Campaign Manager

• The Two Primaries ...

  
  The Two Primaries That Will Define the GOP
  
  The two elections are approaching that will determine the future of the GOP. The first if is the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania and the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate right here in [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 11:02pm EST
  

• Not Florida Related, But Just One of ...

  Not Florida Related, But Just One of the Worst Things I Have Seen Come Out of a Political Campaign and That Includes the Time I Saw a Legislative Candidate Walk in a Parade While Wearing a Wet T-Shirt - What I Mean to Say Is That We Need to Shame [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 12:19pm EDT
  

• Absentee ballotsTimes have definitely changed ...

  Absentee ballots
  
  Times have definitely changed and Election Day means less and less – or rather, Election Day is now more like Election Month. The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November is no longer the day you can vote, it is merely the last day you are [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 2:58pm EDT
  

• Your most important investmentWhat is ...

  Your most important investment
  
  What is the single most important investment you can make if you are a local candidate running for office?
  
  Your website? Nope.
  
  Your yard signs? Heck no!
  
  Your palm card? You’re getting closer.
  
  It’s your voter file.
  
  Without a [...]
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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 6:08pm EDT
  

• National Blog Props for Local Political Scribe

  National Blog Props for Local Political Scribe
  
  No, not me – I’m talking about Adam Smith.
  
  For whatever it is worth, the Washington Post's the Fix has picked the St. Pete Times' Adam Smith as the best political reporter in Florida.
  
  Make of that what [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 3:28pm EDT
  

• Lessons from the ...

  
  Lessons from the St. Petersburg City Elections
  
  Old fashioned politics matter. Not just facebook and twitter and websites, but boots on the ground.
  
  People who win by huge margins usually do so because they run like they are 20 points behind in the [...]
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  Posted: September 02, 2009, 12:21pm EDT
  

• To the Contrary, Mr. ...

  To the Contrary, Mr. Schorsch...
  
  To the contrary, Mr. Schorsch, I think that that wreckage left behind in the mayoral race should keep you in the running for best troublemaker. [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 10:20am EDT
  

• Too EarlyI’ve been hearing that ...

  Too Early
  
  I’ve been hearing that a lot lately. When you’re working on an election that takes place in November, and you’re busting your hump to make it a victory one of the most frustrating things you can hear is “It’s too early,” which is usually followed by something [...]
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  Posted: August 25, 2009, 2:21pm EDT
  

• Notes from a Tampa Bay Expat

  Notes from a Tampa Bay Expat
  
  The rain is coming down hard and the danger of lightning has basically scuttled my canvass for the day. Nothing to do but sit in the local coffeehouse (no alcohol - I'm still on the clock) and finish some paperwork until I hit' [...]
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  Posted: August 02, 2009, 12:19pm EDT
  

• New CampaignI just joined a ...

  New Campaign
  
  I just joined a campaign outside of the Tampa Bay area, so my posting will be even more intermittent than usual for the next few months, but I will attempt to keep this blog updated - probably by continuing to write tips and thoughts about the nuts [...]
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  Posted: July 17, 2009, 8:53am EDT
  

• TimingThey ...

  
  Timing
  
  They say timing is everything.
  
  Generally speaking, “they” are correct.
  
  In politics, paid media is all about timing. Absentee ballots just started dropping (not meaning that they are arriving today, but that they have been given to the post office for delivery [...]
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  Posted: July 09, 2009, 1:24pm EDT
  

• Robocall UniversesI have done robocalls. ...

  Robocall Universes
  
  I have done robocalls. I have a good friend who is a phone vendor (live calls and robocalls). I’d be happy to recommend his firm to you.
  
  But, their value is very narrow.
  
  We all know that Scott Wagman and Jamie Bennett have done robocalls [...]
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  Posted: July 07, 2009, 12:55pm EDT
  

• BillboardsCaveat – I have never ...

  Billboards
  
  Caveat – I have never been a big fan of billboards.
  
  But looking objectively, let’s ask ourselves, what do billboards?
  
  Basically – they put your name (and usually your face up there) up there in big letters for people to see. Do billboards have persuasion message [...]
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  Posted: July 02, 2009, 10:56am EDT
  

• Crist Doesn't Have Much Room for Growth

  Crist Doesn't Have Much Room for Growth
  
  It’s all wishful thinking by the left right now, but Dailykos posits a hypothetical situation wherein Charlie Crist pulls an Arlen Specter or a Joe Lieberman and either switches to the Democratic primary (a la Specter) of goes independent (a la' [...]
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  Posted: July 01, 2009, 2:39pm EDT
  

• Poll Numbers Cause ...

