiring (and firing) to the Campaign Manager – otherwise the manager's
authority will be eroded.
Staff, especially at first, includes the
following areas. Other areas are typically farmed out to consultants and
advisers who specialize in these fields.
Initially, some of these campaign hats will be worn by the Campaign Manager – but
that can’t last long, and ultimately the staff should include:
o
Accounting
o
Volunteers
– recruiting & training & managing
o
Field
Director – including GOTV activities
o
Press
person
o
Scheduler
o
Advance
– Event-Prep
o
Market
research and opposition research
o
Database
creation and management
o
Social
Networking
Other staff positions will be identified as the
campaign moves forward, and in some areas, more than one person may be on
payroll – this is especially true for the Field Director/GOTV director – he
will need a staff, and it can’t be all volunteers.
· Managing the Campaign Process
The process of the campaign is the ongoing,
day-to-day activity that takes us from before the campaign begins right up to the first Tuesday after
the first Monday in November. Managing the campaign involves
straight personnel, consultant and activity management processes, as well as those strategic and tactical activities already noted.
Tools to help this process move forward
include:
- Master
Chart for Process
- Specific
Charts for Each Process
- Campaign Strategic Plan
- Master Advertising Calendar
- Master Social Media/Earned (PR) Media Calendar
- Master GOTV Progress Calendar
- Master Campaign Calendar
- Master Candidate Schedule
- Master Campaign Budget
- Master Fund-Raising Calendar
Having the tools that measure and track
activity makes the Campaign Management process do-able, and goes a long way
toward making the campaign winnable.
.
· Managing the Consultants
Specialized consultants are not a necessary
evil – to any successful campaign, they are a necessary blessing. No
campaign short of a major national campaign could afford the in-house staff
needed to handle what these consultants will handle.
Their expertise is just too high-priced to
manage otherwise.
The candidate should have some input into the
selection of the consultants, but if the Campaign Manager is to be effective in
coordinating their efforts, he has to make the ultimate hiring and firing
decisions.
Many campaigns have foundered on the rocky
shoals of consultants doing an end-run around the Campaign Manager and
involving the candidate in decisions.
This leaves the campaign in chaos as no-one but the candidate knows what’s
going on, and she’s too busy (or should be) to even think about keeping track
of it all.
The range of consultants will vary at different
times during the campaign, but an effective campaign requires at least the
following:
o
Fund-Raising
o
Market
Research – Polling
o
Paid
Media – ad design, production, placement strategy and placement
o
Earned
Media – public and media relations
o
Database
– coordinates with fund-raising, GOTV and the staff Field Director
o
Social
Media Networking – managing and placing posts for maximum exposure –
coordinates with “earned media” and “paid media” experts
o
Opposition
Research
o
GOTV
o
Technology
Experts
Managing consultants involves:
o
Weekly
conference calls, individually and as a team
o
Coordinate
activities – make sure the left-handed consultant knows what the right-handed
consultant is doing (this is essential in integrating research with ad creation
and placement, among other things)
o
Hold
their feet to the fire – making sure their benchmark goals within budget on
schedule
· Managing Scheduling
While the campaign will need a scheduler, that
scheduler needs to be managed by the Campaign Manager, who must also always be
kept in the scheduling loop.
Whomever is the scheduler is the ONLY person in
the campaign, including the candidate, who can make scheduling decisions.
To try any other approach courts failure on a
spectacular scale – think missed meetings, double-booked schedules, and
disaster.
For each event, fill out a campaign scheduling form, such as is found below (and please feel free to copy and use this form).
The Campaign Manager, who may at first be the scheduler as well (though this
will swiftly change – a good scheduler is essential), will also manage
scheduling by the following activities:
o
Create
and make sure the scheduler maintains a confidential master calendar – this is
a campaign secret, and it’s all about “need to know”
o
Set
scheduling priorities, and make sure they’re kept (see the candidate’s six
responsibilities, above)
o
Create
Opportunities for scheduled events
o
Create ample time in the candidate's schedule for fund-raising calls, coordinating this with the fund-raising consultant
o
Ensure
that there are qualified surrogates available to handle conflicting scheduling
opportunities
o
Ensure
that only the “scheduler” (Campaign
Manager or staff “Scheduler”) makes the schedule – and if there is a scheduler,
the Campaign Manager must defend her from the inevitable sniping and griping - even from the candidate
o
Ensure
that the scheduler knows about and monitors “protected time” – candidate family
birthdays, party events, etc.
o
Ensure
that the scheduler knows the Candidate’s scheduling strengths and limitations –
is she a morning person, does she work late, does she need a mid-day break,
etc.
o
Makes
sure that the advance staffer gets to know the events (inside and out) to
ensure the candidate is properly prepped for each event
· Fight for the Candidate and the Campaign
This may seem obvious, but it’s not. Too many Campaign Managers see this role as either a career (so they’re always looking for
the next client) or as a stepping-stone to a better job, such as a position in
DC.
