Literature

Online Literature

Blogs are a new tributary in the flow of information. Blogs are making a significant impact.

• Blog, Mark Rauterkus and Running Mates

The title, and Running Mates allows for others to help sustain the discussions and inject news and perspectives. Much of the news comes from other sources. Adam, Tom, Mike, and more than dozen others have been sources of posts or news at the blog. Others who would like to help with the blog are welcomed to email Mark@Rauterkus.com or call so an invite can be sent to you.

The Mayor appoints a deputy mayor, and many other serve in the city administration at the pleasure of the mayor, including a host of board members to various authorities. However, the mayor has no running mate, like the President and Vice President. Running Mates here are more for volunteers and supporters with ideas to share and interactions to provide. Running mates don't even need to be like-minded.

This presence encourages others to consider races for public office. Getting a crew of others on the ballot is valuable. You too can run for city council in another district, or perhaps city controller. Please contact us if your even slightly interested. Forming a regional 'clean sweep' ticket could assist candidates with shared slate cards, for example.

Blogs with smaller readership can inject ideas that get bounced around by visitors who pass comments or links by e-mail.

Notes from Amarillo newspaper article on political blogs: "They feed the insiders, and the insiders feed the news media, and the news media, in turn, feed the average citizen. ... In many cases, voters may not even know where the information comes from - just as they don't know where the water in a large river comes from - but it often comes from a comment in a blog."

Can fellow bloggers be sent press releases on a regular basis?

"E-mail, however, makes even more impact, because people will quickly spread word of information seen on the Internet at regular Web sites and blog spots, Westen said.

"Without the e-mail, most people wouldn't know it's there, because how often do you go to Michael Moore's Web site? he said.

Sans e-mail, the largest political impact of blogs alone is among kindred political spirits, said Dr. Leigh Browning, assistant professor of mass communications and director of broadcasting for West Texas A&M University. "They're going to make more impact on the extreme left and extreme right," - people searching beyond the mainstream for like-minded people, and spending the time to find them, she said.

Printed Literature

Targeting Voters with Political Mail.

Source: Dan Hazelwood, Pres. Targeted Creative Communications. Lecture at American University, Shown on C-Span. 1-1-04

Purposes for direct mail.

1. fundraising.
2. get more votes.
3. influence public opinion.

Three kinds of readers.

1. Glance at it for 2 seconds.
2. Some will read up to 50 words.
3. Some will read almost everything.

Each of us does all three, depending on the circumstances. Average voter comes home from work. Has many chores to do. He scoops up the mail and looks through it. They look at your letter for about 2 seconds.

• Design political literature to catch the attention of all three types of readers.

In war, you find, fix, and fight your enemy. Same in direct mail.

FIND who you want to talk to (voters). FIX their attention. The biggest challenge in a campaign is to understand that it is our job to make it easy for voters to receive our information and to pay attention to us. FIGHT by delivering a persuasive message to the voters.

Targeting

The first rule is to hunt where the ducks are. Don't send direct mail to everybody. Mail can be targeted to certain demographic groups. TV is a powerful medium, but everybody sees it.

Rule of Thirds.

• 1/3 are for you.
• 1/3 are against you.
• 1/3 in the middle are non-partisan.

Who do we ignore? Who gets GOTV info? Who gets persuasion pieces?

Narrow your audience and increase the repetition. The voter file shows likely voters by party. You can find swing precincts. You can look at certain demographics (women and seniors). Coalitions and issues groups have special lists. Voter files are not standardized.

Know good places and bad places are for your candidate and your party.

Women and seniors read more of their mail than other demographics do. Men under 35 read their mail the least, unless it comes in a plain brown wrapper. Mail is a bad tool to reach men under 35.

If you have a list of gun owners, don't talk to them about tax cuts, talk to them about gun rights.

Send out prochoice mail to suburban women under 45 . But women under 45 in lower income groups are prolife. It varies by state, however. In Pa, they didn't send prochoice mail to women with Italian or Irish surnames because they are probably Catholic. They didn't want to activate the opposition against them. The targeting must be good. Think through the nuances.

