ARE CAMPAIGN CONSULTANTS NECESSARY?

by: Chazz Clevinger

Many candidates pose the important question of whether they need a general consultant for their campaign – a professional campaigner who oversees planning, research, analysis, and strategy. Why can’t I do it myself? Or why can’t my Uncle Bob handle the management of the campaign? What does a consultant offer that I can’t get elsewhere?

This is a fair question, and an important one, in determining how serious you are about becoming an elected official. Running for office is extraordinarily challenging and takes a rare and committed individual. However, it is not much different than other pursuits in life, such as applying to college or a competitive job.

If you were building a house, would you try to do it yourself? Unless you are General Contractor or Commercial Builder, the answer is obviously no! Building a house requires brick masons, electricians, plumbers, construction crews, and a myriad of other skilled labors. It most certainly cannot be done by an inexperienced individual.

Believe it or not, campaigns are very similar. Just like a General Contractor hires a great number of vendors and sub-contractors to help him build a house, so does a General Consultant. To help win a campaign, the General Consultant hires a myriad of campaign professionals, such as pollster, media planner, opposition researcher, campaign manager, and web designer to ensure that the campaign is built properly.

For those familiar with Biblical parables, you may recall the story of two men, who built a house. One built his house upon the rock. The other built his house upon the sand. Then a giant storm came. The man who built his house upon the rock withstood the storm, whereas the man that built his house upon the sand watched his investment crumble and crash around him.

Campaigns are a lot like houses. Occasionally, you can get away with building one upon weak foundations, but it will ultimately collapse when it encounters serious obstacles. However, if you let a professional build your campaign; it can withstand political storms, and ultimately stand solid to achieve victory. Gambling men (and women) all too often put their fate in the hands of neophytes and novices, or like the man who built his house on the sand, try to cut corners and do things the cheap way, rather than the right way.

Candidates that try to take the cheap path to victory, almost always end up losing, because they get in over their head, and fail to realize all the technical “know how” that goes into running a smooth campaign. Sure, anyone can build a tree house with a little effort and a “How To” book just like anyone can run a second rate campaign with almost no experience. Candidates in non-competitive districts are particularly susceptible to idea of building their own campaigns.

However, these “safe” candidates, who are in districts that lean far right or far left, are also guilty of making the same grievous error as the man, who built his house upon the sand. Shortly after completing their two houses, I can imagine the man with the house upon the sand feeling very self-satisfied. He probably thought he was a lot smarter than man, who built upon the rock – that is until a storm came. Candidates in safe districts may be safe for a time, but every ten years there is something called redistricting, which can be equated to a political storm. Many foolish candidates with no real plan in place have forfeited their elected offices, as a result of being defeated by an opponent with a better campaign strategy.

Therefore, it is important to remain humble, and seek professional guidance. You wouldn't defend yourself in court. You would hire a lawyer. Neither would you perform open heart surgery on your wife. You would hire a cardiovascular surgeon. You probably wouldn't even try to fix your own car if it was leaking gas. You would hire mechanic.

With this in mind, it makes no sense to put your campaign, your reputation, and quite possibly tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars of campaign revenue in the hands of complete novice. It’s simply foolish, if not irresponsible.

The bottom line is that campaign consultants are necessary and they are worth it. A skilled consultant can even help you spend less money, and use your campaign dollars more strategically, than would have otherwise been possible. Most people hire a realtor based on the assumption that they can get a better offer on their house through the realtor, than they could receive on their own. Otherwise, why pay a few thousand dollars of profit on the sale of your house to a third party?

The same is true campaign consultants. They can get more mileage out of your campaign resources, then you ever could on your own. Experienced campaign consultants also know how help solicit funds from party coffers and build sustainable fundraising operations that help bring money in, rather than just helping you spend it all.

Campaign consultants are not needed for fair-weather, but rather for storms – just like the rock held no advantage over the sand, until the winds came. A good campaign consultant can turn a losing campaign into a winning one, in the same way a good captain can navigate a ship through the eye of a storm at sea.

Ultimately, a campaign consultant is the best investment you can make as a candidate. Especially, if you are a first time candidate, a challenger, or you are an incumbent facing difficult reelection prospects. Therefore, do yourself, your family, your community, your voters, and your campaign a solid. Invest in professional guidance and weather the storm.

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