Analysis of the 2008 Campaign
In 2008, after running a small business since 1971, I decided to run for Congress. For those who are interested, here are my reasons for running, my strategy, my analysis, and my future plans.
Why I decided to run and my background
I have always been interested about what is happening in government. I firmly believe in the principles of our founding fathers. I have a passionate vision of what our country should be like. I have written this vision plus my core values and promises in my web page for all to see. I think this is unique approach, but the right approach. In an ideal situation, voters would read about my values and beliefs and make their decision based on them.
I have seen our country drift away from the vision of our founding fathers and the vision I see for the country. I see the concept of the melting pot morph into a concept of ethnicity meaning a mixture of independent cultures (a mixture of oil and water rather than a homogenous solution of salt dissolved in water). I have seen us become a nation of politics of special advantages to special and disadvantaged groups based on claims of who is more discriminated against. I have seen our best and brightest move to jobs where they are gambling on wall street rather than producing goods and services for the country.
In many ways, I have see the United States losing its way. While I have been a Republican, I have seen Republicans lose their way and lose their message. Too many of our leaders are in government for self-enrichment rather than to serve the people.
I see many issues where I think the country is heading in the wrong direction.
I feel passionate about these issues where I think we are heading I the wrong direction and I would like to do something about it.
Finally, you do not have the right to complain unless you are willing to step up and do something about it. I am willing to step up and be part of the solution.
Our strategy
I knew from the get go that this was a long shot. And if I did not know, everyone I spoke to told me so.
I knew that Bush was unpopular. But Congress was actually more unpopular than Bush.
I thought that if I worked really hard and got really lucky, I would have a chance of winning.
I also knew that I was not going to have the kind of money that my opponent had, but I counted on the internet and email to help get the message out. I also realized early on that I had zero name recognition. Even fewer people knew what I stood for.
I did have the advantage of growing up in Wayne, living in Montclair, and running a business in Paterson which gave me some
presence in three distinct areas of the district: Upcounty Passaic County, Urban Passaic County, and Northern Essex County
I planned to use the internet, go to every event people would allow me to attend, and meet as many people as possible.
I also planned to gather as many volunteers as I could to hold coffees, resend emails, and do whatever is needed to run a successful campaign.
Bill's Strategy
Bill's strategy was simple. Ignore me! Intimidate anyone who was even remotely considering supporting me. Take credit for everything good that happened in the district especially any distribution of federal funds and earmarks. And blame everything bad that happened on Bush and the Republicans.
Analysis
In January, things were looking OK and moving forward. It looked like the presidential race would be Giuliani or Romney against Clinton. Iraq was becoming a non-issue and I was being well received. Both county committees supported me - Pat Kramer was going to help me in Paterson.
By September, things started going against me. McCain did not campaign in NJ. Sarah Palin while starting very positive became a major negative in NJ. The Republican Party really fell apart and off message. Barack Obama, instead of being a flash in the pan, became an inspirational candidate with almost unlimited funds. And then the final blow was the totally unexpected credit crisis. Bill got to Pat Kramer who withdrew open support for me which destroyed any chance I had in Paterson.
And most important, we just ran out of time to get to know people and to tell them about my candidacy.
We did do a lot right. I do not have an exact count, but I must have personally met over 20,000 people. That sounds like a lot, but when compared with approximately 480,000, its nothing.
We had numerous coffees and events. But where we had events with 50 people, our opponent had events with 200 people.
Lawn signs, while considered ugly by many, were instrumental in getting our name out. But our opponent was taking ours down and replacing them with his as fast as we could put them up. We would have 2 people put up signs and he would have ten people taking them down.
Our staff was excellent, but there were only three staff members.
We needed ten times the number to coordinate all of the events in all the different towns, answer all of the telephone calls and emails, and generally get the message out to the people.
The internet email helped a great deal by getting the message out to many people at low cost.
But not everyone is on the internet and many people resent getting email messages.
Finally, the real difference was money. We spent around $60,000 and he spent $800,000. That is a tough hurdle indeed.
Results
We did a poll and we estimate that we got close to 50% name recognition. That alone is quite phenomenal. My opponent, however, had close to 100% name recognition.
We did much better in Essex County (32%) than Passaic County (27%). We were very disappointed in not winning Totowa, Little Falls,
Wayne, and Pompton Lakes that basically vote Republican.
But our opponent was just too well entrenched and had too much of a lead for us to overcome in just nine months.
Future
My official stance is I am keeping my options open, which means I will continue to meet people and network. Many have told me that the first run is only practice, and I certainly picked a good election for the practice round. Pretty much everyone I know tells me it was a hard well-fought campaign and I should keep running.
By keeping my options open, I am continuing to meet people. Its amazing how much easier it is to meet people after having run. Having run for Congress carries much more weight than saying, I want to run for Congress. My intention is to help build the Republican Party and support its candidates in this November's elections. For the 2010 election, I plan to poll my supporters. If there is a large base of support, I will run. If not, I will continue to support and help build Republicans.
|
Roland Straten for US Congress
|
973.333.5415