One local election targeted dog owners. X voted for dog parks. Y voted against the dog park. X got a list of dog licenses. Dog owners are a very specific group. They are a coalition group. The park was a minor issue to everyone else but the dog owners. A hunting license list will tell you who the sportsmen are. Match them with the voter file.

Need a media mix.

Whatever you send out can be used by the opposition against you (email, direct mail, ads)

OUR JOB: to get the voter's attention.

We have to give the voters information in a manner that they want to receive it. That's why I'm typing this, for crying out loud. No one looked at the tapes. Political mail must compete with higher priorities in life. So use powerful visuals, use teaser headlines, good photographs and effective design. Leave lots of white space so it does not look crowded.

Make it easy for them to pay attention

We are competing with catalogs, etc. not with the other political mail.

Years ago, almost all mail was personal letters from Aunt Millie. Now it is almost all junk mail. People must sort it every day. Make sure your mail isn't sorted into the trash.

A standard sheet of paper folded into thirds is very easy to throw away. If you mail something the same size as a standard business envelope, it fits right in the hand and is the least likely to be read. It will get tossed out.

Something oversized and colorful gets looked at for an extra two seconds. It sticks out from the other mail. Even small wedding invitation sized mail gets read. It said that candidate X voted for raising taxes on married couples so you will be getting less wedding invitations in the future. It cut through the clutter and got read.

Big or small is okay. Also use color. White letters are easiest to throw away. Teaser headlines get people to read it (Rendell - Unsafe at any speed)

You must make a choice between delivering a simple, straightforward message or to use a teaser headline to pull the reader in a bit and get them involved.

Many candidates use their old photos in their ads and they look bad. Some photos look phony, staged. Use a photo that shows the candidate shaking hands with voters, looking them in the eye, acting like they care. Stand a little close because the camera separates you. You must be within five feet to get a good photo which shows the facial details.

Make the photo so clear that you don't have to read the factual material to get the point. Don't overdo ugly photos of your opponent. Don't use white text on a dark background. Don't make it so that they have to read very methodically to get the point. Make it clear who's the good guy and who's the bad guy. Voters are glancing very quickly. Don't put 300 lbs of stuff into a 5 pound bag. Sometimes connect politics to popular culture. Images may be copyrighted. Use images in the public domain.

Photos of public figures in a public place are the safest. If the mailing looks very political, it will only work with the base voters. A 300 word bio is too long. Seven bullet points is enough. A photo of the candidate talking on the phone while writing is too cliche.

Studies show that 500 words is the upper limit of a print advertisement. Use conversational English, not policy wonk jargon.

Don't say the quality of life/transportation is poor. Say I'm stuck in traffic. Property taxes are too high. Our kids aren't learning in school.

Whenever you look at any ad, your eyes are drawn to some places and away from others. Use narrow column widths like a newspaper does. If they have to slow down to read it, it will end up in the trash. People are more likely to read the text on the inside right, than the inside left. So put photo inside left and text inside right. For body copy, use an 11-14 point font with a serif font (the little feet on the letters).

Just give a headline and some bullet points. Back it up with a policy paper that maybe a dozen people will request. But too little text in your platform makes you look less credible. Voters might not read it all, but they like to know it exists. But the credibility threshold is about 50 words, not 400 words.

Don't use unflattering photos that are outtakes from the wedding album. Sometimes a photo can send strange signals.

PS: the PS is the most read part of any letter. Always have a PS to summarize your main point. Every campaign letter should have a PS.

Do informal focus groups with ads. Show candidate's family the family photos that you are thinking of using first. Look at photos close up and far away.Sometimes you can mirror reverse the image, if there are no signs in the background. Check the expressions of background people. People read subliminal things into photos. Good photos make the voter draw the right conclusions.

Your campaign must have a consistent theme. Direct mailings to a target group can't contradict your main theme. Use repetition. Again, use repetition.

Make it easily understood and relevant. People are not focused on politics. Lawyers and policy wonks write bad copy. You can start sentences with and or but, if they make a point. And that's not all....

