Opinions

Secrets of an upset

In print | March 26, 2009

In 2006, while Democrats were scoring major victories across the country, Virgil Goode coasted to a sixth term as congressman for Virginia’s Fifth district — my home. In 2008, Goode looked poised for another landslide: an August poll put him ahead by 34 percent. In November, Goode was defeated by 35-year-old Tom Perriello — by a margin of 727 votes. It’s been called the biggest congressional upset of the year, and many pundits have had trouble figuring out how it happened — giving answers that are oversimplified, or just plain wrong.

In an upset this big, with a result this close, there are inevitably many reasons that may have tipped the balance for Perriello. As a former employee of the campaign, there are a few which I think were extremely important that pose lessons for other campaigns.

Tip #1: The campaign should be an extension of the candidate; the candidate’s ideals should be embodied in all elements of the campaign.

Perriello’s message centered on hard work and a commitment to service. Rather than leave this message as a set of talking points, as many campaigns do, Perriello built his campaign around it. He recruited a team including numerous non-profit veterans and college students from around the district.

The campaign opened an unprecedented number of offices across the district — even in towns which hadn’t had a Democratic office in decades. Adding offices can be tough — it spreads employees and resources thin or demands more of them — but it fit into the message of putting in the extra work and engaging with the community.

Finally, Perriello started a program he called the “Volunteer Tithing Initiative.” Campaign volunteers were asked to devote ten percent of their “volunteer hours” to local community service organizations — domestic violence shelters, food banks, Habitat for Humanity, etc.

It was brilliant. It got publicity for the campaign, but it did much more. It embodied Perriello’s commitment to community service. It put Perriello in contact with local leaders working to address some of the district’s most important needs — something that will hopefully allow him to better serve their causes from Washington. And let’s not forget the most direct result — well over 1000 hours of community service. Imagine if more campaigns did this — if election cycles could have a direct impact aside from that one day in November, and help society no matter who won. You may say I’m a dreamer…

Tip # 2: Hire the right consultants, then be prepared to ignore them.
In the multimillion-dollar elections industry, hiring strong consultants, for better or for worse, is part of the game. They provide access to technology, information and vendors which otherwise would prove too costly. They can provide invaluable expertise and experience. They have an interest in their candidate winning, and their values may align with the candidate’s.

At the same time, consultants do not have the monopoly on good advice, and a strong campaign must be willing to ignore them. There are plenty of reasons to be wary of the advice of consultants. They have less local knowledge than the inhabitants of the district, and attempts to implement “one size fits all” solutions may ignore key constituent groups or district needs. Profit motives may interfere with their ability to put the candidate’s interests first. Sometimes this can get extreme — most notoriously the case of BMW Direct, which once gave a candidate only $30,000 out of $700,000 raised on his behalf.

Back to Perriello. He wanted to start a program where he would recruit college-aged people from around the district to open and manage regional offices and become the local faces of the campaign. Consultants warned him this was a bad move: the money would be better spent on advertising, and experienced professionals would make better ambassadors than college kids.

Still, the objections quieted when Perriello stood by the program. They disappeared completely when the Obama campaign announced a similar program of its own. After the election, Perriello called the program one of the most valuable of his campaign.

I’m not saying candidates should go without consultants — that would be disastrous. But in this case, Perriello saw an important opportunity. The program put him in closer touch with the district, and helped him deal with the diverse and sprawling nature of the district by having representatives in communities throughout. Recalling my first tip, Perriello also saw this as a chance to have the campaign embody his message about young people devoting themselves to their communities.

There are many reasons Perriello won in the Fifth district. Neither of the points above really upends conventional wisdom — but hopefully they shift it just a little. The first is about having a more representative campaign; the second is about being more responsive to the needs of your district. I know no one who would oppose these goals.

Jesse is a senior. You can reach him at jgotts1@swarthmore.edu.