I spoke last week about the recent Tigard Tualatin School District local option levy campaign as part of panel at the “Bonds and Ballots” seminar put on by the Oregon School Board Association, the League of Oregon Cities, and the Association of Oregon Counties. We were sharing tips and tactics from our winning campaign. Here are five of those tips/tactics to keep in mind if you work on a campaign like this.

1. Your Grassroots Volunteers Are Gold: You can’t win a low budget campaign like this without awesome grassroots volunteers. We had school captains for each elementary, middle and high school and asked them to find 10 other volunteers at their school to help with door knocking and other tasks. This gave us over 100 volunteers and they were great. We couldn’t have done it without them.

2. Start Fundraising Early: As a low budget campaign every dollar raised is important. Hit up the district’s key vendors and politicians for support. And, in Oregon, be sure to ask parents and business owners to use their political tax credit for the campaign. It’s $50 per person and $100 per couple and a great way to build small dollar donations.

3. Survey Voters: This is a must for any campaign, you need to know where you stand, what messages work, and which voters to target.

4. Stick To Your Key Messages: The survey will identify the top 2-3 issues that get people to a YES vote. Stick to those and don’t be tempted to add more or drift off message.

5. Prepare Your Farm Team: Bring in new volunteers, look for the best ones, and then train them to run the campaign next time around. As a consultant, I would be remiss not to tell you to hire a campaign consultant as well! They are worth the small cost. But, having knowledgeable volunteers who’ve been through a campaign or two is invaluable.

Command Consulting is excited that a political spot for one of our campaign clients, Diane McKeel, is up for a national award. The spot, entitled “Creepy Cauldron of Lies” is a Halloween-themed spot that ran for several days. It even garnered a mention from The Oregonian.

The spot is one of three finalists in the Local Candidate category for the Reed Awards, named after the founder of Politics magazine. A great list of high profile political figures are on the judging panel including Dick Morris, Christine Todd Whitman and George Stephanopolous. Winners will be announced on January 22nd at a gala in Washington D.C.

The spot was produced by Lyon Films, our production company, and you can see it and learn more about the award at www.LyonFilms.com under the Production Blog tab.