Either of those can take the Campaign Manager’s
eye off the ball.
The Campaign Manager must show bottom-up
loyalty. From Day-One to the final returns come in, the Campaign Manager must
have a single-minded focus. If there’s a
Primary, he should not be concerned with the General. If there’s a General, he
should not be worried about the Transition.
Period.
· Fight for the Staff
Campaign Staffs often take the heat of others'
ire. A donor, a spouse, a close friend
of the candidate, a power-player (or someone with his own hidden agenda) will
attack the staff, for reasons that are clear or - frequently - mysterious.
The Campaign Manager should exhibit top-down
loyalty, protecting his staff from unwarranted attacks, and managing discipline
personally if the attacks have merit – as they sometimes will.
· Keep the Candidate in the Loop without Strangling Her
The Candidate has a right and a need to know
what’s going on, but she needs the 30,000-foot overview, not the minutia. This
can be accomplished by regular meetings with the Campaign Manager, meetings
that are on her schedule and are considered as important as donor meetings. These should be:
o
Regularly-scheduled
times plus as-needed
o
At
least weekly at first, and daily as the campaign picks up momentum
· Build and manage an internal coalition
The Campaign Manager must build a coalition
team, including advisers, staff and volunteers/supporters working together –
and make sure they each have all the information they need, but not a scintilla
more.
Campaign leaks have sunk many promising candidates,
and the Campaign Manager must do all that’s possible to prevent leaks. Tasks involved in this coalition-building
include:
o
Listen
and Learn
o
Show
Respect – But Sustain Expectations
· Know the District, Know the Voters
The Campaign Manager doesn’t have to be from
the district – few are – but he has to climb a steep learning curve and get to
know the district, intimately. This
means research, and it means walking the streets, visiting shopping malls and
community centers, and taking the pulse of the district.
The Campaign Manager cannot adequately advise
his candidate without an intimate knowledge of the district she is running to
represent.
Factors to become aware of include the
district’s:
o
Culture
o
Ethnicity
o
Faith
o
Economic
Status
o
Previous/Current
Political Affiliation
o
Their
Issues
· Ear to the Ground
The Campaign Manager must know what’s going on,
and that involves listening. He should
plan to:
o
Listen
Inside the Campaign
o
Listen
Outside the Campaign
Conclusion – Campaign
Manager’s Role
Ultimately,
it’s the Campaign Manager’s responsibility to win, by all the means that are
available and that match with the candidate’s own set of standards and beliefs.
A man of integrity with a candidate who has none has no business being that
candidate’s Campaign Manager. On the
other hand, a “realpolitik” Campaign Manager will experience nothing but
frustration while representing a candidate who refuses, for instance, to “go negative”
on the opponent’s family, if that's the only way to win. I'm not defending going negative - merely reflecting a fact of campaign and human nature.
NOTE: As a matter of personal preference, I only work with candidates who have
integrity. To me, this means that
families are out-of-bounds, and “attack” campaigning, if any, is confined to
verifiable proof, which is presented honestly and factually, rather than with
campaign-killing distortions. Others
have different standards, and as long as they don’t cross any legal lines,
they’re free to pursue their own values.
This is, after all, still America - if we can keep her!
Campaign Event Scheduling Questionnaire
Event Name:
________________________
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Category
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Response
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Notes
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Date
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Time
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Location
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Travel Directions and Details
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Street Directions:
Inside Building Directions:
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Event Host Contact Phone Number:
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Type of Event
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Number of People Expected
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Types of People Expected
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Candidate’s Role
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Talk?
Length of Address?
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Clothing
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Spouse?
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Other Dignitaries or Candidates?
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Donors Present?
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Press Present?
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Which Press – Print, Radio, TV?
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Press Notified by Campaign?
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Press Theme of the Day
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Date invitation received
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Who sent us the invitation?
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Confirmation Letter Sent?
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Who is the Event Host?
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Follow-up Letter Sent?
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Other Significant Factors
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Signed/Approved
________________________________ Date
approved ______________
