Gingrich Adviser Broadcasts Advice to GOP Candidates

Campaigning in most races has been going on for months or even years, but Republican strategist Joe Gaylord, a top adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and frequent guru at the training sessions provided by Gingrich’s 527 group, American Solutions, has a message warning GOP candidates to stay on the ball in the final three weeks:

For many voters, elections are like shopping for a car. People don’t pay attention to the ads … or do any research … until they actually need to buy the car. And most voters don’t pay close attention to campaigns until the final three weeks … when they realize they have a decision to make.

So what’s a candidate to do? Gaylord, who’s recorded his advice to candidate in a podcast, gives a heap of fairly anodyne advice that nonetheless presents a reasonably coherent roadmap for any candidate who’s begun curling into a fetal position. He’s broken it up into ten “Ms” — Mapping, Management, Money, Media, Message, Mistakes, Morale, Motivation, Momentum and Meaning — and his advice is mainly geared for challengers:

A challenger usually has fewer resources than an incumbent. So a challenger has to attack more precisely and quickly….

It means that you must be more creative than the opposition. You have to be aggressive in bringing out the negatives of your opponent and just as aggressively positive at the same time.

One way to master this balancing act is to define the differences between you and your opponent, as opposed to sheer negative campaigning where all you do is attack the other guy.

Help voters understand that there is a difference between you and your opponent. Explain the choice. After all, that’s what elections are all about. The differences you define may be on issues or qualifications… or on character.

Many voters are not issue-oriented. They respond to the person. They think, “Do I like and trust this candidate?” So, don’t be too blatantly political or too negative. Be personable, be appealing.

The advice goes on for 23 minutes, but it feels even longer. That said, Gaylord’s broader point — about a fair number of voters just starting to pay attention to races now — is a good one. People in politics often assume that the electorate has been tuned into races for months because, well, they themselves have been tuned in. Assuming there’s not an important portion of voters who’ve yet to make up their minds at this point would be a costly miscalculation.