Why We’re Doing This
Face it, people do not like politicians. Voter turnout in 2015 was the lowest it has been across the country in 70 years. If you’re running for office, you can run all the ads you want that say, “I’m not a politician,” but guess what: You’re a politician. Especially in the eyes of a voter. People are fed up because they don’t trust their government in general. And in many cases, who can blame them? That’s why you’re running, isn’t it? Because you will do better?
As a campaign consultant, I emphasize to all of my clients that they’re not just running to win an election. They are running for the opportunity to serve as a representative of their community. Because while running a campaign is hard work, the actual job doesn’t start until after you win. A campaign is essentially a six-month job interview. And I know that for every job I’ve ever interviewed for, I learned as much as I possibly could before even showing up to the meeting. Unfortunately, many candidates don’t do this – as people’s motivations for running for office are many. Do you see where I’m going with this?
So I thought, what if we could do something to help create a generation of excellent, motivated, hard-working and well-informed local candidates, no matter what their backgrounds or political persuasions are, to offer to voters? How would candidates who start at the local level – the closest level of government to the people – making their foremost priority their constituents, earn back voters’ trust and engagement across the country? What if running a campaign could once again be about getting something done for the good of the community, and not get lost in all of the other motivations that are out there that seem to take precedence for some reason? And what if we could train these candidates to not only win their election through hard work, sound strategy, and effective messaging – but to also be the best representatives of the people that they can be, starting on their first day in office?
That’s what we’re trying to accomplish. You can search the internet and find sample press releases or people who will design a campaign logo for you or sell you customized stress balls to hand out. But everything that we do in The Campaign Coach program is designed with the eye on the prize: And to us the prize is bigger than just winning your election – it’s winning your election by winning voters’ trust, and then delivering for them once you’re in office.