Credibility threshold is higher for your positive accomplishments than for negatives about your opponent. Your claims need to be credible.

Use popular culture.

In NYC race, Lew Yavolei raised taxes more times than George Steinbrenner changed managers. Yavoli-24 times. Steinbrenner only 22 times. They used pop culture to get voters to read political mail. You don't have to be a baseball fan to understand Steinbrenner. But no Yankees logo in the ad. Don't want to get sued by the Yankees. Also it would be a distraction from the theme of Yavoli raising taxes.

Candidates always want the side by side comparison with opponent on the issues, but it does not work. The voters mix the two candidates up. Pass them out in focus groups, then take them away. Within 15 seconds, the voters forget who is who. These just don't work in practice.

Always ask what will the other side say about our ad?

Teaser headlines don't work, take drugs, skip school and don't get paid. The ad shows a lazy fat white guy watching TV with a drink in his hand. They didn't show any minorities at all. This gets around charges of racism by the opposition. The issue was welfare, not race. What must you adjust to avoid problems? Is there any perceived 'code language' in there?

Connect with emotional hot button issues, even in print.

Mail arrives in 1-3 days. Respond to attacks quickly if at all. Send GOTV mail close to election day.

The absentee voter timeline is earlier than the general election.

Absentee voters have 21 election days. If statewide race uses TV as the primary tool, then use mail as a support method. Smaller local races use mail primarily. If you are new at designing mail, it takes three weeks from concept to the post office. Allow a few days for delivery. There are many details to postal rates. Standard bulk mail that is red tagged political moves faster.

Try to deliver 3-5 pieces of mail to a target group.

Space them out every 2-3 days. Start two weeks before election.

Don't mail once in Sept, once in Oct, once in Nov. This is a disaster. Voters forget the previous pieces. You may decide to target some demographic groups in the summer if you have the resources. Voters may get 12 pieces of political mail a day, just before election day, so find a way to stand out. You have to talk to the voters when they are voting. Put on party affiliation only if it will help. Don't cross pressure your messages.

Example Text for a Campaign Flyer

Andrew Danto's Township council flyer from 2003 provided this rough idea. The 1/3 page slate card is 3 inches wide and 8.5 inches long on heavier paper. Hand out at the polls and take door to door in a literature drop.

Elect Rauterkus (for State Senate or for Pittsburgh's Mayor)

First a photo of the canididate which is about 3 inches x 4 inches long.

Mark Rauterkus (Use larger, distinctive font different from the rest of the brochure.) In smaller letters (16 point type) for (either) Mayor, City of Pittsburgh (or) Pennsylvania Senate.

Rauterkus Mayoral web site and some contact info.

Elect.Rauterkus.com

412-298-3432 = cell

412-481-2497 = message center

Mark@Rauterkus.com

Then possibly the LPPgh web site.

Example: At the bottom is says "Service Into Action" in the same distintive type as the candiate's name but smaller. At the very bottom in smal type "Paid for by the candidate" or by the Western pa liberty pac or whatever.

Details on the back.

Example: The word 'politician' has justifiably become a dirty word with the public. It conjures up images of sleazy back room deals, trading favors for contributions, handing over the treasury to special interests and generally 'shady' conduct. I am not running for office as one of these "politicians."

I am running for mayor because I believe that citizens still have the ability to make government work for the people.

As a candidate I believe in:

• Making Pittsburgh taxes low for both citizens and for business.

• Making Pittsburgh more small business-friendly.

• Simplifying our zoning laws and reducing other regulations.

• Respecting the individual and his or her rights.

• Promoting healthy communication between business, taxpayers and the city government.

Example of bottom Remember to vote on Nov 4th, 2004. ??

Suggestion: I would try it with three bullet points and or a slogan on the front and put some bio info on the back. You should make a brochure, even if it ins't perfect, and bring a few copies to the LPPgh meeting to get some feedback.

Signs

• Background article from a sign maker on lawn signs in campaigns]