wednesday, March 5th, 2008
MARKETING TECHNIQUES HELPED STAGE POLITICAL UPSET
by Bill Roberts
How do you win an election against a hero?
Target marketing helps, according to political consultant Sam Fischer, speaking at the March 5 luncheon meeting of the Mid-America Direct Marketing Association. Fischer worked with Gov. Dave Heineman, a virtual political unknown, when he beat Tom Osborne, beloved statewide for his success as a football coach, in the May 2006 state Republican primary for governor.
It was a legendary upset.
"I talked to people all over the country and no one, I mean no one, could believe we won that one," said Fischer, who is managing partner for Meridian Central Public Affairs.
Fischer said one key to Heineman's victory was focusing on political issues important to audiences identified through microtargeting.
Helping with that strategy was University of Nebraska-Kearney geography professor Paul Burger. He used Geographic Information System targeting and spatial analytics to identify and locate people who cared about specific issues.
"We knew we couldn't win a popularity contest, but we knew we could win on the issues," Fischer said. "He (Osborne) was upside-down on the issues, and we went out of our way to tell people about it."
FOCUS ON ISSUES
One key issue was school consolidation -- proposals to merge smaller districts into large ones in rural Nebraska, and to merge suburban districts with the Omaha Public Schools in the metro area. While Osborne never stated his position, Fischer said, Heineman was strongly opposed.
"This was a very emotional issue for folks, and it really hit home," he said.
Another key issue was allowing children of illegal immigrants to be eligible for in-state school tuition rates. Fischer said Osborne favored it and Heineman strongly opposed it.
In addition, Heineman was a strong supporter of veteran issues. He made sure voters knew he was a graduate of the West Point Military Academy (not to be confused with West Point, Nebraska) and a former Army Ranger.
Fischer said the campaign was careful to frame these issues in a positive way: "Gov. Heineman is the only candidate who's opposed to school consolidation," for instance. They never wanted to be seen as attacking the popular Osborne.
"There was no way on God's green earth that we were going to go negative," he said.
Fischer said Heineman's campaign team used jumbo postcards, automated telephone messages and door hangers to get issue-focused messages to voters identified as likely to agree with Heineman's positions.
AWARD-WINNER
One oversize postcard, headlined "Living the Nebraska Way," won a Pollie Award from the American Association of Political Consultants. The postcard featured eye-catching, full-color photography and sparse copy, customized to get the right message to the identified audience.
"We did many, many versions of mail based on the microtargeting we had done," Fischer said.
Although the jumbo postcards were relatively expensive to produce and mail, the campaign felt it was worth the cost to get noticed.
"We realize there's a lot of junk mail out there, so we wanted to stick out," he said.
In the three days before the election, the Heineman campaign team had an intense get-out-the-vote effort, distributing 50,000 door hangers and making many automated phone calls.
Fischer discussed other reasons for the upset: Heineman is a more natural politician than Osborne ("he's a football coach, not a politician"); voters were not convinced that a change was needed (Heineman was appointed governor when the popular Mike Johanns was named secretary of agriculture); and the team was led by capable campaign manager Carlos Castillo ("the Karl Rove of Nebraska").
When the May 9, 2006, primary rolled around, Heineman beat Osborne by 16,243 votes, or 6 percent. Fischer was asked whether, when he took the assignment, he had been confident of victory.
"I always thought we could win," he said with a smile