Part 7 of our series for Canada’s federal candidates.
‘If you do not have a plan, you do not know where you are going.’ Every campaign manager should write that on their forehead so that they can study it every day as they shave or put on their makeup. The one thing you know for sure is that there will always be pressure to change the plan. Candidates are always concerned. Poll workers panic. Well-meaning supporters nag. And the best campaign managers have doubts.
No matter how good your plan, the pressure to change is insidious. Any real or suspected action by opponents causes concerns. It is a serious measure of your plan if you cave. And if you do cave, you will have created a snowball that will gather costs and trouble for the rest of the campaign.
Good campaign plans we have seen are detailed, include pivot points and are fully costed. Always bear in mind though that pivot points are places where you can change direction by a few degrees. You can hardly throw your campaign into reverse. If the feed back from your ground campaign is that women’s rights are the main issue, you have to have the pivot point that can enable you to move that issue forward and leave the economy in second place. You have not changed anything but you have put your best policy forward.
As a candidate you can neither make policy nor change party policy. You have to hold off on that until you and your party are elected. What you are is the face of the party in your electoral district. Every vote that you win with your personality and charm is a plus but you will probably find that just identifying your vote and getting it to the voting places will do the job.
And you hardly need to waste your time on the party leader’s campaign. The party leader also has a plan. It might include a visit to your riding and it might not. It is usually centred on announcing the party’s policies and dealing with opponents. If it is a good plan, it will have more pivot points so as to respond more effectively to the opponents.
What is so different in this campaign of 2015 is the found time that candidates have through July and August to meet their voters. That time is precious. Do not waste it.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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