City Mayor Plans to Broadcast Bird Chirping

Recently, a city mayor declared that he wanted to broadcast “bird songs” on the streets of his city. The rationale? Bird chirping makes people happy. Never mind the fact that I personally think bird chirping is the most annoying sound on the planet, I nonetheless stopped to wonder, is this really what our cities should…

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Campaign Friendraising

Here in the great state of Kansas, we are fast approaching the deadline to file to run for local offices like city council and school board. Many active and passionate citizens are currently throwing around or already committed to the idea of running for some of these available positions. They’re tired of seeing their tax…

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Wisconsin’s February 15 Primary Approaching Rapidly

Conservatives need to not only make the general ballot, but they need to perform well in the primary. Perceptions influence voters greatly in elections. Accordingly, if you barely make the general ballot, the voters are less likely to vote for you in the general election because you will not be viewed as a frontrunner. Voters want to vote for those who they perceive have the best chance to win. They want to be a part of the winning team. Conservatives need to emerge from the primaries as the frontrunners.

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Living in Flyover Country

I visited a close friend last weekend and sat next to a Chicago native on my flight back into Kansas City.  A sweet older gentleman, he asked, “What’s it like living in Kansas?”  I answered that it’s great if you like small towns, and that while I know it lacks the mountains of Colorado and…

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Transitioning from a National Mindset to a Local One

With the end of mid-term election season quickly approaching, nearly every poll, blog post, and even MSM news story has come to a similar conclusion: at least one house in Congress (and possibly both) is almost guaranteed to flip from one party to another.  And on a larger scale conservative and center/right candidates should also…

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Notes from the Summit

As we were pleased to do last year, American Majority is providing in-depth training at the Smart Girl Politics 2010 Summit in DC this weekend, and I wanted to share some notes from it with you. Yesterday, we held five training sessions, with Anita MonCrief and Faulkner Strategies joining us at the Summit- we started…

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INTERVIEW TIPS FOR CANDIDATES

PORTRAYING THE RIGHT IMAGE In order to maintain credibility, the candidate needs to look and sound like he or she is comfortable and in control.  This is why it is so important that the candidate avoid nervous behavior, such as using filler words and phrases and uncomfortable body language during the interview.  When a candidate…

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Communicating Your Message With the Media

Candidates must be reminded that outside direct voter contact and paid advertisements, voters receive an abundance of information from the media. If conservative candidates want voters to hear their message they shouldn’t write off the media or take them for granted.

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Choosing and managing your campaign team

A campaign team is made up of everyone that helps in your efforts to get elected.  Choosing the right people for your team is vital to the success of your campaign. CHOOSING YOUR CAMPAIGN TEAM: The Structure When setting up your campaign team, you must first come up with a campaign structure.  You want to…

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SURE-FIRE TIPS FOR A LOCAL CANDIDATE

Recently, I was visiting with a county quorum court candidate between sessions during one of our trainings here in Arkansas.  He had recently been victorious during a tough primary battle against an opponent from a well known family in the county.  After months of strictly out-working his competitor, he was telling me about the challenge…

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Why YOU Matter

Yesterday when the mail arrived at our office, nestled in amongst the bills and junk mail was a letter from a candidate trained by American Majority for this election cycle.  It was a thank you note for the training and resources provided during his campaign.  Towards the end of the letter, he wrote that “My…

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Avoid Being the “Zombie Candidate”

Among the seven candidates in the recent Republican primary for Oklahoma’s Fifth District Congressional seat were a current state House member (“Candidate A”), a former state House member who previously ran for this seat 4 years ago (“Candidate B”), and the former director of the largest Baptist church camp in the country (“Candidate C”). Here is what…

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Campaigns: Have You Done Your Research?

Being proactive on the countless issues that one will face on the campaign trail is a key component of any successful overall strategy. Time is a precious commodity on any campaign and taking advantage of opportunities to do your homework now to properly confront issues surely awaiting your campaign is a necessity if you want to win in November.

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So You Lost Your Election- Now What?

On Tuesday, Kansas held its primary elections, as did a few other states, and while the results are overwhelmingly positive, let’s face it: elections are about choices and sometimes the voters don’t choose you.  Or don’t choose the candidate you believe so strongly in and worked so hard to elect.  And that’s hard.  With our…

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