The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Ladd Ehlinger: The Wisdom Of Niccolo In 1/10th The Space

Posted on | March 18, 2011 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

To paraphrase George S. Patton, “No bastard ever won an election by dying for his platform. He won the election by making some other poor dumb bastard die for his platform.”
Starting from a picture of George C. Scott as Blood-n-Guts, Ehlinger calls his 10 point essay ‘The Prince: Advice For Citizen Candidates‘. Ladd, of course, is the rebel auteur whose viral videos punched far above their weight in the 20082010 [thanks, Ladd] election cycle. By ‘Citizen Candidates’ he may not be including the Ruling Class Overlord types who would, say, hire foreigners over Americans.

A taste:

1. It’s a Marketing Campaign, Stupid

Just because the common nomenclature is “political campaign,” it doesn’t change the fact that you are embarking on a short-term marketing campaign.

Your stand on the issues matter little if no one knows who you are. Obviously, you can use your stand on the issues to help increase name recognition. But this is only one small component of the big picture. You are running a marketing campaign so people will investigate your stand on the issues. Don’t put the cart before the horse.

If you’re a newbie candidate, your name recognition is the first and primary obstacle you must overcome.

That means hiring a marketing team. That means videos. That means social media. That means pulling out all the stops. Everything must be geared to taking this hill.

Special tip: Going to public functions and shaking hands is good for local races, but when you have to reach out to 100,000 or more people, that’s a secondary priority to mass media.

2. Polling Is For Morons

You’re a newbie candidate. No one knows who you are, so your standing in the polls will of course be pathetic. If you’re going to run, run to change the polls. Don’t run based on what polls say. Don’t change your views based on what polls say. Figure out how to market your views. Your job is to change the polls in your favor. Period.

And never, ever wait to do something because you’re “waiting on your polling data to come back” (see next).

Read, and heed, the whole thing.

Category: Ladd Ehlinger

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