  
  Poll Numbers Cause for Worry for the Tan Man
  
  Charlie Crist can’t be pleased about these poll numbers. Yes, he’s got a solid lead. Yes, it’s much better, right now, to Charlie Crist than it is to be Marco Rubio. But…
  
  There’s always [...]
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  Posted: June 30, 2009, 12:35pm EDT
  

• St. Pete Times Finds a Buyer for ...

  St. Pete Times Finds a Buyer for CQ
  
  CQ, a boutique publication serving government employees, trade associations, and lobbying groups in Washington, DC, looks like it has finally found a buyer in the similarly “inside the beltway”-focused publication, Roll Call (actually, the buyer is Roll Call’s parent company, The [...]
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  Posted: June 25, 2009, 12:08pm EDT
  

• You just sort of knew it didn’t ...

  You just sort of knew it didn’t you?
  
  After John Ensign’s unusually sordid affair, after our Idaho friend’s little toe tapping in a Minneapolis airport, after Vito Fossella got a DUI on his way to visit the children he fathered with his mistress, after we pretended to be surprised [...]
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  Posted: June 24, 2009, 3:39pm EDT
  

• The PollI’d like to offer ...

  The Poll
  
  I’d like to offer my own two cents on the St. Pete Times poll on the mayoral race, mainly in response to Peter Schorsch’s posting on the topic.
  
  Peter is right in saying that this poll is far from meaningless, but I’d like to [...]
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  Posted: June 24, 2009, 12:19pm EDT
  

• Jeb Bush Raising Money for Bill McCollum ...

  Jeb Bush Raising Money for Bill McCollum – What Does It Mean?
  
  Jeb had been keeping a low, relatively non-partisan profile. His model was that of former Speaker Newt Gingrich, by which I mean establishing himself as a sort of “idea” man and raising money for a non-profit of [...]
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  Posted: June 24, 2009, 10:30am EDT
  

• Bill Young Accused of Being in the ...

  Bill Young Accused of Being in the Pocket of the Insurance Companies
  
  I am not sure who, but someone is running robo-calls against Rep. Bill Young, accusing him of being in the pocket of insurance industries. The message didn’t come through clearly on my machine and my machine cut [...]
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  Posted: June 12, 2009, 12:51pm EDT
  

• Voter Contact – More than Just Field

  Voter Contact – More than Just Field
  
  In political circles, voter contact is not just when a candidate shows up at your door or an idealistic young volunteer calls you up. A “voter contact” also includes when a voter gets one of your direct mail pieces, sees your ad [...]
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  Posted: June 10, 2009, 6:08pm EDT
  

• Republican Healthcare Bingo

  
  Republican Healthcare Bingo
  
  Anne Schroeder Mullins writes a snarky column for Politico (a snarky, inside the beltway publication) called “Shenanigans.” Recently, she devised a new game called “Frank Luntz Bingo.”
  
  Frank Luntz is the former protégé of Haley Barbour, former chair of the [...]
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  Posted: May 22, 2009, 2:40pm EDT
  

• Getting FiredIf you work on ...

  Getting Fired
  
  If you work on campaigns long enough, you will get fired. It might not even be a reflection on you.
  
  It could be because you just didn’t “click” with a candidate. It could be that you didn’t complement their strengths and weaknesses (a candidate who is [...]
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  Posted: May 17, 2009, 4:08pm EDT
  

• The First Domino ...

  
  The First Domino Falls…
  
  It looks like Crist will announce for the Senate sometime over the next 30 hours, setting off a little house of cards as Bronson and McCollum square off on the GOP side and Sink will probably have the field to herself [...]
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  Posted: May 11, 2009, 10:12am EDT
  

• RNC InsanityI was wrong to ...

  RNC Insanity
  
  I was wrong to think ever think that Michael Steele was a solid choice for the RNC, but the recent actions of supporters of his rivals, wherein the actual members of the committee are trying to hamstring Steele’s ability to engage in expenditures of $100,000 or more [...]
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  Posted: May 04, 2009, 5:06pm EDT
  

• What's in Store ...

  
  What's in Store for Tampa Bay?
  
