Notes on Last Tuesday…

It says something good about America that my kids (ages 9 and 11) don’t even give it a second thought that an African-American has been elected President of the United States.
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A sad end for John McCain, a genuine American hero who I voted for twice over the years. It’s troubling that what McCain endured for his country in Vietnam, and how he understands patriotism, are viewed by too many as out-dated relics of an ancient era.

McCain’s defeat recalls this nugget - almost always true - from an old-timer late one night many years ago in a smoke-filled Providence campaign headquarters: “Who wins campaigns? The guy who runs the best campaign!”

George Bush dealt McCain a tough hand. But in both tone and execution, McCain’s effort was unworthy of him. In contrast, Obama’s campaign was the best presidential effort I’ve seen in my lifetime. (How do you quantify that? Obama is the first Democrat to break 51% since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and only the second since Harry Truman in 1948.)

The GOP base McCain inherited from Bush and Karl Rove was a stone around his neck. That base is careening perilously away from the new mainstream in American politics and heading over the cliff into “Fringe Valley”. To placate that base, McCain had to say things he knew better of, and pick the unsettling Sarah Palin. Twenty years ago, when Jesse Jackson was winning Democratic presidential primaries, I used to wonder if a Democrat could say what had to be said to win the nomination and still win in November. Walter Mondale and Mike Dukakis confirmed that the answer was "No.” Now, McCain’s campaign makes me wonder if the GOP hasn’t created a similar, self-defeating dynamic.
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In my little town of East Greenwich (pop. about 13,000) I had the chance to work with some neighbors on a school bond referendum for a new middle school that proved, again, that a good campaign almost always wins. The amount in question, $52 million, was a daunting amount for a town our size, made even more so by the current economic climate. Further, voters had already rejected a similar plan two elections ago. But starting in the summer, a small, focused group of volunteers began to identify supporters over the phone. This is a grueling process, but one that makes the difference between victory and defeat. In fact, in local races, there is no substitute for phone banking and door-to-door campaigning. It doesn’t matter what else you do: a candidate that doesn’t do those two things might as well just roll the dice. And challengers who aren’t prepared to invest the time and effort in these two things should seriously reconsider running at all.
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It was heartening to win with 65% of the vote, particularly with a tiny budget of only a couple thousand dollars raised on the Internet. My old rule of thumb for local races was that the campaign should expect to spend $2 to $4 per voter, with most of that money going to direct mail. But just as the Internet is making mainstream news outlets struggle for relevance, the ‘net is also helping save local campaigns thousands of dollars by allowing them to bypass the Post Office and communicate directly with voters. Direct mail is still an important tool, but in a local race it becomes a lot lower priority – our campaign didn’t do any, and didn’t suffer for it. (We didn’t do any newspaper advertising, either.)
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The Rhode Island GOP continues its march to extinction, winning only 10 of 113 legislative seats. Sure, I know New England is rough terrain for Republicans, and I know that the larger turnout in Presidential election years is tough to overcome. Still, I wonder how many of them relied on mail, earned media and other indirect communications to make the kind of personal contact that only doorbells and volunteers on telephones can create.

If you’re not directly touching voters – like Barack Obama or the Taxpayers for EG Schools – you’re probably not running the best campaign. And if you're not running the best campaign, you're probably not winning.

“Pretty Good” Government

I’m all for “Good Government” (even though “Pretty Good Government” sometimes gets better results), but the recent fracas about the process surrounding the hiring of Providence School Superintendent Tom Brady (one of the best in the business) reminded me of a true story about President Teddy Roosevelt’s seizure of the Panama Canal Zone from Colombia. After the deed was done, Roosevelt asked Attorney General Philander Knox to author a legal opinion justifying the audacious action. To his immortal credit, Knox responded “Mister President, do not let so great an achievement suffer from any taint of legality.”

The Red Sox Are. Are You?

In the end, there are two kinds of companies: There’s the “Company Policy” Model. Their answer to any request that deviates even slightly from “Company Policy” is a resounding “NO.”

These are the places that won’t let your six-year old use the clearly visible restroom, even though his bladder is bursting. Why? Because Company Policy says it’s for Employees Only.

(A friend of mine gets even by asking to use the restroom after his purchase has been rung up. If the answer is “no” he puts the wallet away and leaves the merchandise on the counter.)
This isn’t necessarily a characteristic of big companies – this kind of self-defeating behavior is the norm at enterprises of every size. These companies are not centered on the customer. In fact, they seem to give off a vague sense of doing you a favor by taking your money.

The other model is the “Disney World/Nordstrom” model. At these places, they find a way to say “YES.”

Well, add the Red Sox to the Disney-Nordstrom list. Here’s why: We took our two kids to a rainy, damp Fenway Park Friday night. (Wakefield was awesome; Sox win 7-0.) Our seats were a few rows beyond the reach of the overhead cover. When we asked Alicia, the usher, if we could sit in some empty seats under the cover in order to keep out of the rain, she said….YES, without thinking twice. When the ticket holders showed up in the 4th inning (Who shows up in the 4th during a pennant race?!) we moved. By then, the rain had stopped and the night was saved.

Here’s to the Alicia, and the Red Sox, who understand that it’s all about the customers.

She’s Dead. No She’s Not. No, wait…yes, she is.

Some media moved quickly to correct their erroneous stories (using anonymous sources) announcing the death of an Ohio congresswoman. As soon as the corrections got out, though, she actually died.

Reminded me of my old publisher who said “Be first, but be right.”

And another thing – why would you use an anonymous source in these circumstances in reporting a death? It’s unfortunate, but the rush to declare someone dead puts journalists in an unseemly light.