Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapters
01 - The Candidate
02 - The Staff

Chapter 2

The Staff

If a doctor is sick, he doesn’t treat himself. If a lawyer is in legal trouble, he doesn’t represent himself. A candidate should never run their own campaign! You need to trust the people you hire as staff and let them do their jobs. If a campaign is like a play, the candidate is the “star”. Stars should never be allowed to direct (watch Star Trek V for an example). Your campaign Staff, experienced or not, is better equipped to handle the details and make rational decisions.

These are the campaign supervisors that keep the whole operation together. Each performs vital tasks and must be dependable, self motivated and able to work together. The expression “Team Effort” has been used so much it has lost much of its meaning. The ‘team’ serves a purpose that transcends petty jealousies or personality conflicts; the team must make every effort to get their candidate elected. In the last few months of the campaign, each key staffer will need to choose an assistant from the volunteer pool.

Often, your local Republican clubs and organizations offer a campaign school for staff members of local races. These campaign schools are an excellent place to learn the ropes or brush up on important skills. The schools normally consist of one or two weekend’s worth of classes and cost between $50 and $100. You may be able to find experienced campaign staff to tutor your volunteers as well. The more knowledge and experience your staff has, the better job they will be able to do for the campaign.

Campaign manager: The campaign manager supervises all staff and volunteers and is responsible for their production. He/she makes budgetary and personnel decisions as well as resource allocations. He/she travels with the candidate and attends all functions and events at the candidate’s side. It is the campaign manager’s responsibility to gather and present staff reports, solve scheduling conflicts, delegate responsibility and hire staff.

The Campaign Manager must conduct a bi-weekly staff meeting with all staffers and key volunteers present. The candidate should not be allowed to attend; Staffers will “play” to the candidate or omit important details of a report in fear of displeasing the candidate. What is said in the staff meeting stays there. The Campaign Manager should answer any questions staffers might have, listen to staff reports, develop talking points, assign weekly tasks and set goals. Any media attention the candidate received that week should be reviewed at the beginning of the staff meeting and honestly critiqued.

The bi-weekly staff meetings will keep your people informed as well as foster cooperation between the staff members. Your Campaign Manager should have experience in controlling meetings and getting the best out of staff members.

Prescient Director: The Prescient Director is responsible for recruiting precinct captains, organizing walks, producing/maintaining a district wall map and supervising voter registration drives (see walking precincts). The Prescient Director must build a database of Prescient Captains and contact each one at least twice a week. Your District may have hundreds of precincts, making Prescient Director a full time staff position.

Walking precincts is still the cheapest and most effective campaign tool available to your campaign. The candidate and staff should be knocking on doors and leaving slates (multi-candidate handouts or mailers) at least 20 hours a week. The Prescient Director must organize and distribute walking sheets, gather any donations or volunteer cards received by walkers and keep track of completed precincts.

Scheduler/secretary: The scheduler sets the daily schedule for the candidate, answers the phones, handles daily correspondence and manages the office. He/she must have good phone, time management and diplomacy skills. Traditionally the scheduler is tied down to the office, but cell phones, lap tops and wireless connection have made this staff member more versatile and mobile.

The scheduler must have access to the candidate or campaign manager at all times. Many members of the broadcast media will try to book a last minute appearance or “call in” during the campaign. The scheduler must be able to make quick changes to the itinerary without canceling public appearances or party obligations.

Without a scheduler, you will forget or double book important events and annoy your staff and volunteers. The Scheduler keeps the campaign running like a well oiled machine by managing the most precious resource… TIME!

Each morning the Scheduler should have an itinerary for you to follow. The itinerary can be downloaded onto your PDA or scribbled on a cocktail napkin, whatever you’re comfortable with. During the days events, the Scheduler may contact you with changes, updates or cancellations. It is important to keep the schedule.

Treasurer: The treasurer keeps the accounts and files the proper forms necessary in a campaign with a budget over $5,000. He/she also supervises the fundraising crews, chairs the Executive Committee and pays the bills. The treasurer must have or develop a working knowledge of campaign finance laws and experience in raising funds. These laws can be found on line or at the library.