  In 2006, the Tampa Bay area was the center of Florida's political universe, with the majority of the legislative seats that changed hands being located here. In 2008, we didn't much switching of hands at the legislative level anywhere' [...]
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  Posted: May 03, 2009, 9:35pm EDT
  

• How to Handle a Negative Story

  How to Handle a Negative Story
  
  I would like to recommend, for all you budding political hacks and flacks out there, this blog post on how to deal with negative press from Potomac Flacks.
  
  One thing I absolutely agree with is that you should always respond [...]
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  Posted: April 17, 2009, 11:13am EDT
  

• The Fix and the Future of Jeb

  The Fix and the Future of Jeb
  
  The Fix’s Chris Cilliza recently gave a nice description of some of former governor Jeb Bush’s policy theories. It was interesting, though it underplayed Bush’s focus on education (education meaning vouchers).
  
  Cilliza also gave us an interesting take on Bush’s [...]
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  Posted: April 16, 2009, 11:51am EDT
  

• Rubio Really Going For It?It ...

  Rubio Really Going For It?
  
  It appears that former State House Speaker Marco Rubio is seriously going to challenge Governor Charlie Crist for the Senate seat being vacated (leaving before he gets kicked out) by Mel Martinez.
  
  Most of us assumed he was just dithering around until Charlie [...]
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  Posted: April 14, 2009, 11:27am EDT
  

• The Numbers Are Trickling InJamie ...

  The Numbers Are Trickling In
  
  Jamie Bennett was probably wise to release his numbers early - it limited the unflattering comparisons when Deveron Gibbons and Scott Wagman released their first quarter totals.
  
  Gibbons stands as the uncontested frontrunner in the money race with $117k raised. He even managed [...]
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  Posted: April 11, 2009, 6:22pm EDT
  

• First Man to Throw His Hat in ...

  First Man to Throw His Hat in the Ring
  
  Now, we all know that former Speaker Marco Rubio is just waiting for Crist to pick what he’s going to run for and then run for the other seat (though some have suggested he could primary Charlie for the U.S. [...]
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  Posted: April 08, 2009, 4:25pm EDT
  

• Sink Posts Strong NumbersCFO Alex ...

  Sink Posts Strong Numbers
  
  CFO Alex Sink has is going to report $1.1 million raised in the first quarter for her re-election campaign. This is a strong number for her – especially considering it has to be raised in chunks of $500 or less.
  
  Keep in mind – [...]
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  Posted: April 08, 2009, 2:45pm EDT
  

• Environmental Messaging: New Challenges and Missed Opportunities

  Environmental Messaging: New Challenges and Missed Opportunities
  
  For the first time in 24 years, voters are prioritizing economic growth over the environment.
  
  Voters were given two options
  
  1) Protection of the environment should be given priority, even at the risk of curbing economic growth.
  2) Economic growth [...]
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  Posted: April 06, 2009, 4:13pm EDT
  

• Tampa Bay Renaissance Festival Over (Until Next ...

  Tampa Bay Renaissance Festival Over (Until Next Year)
  
  I first went to the Bay Area Ren Fest in 1987 (back when it was held over in Largo - a superior location in my opinion, but that might only be nostalgia) and have only missed it twice since then (both [...]
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  Posted: April 05, 2009, 9:30pm EDT
  

• What to Look for in a Campaign ...

  What to Look for in a Campaign Manager
  
  Is it just a winning record? Absolutely not.
  
  Someone who has only worked on winning campaigns has probably never worked on a truly challenging campaign – challenging tough incumbents or fighting against a financial disadvantage or demographic tides.
  
  But [...]
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  Posted: April 02, 2009, 5:30pm EDT
  

• Crist Clearing the FieldCongressman Connie ...

  Crist Clearing the Field
  
  Congressman Connie Mack has officially pulled himself out of the Senate race. Before all the talk about Gov. Charlie Crist, Mack would have been considered a number one contender – someone able to get elected statewide solely on the basis of voters confusing him with [...]
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  Posted: April 02, 2009, 4:46pm EDT
  

• How Democrats Can Rebuild in Pinellas County

  How Democrats Can Rebuild in Pinellas County
  
  Ramsay McLaughlin, the new chair of the Pinellas County Democratic Executive Committee (DEC), gave a talk to Tiger Bay about what the DEC needs to accomplish in order to build the party and win elections.
  
  He makes some good points [...]
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  Posted: March 25, 2009, 5:52pm EDT
  

• How to Spend the CashSo ...

  How to Spend the Cash
  
  So now that you’ve raised all that money, what do you do with it?
  
