The Fairfield County Version of the 2010 Survival Guide For Democrats

Politico released the 2010 Congressional Democratic candidate survival guide.  Highlights from Harrison Hickman’s post:

3. Get back to basics. Hard things win campaigns, not exotic technologies or clever messages. Don’t look for silver bullets. There are none. Raise lots of money. Knock on doors. Return calls. That stuff.

4. Get in touch. If you’re in trouble, you’re probably disconnected from your voters. Contrary to what your political family might think, you need the voters more than they need you, at least on Election Day.

5. Get aggressive. Statesmen may not push their accomplishments on voters or push back against their opponents. But winners do. If you’re not going to fight for yourself, no one will.

Realizing that President Obama is not going to sprinkle his “magic fairy dust” on the local state rep and state senate races next year, would be a start. So let’s tweak the top 10 things a Democrat might consider.

1. Get Real. High cost of living, high unemployment, high net worth, high income fluctuation, there’s your Fairfield County paradox. Your party colleagues want to balance the state budget on income earners who are stretched to keep what they have earned. Jobs, homes, that Fairfield county lifestyle. The voters here want to concentrate on fixing their economic challenges, not fixing the State of Connecticut’s revenue challenges by taxing them more.
2. Get Going. On those long drives to Hartford you might want to take note at all those state funded projects you drive by. Seems like the funding tap hasn’t been turned off upstate. You might want to have an answer for that before your unnamed opponent jumps ahead and calls for it first. You represent Fairfield County, not the upstate Connecticut.
3. Get Back to the Basics.  Same advice as Politico gave to the congresscriters: “Hard things win campaigns, not exotic technologies or clever messages. Don’t look for silver bullets. There are none. Raise lots of money. Knock on doors. Return calls. That stuff.” With the gubernatorial and senatorial races sucking up next year’s election oxygen you might as well start now.
4. Get in Touch. Do you really know your voters? Are they trying to contact you? Are you trying to contact them? You may not like what they are saying but they are the ones that will show up on election day. That includes the vast majority of voters who proudly register as unaffiliated in Fairfield County. They aren’t buying brand donkey, you need to know who they are.
5. Get Aggressive. Winners lead, losers follow. If you follow your party’s leadership all the time, you are a …
6. Get Smart. Know more than your opponent does. The advice travels on down nicely. Own the issues. Know your district. And tell people about it. Do you think your voters know their own district? Inform them.
7. Get Tough. Voters are angry. Voters are fearful. Voters think no one in government listens to them. Remember Bill Clinton, he felt their pain. You need to feel some pain too. Confront your most vociferous agitators and tell them to stop being part of the problem and start becoming part of the solution.
8. Get Out There. Your district needs to see you beyond the usual photo op where you and 17 of your colleagues all claim credit for spending some state money on some project. You don’t have the luxury of a major media market, you have a fractured media market. You need to be in the field and covered by that weekly paper as well as the newsletters and emails sent out by your constituents. Will you be able to afford to be in the shadows of your party’s primary? Can you afford to be on the losing side of that primary? You can if voters know who you really are instead of same name they read or hear about.
9. Get Focused. Did you really mean that you single handily got some bit of legislation passed? Most voters don’t believe all those laundry lists of accomplishments. They want to know what you will do for them. Simply.
10. Get Fast. Don’t wait to respond to issues until they become your problem. If it happens in your district, be on the record with a position. Defend that position. No one likes a dithering politician.