(ROCHESTER, NY) Politics is all about organizing. You can have the greatest message in the world, but if you can't persuasively present it to voters, you'll be spending election night snacking on hummus and watching the Republicrats make acceptance speeches.
In Monroe County, we're developing an organizational structure for our electoral effort that is paying off in increased numbers of voters deciding to register Green, forced media attention, and heightened voter awareness.
The Committee
The Green Party of Monroe County (GPoMC) formed a steering committee two months ago. Jon Greenbaum, chair of the party, had convinced five candidates to run for local office; now we needed a plan to turn that goodwill into votes.
The steering committee is naturally divided into different areas of expertise. We have three veterans who know who you need to know, and who are extremely well versed in local policy and politics. We have a former lefty Democrat who has years of experience on the ground running political campaigns, and who is now turning those powers to the good side of the Force. We have a teacher who is so talented that she could register anaesthetized voters in a dark room on a stormy night. And we have a union organizer with experience in goal-setting strategies.
The key to our committee is that we assign duties based on ability. One person does volunteer outreach, one person steers the candidates through the media maze, one person works on platform issues ? you get the idea. We all provide feedback and suggestions, but we don?t try to reinvent the wheel. If somebody already does something well, we let them do it.
Voter Registration
Our first task was to create some basic lit on our candidates and then start getting the word out. We came up with a program called the Green Wave ? a strategy to bring out volunteers to register voters and hand out leaflets. The most important part of this process was setting a timetable and an achievable goal for voter registration. We decided on a five-week plan to register 100 new Greens by Labor Day (a very possible pace of 20 per week).
With the help of two interns, we turned out a dozen activists (mostly of college age) to a training session that dealt with one-on-one conversations with voters. Each volunteer had a chance to role-play an encounter with a potential registrant, and we worked together during the session to refine our message and tactics.
The first Green Wave event was held during a free concert in a downtown park. We registered 12 new Greens that evening, and our nine volunteers gained a lot of experience. Talking to the crowd helped us determine which parts of our message were the most effective, and which candidates had the most immediate name recognition. We used this information to refine the lit, and to better train our volunteers.
We scheduled a series of Green Wave events over the five weeks. We leafleted at the local co-op market, in front of a grassroots credit union, at musical events, and door-to-door. We hit the trendy sections of the East End, and brought volunteers out in force to show our seriousness. All this before most Republicrat candidates had even thought about seriously campaigning.
The initial Green Wave program was a success. We registered 111 new Greens in five weeks, and we registered another dozen or so folks into other parties or the popular "no party." That increased our registrant base by 14%. We're continuing the Green Wave through the month of September, with a plan to have the volunteers do a press conference at the board of elections when we turn in our stack of new registrants.
Awakening the Media
Anyone who has ever worked on a third-party campaign knows that one of the greatest challenges is convincing the local media to actually cover your candidates. Monroe County is no different, and we have developed several strategies for breaking through the Republicrat blockade of the local TV, radio and newspaper market. We haven?t solved the problem, but we?re learning how to plan ahead when possible, and react quickly when necessary.
The first task in selecting topics and venues for press conferences is honestly assessing your candidates? abilities and areas of expertise. Each of our candidates has one or two areas of deep knowledge and fiery passion, and it?s the job of the steering committee to engineer opportunities for the candidates to capitalize on their skills.
Also, make sure someone in your organization knows how to write a press release! This skill is often overlooked, but it is vital to the success of your media campaign. Reporters on a deadline need a concise statement of the issue, of the candidate?s position on the issue, and of the reason why this position differentiates the Green candidate from the rest of the pack. Green candidates usually have the moral high ground, and they usually address issues before the Republicrat candidates, but that doesn?t matter if the reporter has to dig to understand the Green position. The more of the story you write for the reporter, the better the chance it will see the light of day.
For our candidates, we have a created a mantra to be used at the end of every press release, and at the end of every speech or soundbite: "Green Party candidates are talking about these issues because no one else will." This mantra secures our out-front position, allowing us to point to our candidates "after the Republicrats have tried to steal our thunder" and say, "We were there first."
One attribute of the Green Party that can separate us from the rest is our speed. For example, we can respond coherently to media developments much faster than parties with cumbersome top-heavy structures. Just this week, a group of local ministers called for the four candidates for Monroe County Sheriff to make clear their positions on health care in the county's jail system. Our Green candidate, James Caldwell, had done a press conference on the very same subject in front of the expanding jail just a few weeks earlier. One the day of the ministers' press conference, we issued a press release calling on the other candidates to debate the issue at the church of the lead minister.
In addition, the local public radio station reported on the ministers' press conference without mentioning our candidate's earlier position, which that same radio station had covered. When their story aired on the 8 a.m. news, a member of our committee called the newsroom, pointed out that they were reporting as if their own earlier reporting did not exist, and asked them to change their story. By the 8:30 newscast, the report mentioned that the Green Party candidate had already called for changes in the jail health care system. A small victory, but one that will be even easier to win the next time.
Engaging the Voters
Everything we're doing in Monroe County is geared toward two goals: bringing voters to the polls to vote Green on Nov. 6, and sowing the seeds for future success, electoral and otherwise.
Our Green Wave program has heightened voters awareness that an alternative to the Republicrat machine exists. We're out on the street talking about issues that no other candidates are raising. And we listen. We're not just shilling for a bunch of career candidates. Instead, we're using the input of the voters to craft a message and a platform that the common people of Rochester can support. Are all five of our Green candidates going to ride this tide into office? You bet! But even if they don't (unthinkable as that may be), we're developing tools, and creating respect and awareness, that will be crucial to the growth and success of the Greens in this area.
We're showing the local media that we should be taken seriously. We're showing local voters that we're dedicated and different. And we're setting an example for future candidates of the kind of progressive message and aggressive support they can expect from the Green Party of Monroe County.
We may not have all the answers, but we're figuring them out one by one.
Oh yeah, and we?re having one heck of a lot of fun doing it.
