Last week we provided a counter to Adam Pagnucco’s article “A War for MCPS? Part Three” where he laid out his recommendations for how a non-establishment candidate could win a seat on the MCPS Board of Education (or County Council).
This week we want to provide an alternate strategy. Now to be fair, our political expertise has been used as frequently as Marc Elrich’s exercise shoes, but sometimes it takes looking at a problem with a fresh set of eyes to come up with some viable solutions.
So here it is:
- Be controversial without using rhetoric. At its core, controversy creates conversation, and conversation leads to ideas, and ideas lead to better solutions. The candidate must challenge not just the status quo of ideas, but also the status quo of beliefs the voters currently hold in the organizations and individuals that make up our current political landscape. They must do this in way that does not sound like they are reading from a Fox News (on MSNBC) broadcast. They should position themselves as an individual willing to ask “why” and willing to present new ideas, fresh logic, and different solutions….and in MoCo this will ALWAYS be controversial. So, they need to embrace the controversial label, not attempt to run a campaign of avoidance (aka Blair). The added benefit to this strategy is that it will create a lot of earned media for the candidate. Their name and campaign platform will receive a great deal of free media.
- Stay local, always. It is always surprising how quickly local candidates get wrapped up into national platforms and issues. The candidate should simply refuse. If it is not local it’s not relevant to your campaign. Voters deserve someone who is hyper-focused on the issues and nuances of MoCo, not someone attempting to catch national eyes, or get retweets from national candidates or parties.
- Campaign for $1,000. Run your entire campaign for $1,000. Period. Let this be money that you have personally contributed. Part of the platform must be around the idea that public service, and being elected to public service, is not a job that you want other people to pay you to have. It is an act of service. Earn your name recognition through other forms. No one reads the damn mailers that get sent out anyhow. Accept donations in kind, maybe someone wants to donate their photography skills, or their web skills, or maybe they want to buy their own lawn sign. But stop trying to compete by raising money so you can play a game you will never win.
- Avoid all endorsements. The endorsing bodies in MoCo are like the Mafia. Once you are in, there is no getting out. They own you. Make your campaign about working for the individuals across MoCo, not the few and powerful that have assembled themselves into the king-makers. Would even encourage the candidate to actively campaign against many of the endorsing bodies.
- Give them something bigger than specific policy. Make your campaign, and your election, about 3 things that aren’t related to a particular position. Do not try to be the person that gets elected because you are going “balance the budget” or “provide school lunches”. At the end of the day, people vote for an essence, a character, an approach. Be represented by 3 of these, not 3 positions.
- Swing back. There will be no shortage of toxic venom headed your way. When you threaten to break the power hold within MoCo, they play for keeps. Fight back. The hypocrisy is there to be exposed. Expose it. Reveal it.
