The Scarlet Letter
Campaign Insider
GOP poll: Americans don't believe country is moving 'forward'
by Dave Nyczepir / Aug 27 2012
TAMPA, Fla.—National conventions can offer presidential challengers a chance to boost enthusiasm among the party base while preying on voter dissatisfaction—and this week’s confab in Tampa offers Mitt Romney a prime opportunity for both.
The clearest opening for Romney, says Republican pollster Whit Ayres, comes from the Obama campaign’s own catch phrase. New polling from Resurgent Republic, the conservative group headed by Ayres, found that just 39 percent of Americans think the
Networking at the year's biggest party
by Sarah B. Smith / Aug 27 2012
The biggest GOP party is now underway in the Sunshine State. Limited government tea partiers, gun-toting individualists, pro-life activists and defense hawks have all descended on Tampa this week.
So how do aspiring young campaign operatives network through the red, white and blue confetti? Here are a few pointers to show you the way.
The Ever-Fashionable Business Card: Even if you’re just a recent college grad or you’re in between jobs, click
Messaging around the storm
by Dave Nyczepir / Aug 27 2012
TAMPA, Fla.—The potential for a powerful hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast later this week puts Republican National Convention organizers in a real quandary—how to get the most out of the party’s convention without appearing insensitive to those impacted by the storm.
"I would imagine everyone's willing to bend the rules here to make sure Republicans don't come out looking crass,” says Republican strategist Phillip Stutts.
Whether that means postponing events
The political consultant's guide to Tampa
by Chris Ingram / Aug 26 2012
Tampa is home to countless great places to eat, and delegates, members of the media, and others in town for the convention who want to dine where the local politicos go to be seen should consider some of the following hotspots.
Datz deli is one of the trendiest places to go to be seen in Tampa’s political and social circles. Florida Governor Rick Scott held a campaign event at Datz, and countless local
AT&T wants to lower fees on text donations
by Dave Nyczepir / Aug 24 2012
While AT&T customers may have to wait to donate to the Obama campaign via text message, the wireless carrier could end up taking less in fees.
AT&T is asking the Federal Election Commission for permission to charge “a substantially lower rate for political donations than we do for commercial transactions, such as ringtones, purchased by text messaging,” says Margaret Boles, an AT&T federal media relations spokeswoman. “Given the pending presidential election, we
Obama campaign to accept donations via text
by Dave Nyczepir / Aug 23 2012
President Obama’s reelection campaign will begin accepting contributions via text message before the end of this week, potentially paving the way for the widespread use of text-to-donate in political campaigns.
The campaign will urge supporters to text "GIVE" to 62262, Obama for America's short code. Text-to-donate will be available for customers of Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and US Cellular starting this week. The Obama campaign says other carriers, including AT&T, will be added in
The Art of Advance
by Ben Donahower / Aug 22 2012
They may not get much attention—or much credit—but a good advance team is a necessity to pull off seamless campaign events.
Advance is tasked with overseeing all logistics surrounding events like town hall meetings and rallies. That includes travel arrangements, game day schedule, and sometimes connecting the candidate or surrogate with the media, and ensuring an appropriate level of security. A campaign’s scheduling and advance department has an eye for detail, can foresee
The philosopher as running mate
by Robert Spicer / Aug 21 2012
There is a video on YouTube, apparently uploaded earlier this year, of Paul Ryan doing his best to politely get away from a young Catholic trying to offer him a Bible while haranguing him about Ayn Rand. This is just one of many instances of Ryan getting (unwanted) attention drawn to his previous statements about his admiration for a philosopher many consider controversial.
What makes the Ryan/Rand connection an interesting part of
Know your online ad options
by Dave Nyczepir / Aug 20 2012
Given the increasingly high demand, pre-roll inventory is going to be scarce ahead of November, but don’t despair, say online strategists. Campaigns still have plenty of online advertising options.
Those pre-roll spots, the 15 or 30 second ads that run prior to an online video playing, have garnered lots of attention over the past few weeks. Pre-roll may be hard to come by on sites like YouTube, but campaigns looking for alternatives
Mobile firm asks FEC to expedite request on text donations
by Dave Nyczepir / Aug 17 2012
Revolution Messaging is asking the Federal Election Commission to expedite its political text-to-donate advisory opinion request now that the commission has paved the way for wireless carriers to begin offering the service to campaigns.
The mobile strategy firm’s AOR, submitted July 31, asks that wireless users be allowed to text more than $50 per billing cycle to federal political committees and that those committees be allowed to share premium short codes
What YouTube reveals about the presidential election
by Sarah Stone / Aug 15 2012
YouTube serves as the online media headquarters for most political campaigns nowadays. Although not everything posted to YouTube by a campaign is guaranteed to hit the airwaves, the videos and TV ads posted online do reflect the general tone of the election.
A simple survey of all the political ads uploaded by candidates, PACs and issue groups for this year’s presidential election reveals that over half (56 percent) of the ads to
FEC grants carriers broad discretion on text-to-donate
by Shane D'Aprile / Aug 15 2012
Political contributions via text message have taken another major step forward thanks to a new ruling by the Federal Election Commission, but it’s still not clear whether campaigns will be able to collect this election cycle.
On Tuesday, the FEC paved the way for wireless carriers to start offering the service ahead of this fall by granting providers wide latitude when it comes to determining which political committees would be eligible for
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