Issue 5
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August 31, 2007
Publisher: Randy Terrell
Precinct Walking:
The magic campaign ingredient.
by Paul Croshaw
Second to mail, walking is your next most effective way of getting votes. Here are some dos and don’ts on walking.
- Don’t have cookies with the voters. About every 15th home you’ll be invited in to discuss issues, have a glass of water, or help fix a pipe. Don’t do it unless it’s the last house on your walk that day and you have nothing else to do, or it’s a donor who’s going to write you a check for $100,000. If someone has a question about an issue that will take more than two minutes to explain, give them a brief answer and tell the voter you’ll call them back later when you time.
- After you’ve knocked on the door, DO move back from the door. It’s less threatening and it will give you a little more time to protect yourself from a charging dog.
- This is a hard one. But, if possible, walk in a man and woman team. Again, it’s less threatening when a homeowner sees a man and woman walking together. Have the non-candidate person of the team stay behind the candidate or they can even stay on the sidewalk. If you can’t find someone to walk with you on any particular day, walk alone.
- Walk five days a week and at the best times when most people are home. Try this schedule; Take Tuesday and Wednesday off. Walk Monday (you’ll be surprised how many people have Monday off), Thursday and Friday the two hours before it gets dark. In other words, if the sun does down at 7:00 PM, start walking at 5:00 PM. Walk Saturday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM (a round of golf). And Sunday from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
This is a demanding schedule. Some candidates thrive on it. Some would rather dig ditches. Do your best. If you can only stomach one hour a day, do it. It’s better to know what you can realistically do and be consistant.
- Go to homes that vote. You should walk to your mailing universe only. Better to knock on the door of a hard core voting little old lady twice, than to knock on five different households that have registred voters inside but don’t vote. Have your walk list vendor place a code by the names on your list that shows that they’re in your mailing universe. Exception to this is when the total number of registred voters in the district is so small, you’ll offend a neighbor if you don’t knock on their door.
- Build your “friendly” perception while walking. If you can walk the district one complete time before your VBM goes out, do it. It’s cheaper to hand out your brochure then to mail it.
Your Walk Piece
Some Helpful Reminders for a Successful Walkpiece
1. Be Positive! As we descrived in the Psychology of Building a Candidate, the first impression of a candidate should be a positive one. Include a mix of biography, endorsements, and even issues, but make sure that the issues highlight positive changes.
Sometimes a challenger has to highlight some negatives in order to convince people that a change must be made. In this case, make sure to make the tone of your whole piece more positive and larger than the negatives you may have to point out.
2. Shoot for longevity. Your walkpiece is going to be with you for the whole campaign. Make sure that the issues you highlight are broad enough to last for more than two or three months. Also, make sure that the message and theme that is conveyed through your words and your pictures will be the same through election night.
3. Appeal to everybody. Since you are handing your walk piece directly to the voter, this is the piece they may actually keep, instead of immediately throw away. It also sets the tone for your campaign, and as you walk precincts, you want to be able to carry the same message to all parts of the district. You can vary and tweak the message for the neighborhood or demographic of the voter, but do it with your words and not the walkpiece.
4. "Sorry I missed you." Have a space where you can write those words in case the voter isn't home. Take a half hour before you walk and write out a bunch of them before hand, and then carry them with you to save time. This adds a special touch when voters aren't home.
Endorsements: Get a Signature!
Unfortunately these days, a handshake often isn't enough when it counts on declaring your campaign endorsements. This is politics, remember? I have seen candidates get into trouble because a high level endorsement was secured in a verbal agreement only, but when things got tough on the campaign trail, the endorser was able to slip out of it and deny it ever happened.
Cover yourself and your campaign--get a signature.
Other Articles Available on PoliticalCampaigns.com
Special Targeted Universes
The Psychology of Building a Candidate.