The current campaign finance laws are very strict; an honest mistake can put the candidate and treasurer in serious legal trouble. This is the one staff position that it is essential to find the most qualified person you can. There are many good campaign finance programs available for your PC for about $100. Most of them have easy tutorials and up to date finance laws preventing costly mistakes.

The treasurer will manage the fundraising staff and delegate responsibility to team leaders. Each event needs a project supervisor able to make decisions and complete tasks in a timely manner. These supervisors will report directly to the treasurer.

Remember that an honest mistake in campaign finance reporting can result in serious trouble from the Federal Elections Commission. Your treasurer must keep accurate records and make sure that all donations comply with the law.

Media Director: The Media Director is responsible for booking the candidate on talk shows, maintaining a ‘letter to the editor’ campaign, managing an email blitz, writing speeches/press releases/press kits, supervising the cardboard crew and overseeing the production of ads and commercials. In rare cases when the candidate needs a spokesman, the Media Director should be able to fill in.

A good media director does not distinguish between big news media and cable access. Unless the candidate is in high demand, the media director should try to publicize the candidate in any dignified forum available. (This does not include the Howard Stern show, bondage magazines or CNN).

However, if the candidate is in demand, the Media Director should organize and hold public press conferences while granting only friendly media access to private interviews. The reason is simple: REPORTERS ARE VERMIN! They never get the story right and feel compelled to crap on Republicans. Don’t trust the Press.

Research Director: The Research Director is responsible for opposition research, writing subject reports, conducting polls, running focus groups, supervising the public relations team and generating call lists. He/she must have research and statistics experience. The Research Director must also brief the candidate for each special interest event and make sure the candidate has current and accurate information on their cause/causes.

The Research Director should also run a background check on all staffers and volunteers working on the campaign. This will help prevent leaks and avoid scandal, but it will also give the campaign useful information on the experience of its volunteers and staff. The Democrats are known for using moles to gather inside information. It is very important to know who you’re dealing with.

A good Research Director spends their spare time checking the opponent’s speeches, voting record, interviews and press releases for inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Using their own words against them always works well.

Webmaster: (AKA: Wirehead) The Wirehead is responsible for building and maintaining the website, implementing email campaigns, blogging, internet campaigning, office setup and lending technical assistance to other staffers. People that use the internet are three to five times more likely to vote (depending on what study you read). Your webmaster must have cutting edge ideas and be able to execute them.

The webmaster must create an exciting, informative and entertaining website and find ways to get district voters to visit it. This can be accomplished by adding news articles about the candidate and their main issues to the website on a daily basis. Lots of photos, a district map, a calendar of events, video clips, an endorsement page, email address for local media, a blog and a clear platform page should be included as well.

Volunteer Coordinator: The volunteer coordinator actively recruits volunteers and is responsible for placing them. This is a crucial task throughout the campaign; over time you may loose up to 60% of your labor force and will need to replace them. The Volunteer coordinator must also keep spirits high and keep the volunteers happy. If the VC makes the volunteers feel like they are part of an exclusive club and making a difference the campaign will have no trouble meeting its labor needs.

Event Coordinator: The Event Coordinator manages event volunteers, conducts event planning meetings and delegates key tasks to volunteers. The Event Coordinator must manage every aspect of an event including food, entertainment, speakers, lighting, sound system/PA, seating, ticket sales, the bar and hundreds of other details. This staff member must have good organization skills and experience in event planning.

Cultural Advisors: These non-paid staffers are recruited from ethnic Republican service clubs to brief the candidate on cultural issues. They will also help the Media Director, Prescient captains, and the fundraising crew work in the more ethnically diverse areas of the district. They are also useful in registration drives in these areas. The candidate must be very certain to deliver on all campaign promises made to these groups or risk loosing their vote forever and damaging the party.

It is key for the staffers to have a working relationship. Personality conflicts must be resolved quickly and in private. Interoffice rumors can destroy the morale of staff and crew alike. To prevent this, the Campaign Manager and candidate should spend as much time with crew members as possible. Volunteers and crew should feel free to approach staffers with problems.