Women in Politics - Part 7 - Organizing Your Campaign
by ROCHELLE A. SHENK

Once the decision has been made to run for office, no matter what that office is, one needs to organize a campaign. Two veteran campaigners-Sue Savage and Kathy Snavely-have given us the benefit of their experience.

Sue Savage is one of the partners of Abel-Savage Marketing & Communications, Lancaster. "I feel that I have a talent, a gift to share and activist bent-if I don't like something I work to change it. The world can be a better place if we work at it," she said.

Kathy Snavely is a partner in OSL Direct and Lightkeeper Consulting; both businesses are located in Mount Gretna. "My dad was on the school board, and I was brought up in a family where if you breathe you vote. I absolutely detest 'politics,' but in order to get good government you have to become involved in politics," she explained.

Her involvement in political campaigns dates to 1993 when a friend ran for a seat in the senate and asked her to help with the campaign. Since then she served as a volunteer in Mauree Gingrich's state house race in 2002, and as campaign leader for Ralph Heister in his bid for a North Cornwall Township supervisor seat. "When I look at a candidate I look for someone who has community service or government service. In politics it's important to understand the way things work-the process-and how to get people to work together," she remarked.

Savage worked on numerous campaigns including handling public relations in Lancaster County for Tom Ridge during his first campaign for Governor-she also assisted in Erie on Election Day; and worked on State Representative Mike Sturla's first campaign. She also ran for delegate to the Republican National Convention, served on NARAL's political action committee and has assisted on a number of school board campaigns. "All politics is local. I'm issue-driven so I work both sides of the aisle," she remarked.

She stressed that when you're organizing a campaign, what you're doing is creating a marketing plan. "You're selling a product-yourself. One of the things that I learned by being on the front line is how difficult it is to sell yourself," she said.

The starting point is with why the candidate is running-what she can bring to the table; determine "who am I versus the opposing candidates?" Savage noted that input from a campaign committee is important at this point since members of that committee can look at the candidate objectively.

Snavely noted that with Mauree Gingrich's 2002 campaign, the seat was open since incumbent Ed Krebs was retiring. "Mauree had proven experience in local government and name recognition in the community, which is an important quality," she explained. She noted that Gingrich decided to become a candidate for Krebs' seat approximately eight months into his final term; about a year and a half out from the election. "You need every moment of that time," she said. During that time one needs to organize support, find out who the competition is and get a feel for them, get a feel for voters' thoughts about your candidate, and organize financial support. "As a candidate you have to be comfortable asking people for financial support. That's also critical for a campaign manager as well," Snavely said.

Savage indicated that it's imperative to have someone involved in the campaign who's been involved in the campaign process before. "This is issues marketing and you need to have a sense of the process. Someone who's experienced with the campaign process understands the timing and how to ride emotion," she commented.

The primary goal is to win-candidates and campaign manager need to keep that in mind as they devise their strategy to convey where they stand on the issues. "As a candidate you're running because you see something you can change or you're replacing an incumbent. You need to bring your passion to the campaign and tell that story," she urged.

As for media, both Snavely and Savage noted that TV can be cost prohibitive, especially in local races (supervisor, school board), so direct mail and "pounding the pavement" are the methods used in those situations to get the word out about your candidate. "You need to figure out who will vote for your candidate and focus on those people. If it's a school board race, work through the PTOs in the schools," Savage said.

Snavely added that special events related to your message can be created. Another tactic is to connect the candidate with something people already know and connect with. If the campaign has the funds for media buys, Snavely recommends that the wisest course is to look at the radio and/or TV stations your voters view or listen to. She noted that cable companies such as Comcast have packages that include a number of networks like Lifetime or ESPN.

As for negative campaigning, Snavely says-don't! "Negative campaigning turns people off and keeps people at home on Election Day. Remember, there's a positive way to say everything and make your point," she stressed.

Sue Savage
Partner of Abel-Savage Marketing & Communications

Who are you trying to connect with when campaigning? Everyone?
The message should be a very simple one, and remember that it's geared to the voters-the candidate is not talking to everyone. The candidate should react to new developments in the campaign, but not over-react or react every night.

What advice do you have for women entering the political arena?
Make a difference in your community-be out front as the candidate. Women are very honest about themselves; we know our weaknesses. We may think we can't be the candidate, but we can do it-there are many qualified women out there. A campaign may get nasty, but we need to rise above the negativity and go on.

Kathy Snavely
Partner in OSL Direct and Lightkeeper Consulting

Who are you trying to connect with when campaigning? Everyone?
A candidate must have a message and image that resonates with the voters-something that local voters can emotionally connect with…on a specific issue.

What advice do you have for women entering the political arena?
Learning the political process will take you a lot more time that you imagined, so don't get discouraged. You need to know your community. As an elected official, no matter what position you hold, you are there as a public servant of your community.

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