  Yards signs! Billboards! High priced consultants! Emery boards with your name printed on them in bright, bold letters! Frisbees with your name printed on them in bright, bold letters!
  [...]
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  Posted: March 24, 2009, 10:53am EDT
  

• Money, Money, Money

  
  Money, Money, Money
  
  Like it or not, fundraising is what make the political world go ‘round and ‘round.
  
  Fundraising receipts aren’t a sure way to predict the winner, but if you were creating a March Madness bracket for political campaigns, you would clean up [...]
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  Posted: March 20, 2009, 11:13am EDT
  

• I Was So Very, Very Wrong

  I Was So Very, Very Wrong
  
  A while back, I said that I thought that then President George W. Bush made a terrible mistake when he passed over Michael Steele for the chairmanship of the RNC. While I still think that there just isn't any good reason for' [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2009, 6:34pm EDT
  

• Jim Greer to ...

  
  Jim Greer to Save the Day
  
  When not acknowledging Rush Limbaugh’s spiritual leadership of the Republican Party, new RNC Chair Michael Steele has been attempting to re-jigger the committee so that they stop… well, losing.
  
  He’s gotten some flack over his lack of speed [...]
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  Posted: March 05, 2009, 9:44am EST
  

• Crist Is Maybe Possibly Running for Senate ...

  Crist Is Maybe Possibly Running for Senate Now?
  
  The world just keeps on changing.
  
  Governor Charlie Crist apparently got the national politics bug when his name was touted as being on the “short list” for the GOP’er veep slot in 2008. No other short-lister seemed so eager to [...]
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  Posted: February 06, 2009, 11:18am EST
  

• Boyd, McCollum Out? Klein, Iorio In? Me ...

  Boyd, McCollum Out? Klein, Iorio In? Me With Egg On His Face?
  
  Rep. Allen Boyd will not be running for the U.S. Senate. Nor will Attorney General Bill McCollum.
  
  Boy, was I wrong. The only thing I was more sure about than Boyd running was that Bill [...]
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  Posted: January 29, 2009, 4:34pm EST
  

• St. Pete Times To Sell Off Assets?

  St. Pete Times To Sell Off Assets?
  
  The Poynter Institute, owner of the Times Publishing Company, publisher of the St. Petersburg Times is looking to sell what has become a Washington, DC institution – CQ or Congressional Quarterly.
  
  CQ is a inside the beltway publication that is heavily [...]
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  Posted: January 29, 2009, 4:15pm EST
  

• Florida Goes to WashingtonAfter braving ...

  Florida Goes to Washington
  
  After braving the cold and record crowds, let me just say that this Floridian was thrilled by the experience of attending the inauguration of our 44th President. It is hard to express what is like to be amongst 2 million of your fellow Americans, packed [...]
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  Posted: January 21, 2009, 10:19am EST
  

• Sink Is Out – What Does That ...

  Sink Is Out – What Does That Mean?
  
  It means that there is no one on the Democratic side capable of clearing the field. Congressman Kendrick Meeks is already in, Congressman Allen Boyd’s rumblings will get louder and Dan Gelber seems near certain to get in, as well.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: January 16, 2009, 10:37am EST
  

• What About That Open U.S. Senate Seat?

  What About That Open U.S. Senate Seat?
  
  So, let’s recap…
  
  Senator Mel “Somewhat Unpopular and Not Really Respected By His Constituents” Martinez has decided not to stand to for re-election and get beaten by a termed Florida state senator with a “D” after their name on the ballot [...]
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  Posted: January 15, 2009, 11:42am EST
  

• Greer Back In?Perhaps we were ...

  Greer Back In?
  
  Perhaps we were took quick to write the obituary for Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer's aspirations to be chair of the RNC.
  
  This little piece was published in The Politico, an insider publication in Washington, DC.
  
  Greer gushes over the ability of' [...]
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  Posted: December 15, 2008, 4:49pm EST
  

• The Plot Thickens ...

  
  The Plot Thickens - Bush Style
  
  Something we all thought was never going happen – Jeb Bush is making moves to run for a legislative office.
  
  Granted, it is the United State Senate, but it was always assumed that the being one among hundred [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2008, 3:28pm EST
  

• CD 10 - The Prognostication Continues

  CD 10 - The Prognostication Continues
  
  Florida’s 10th CD got a little shout-out in Dailykos in a rundown of interesting races in Florida. As might be expected, State Senator Charlie Justice was touted as a candidate.
  
  I actually think that the Democratic bench for this seat is [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2008, 12:59pm EST