GREAT COMMUNICATOR...OR YESTERDAY'S GOAT?

"Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people."      -Jim Rohn



The short track skating events in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics provided physical proof of the importance of anticipating a future opportunity before the start of the race. The difference between the gold medal and wiping out along the boards was often the critical timing and quality of the planned inside/outside pass of the unwary opponent.

Building upon our previous installment, we will begin addressing how you may best capitalize upon (4) Issues of anticipated future importance for which you have not previously developed a well-defined position. While we will address the other three topics of issues formation in coming installments, I believe we must first look to communicating the policy item(s) that will provide fuel for your long-term electoral victory and solidify your legacy. Put aside partisan rancor for a moment, and simply recognize prior patterns of success, because YOUR winning message MUST attract and embrace more than just your base to achieve 51% in November. If all YOU can address is YOUR base, join yesterday's goats.

Long before the November 1980 Presidential Election, Ronald Reagan had accurately identified several issues that would eventually boil over in the minds of Americans. Reagan did not hesitate to develop responses and solutions to those issues [among them (a) the malaise of international communism; (b) the hunger for patriotism; (c) the burden of excessive taxation; and (d) the breakdown of the family]. Not only did Ronald Reagan approach these--and other--topics with genuine optimism, compassion and practical solutions, but he faced an opponent ill-prepared to even enter the dialogue, as evidenced in the sharp contrast of televised debates and other public appearances. President Carter yielded the lead of incumbency for a lack of anticipating, preparing for, and developing superior solutions to the issues that would define the 1980s.

Again in 1994 we observed Speaker Newt Gingrich and his colleagues execute upon their accurate assessment, planning, and solutions to speed past the old, tired Congressional pack. As no group is immune to their own stagnation, 2006 & 2008 ushered in yet another era when future concerns [social, economic, demographic, international] were addressed with fresh faces and fresh solutions. This is not a partisan comment. Regardless of which party or philosophy you favor, you cannot escape the statistics noted in our prior installment that made the 111th Congressional majority look like a negative of the 104th Congressional majority.

Party is not the prime determinent. Each of these victorious years required bipartisan appeal to secure ballot box majorities. The pendelum always swings...YOU can be viewed as the People's Leader with a legacy to follow--or Yesterday's News devoid of new ideas and forgotten forever.

TODAY'S QUESTION: What are YOU as a candidate (whether incumbent or challenger) doing TODAY to identify, develop, communicate and execute the solutions to the issues/problems/concerns that will plague YOUR electorate beyond November into the years to come?

VICTORY 2010: REVOLUTION, CONTRACT, CHANGE OR...

"Reforming public education, cutting property taxes, fixing adult and child protective services and funding our budget can all occur when Democrats and Republicans engage in consensus and cooperation - not cynicism and combat. "
               - Texas Governor Rick Perry

"To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects."
                - Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

As the two quotes above illustrate, even conservative leaders can have difficulty reaching consensus...on the merits of reaching consensus. More broadly, no single political party or grass roots movement has perfected nor obtained a monopoly on building consensus. Yet, electoral and legislative results of the past three decades underscore the importance of building and maintaining consensus throughout the political process, from ballot box to legislative chamber.

I am not attempting to dictate that one American political party is or has been superior to the other. Once we cut through the chest-beating rhetoric of cable news soundbites, town hall meetings, and grass roots rallies, we are left with the reality that the same American public ushered in the Reagan Revolution, the Contract with America, and Change We Can Believe In.

Mathematically, the 104th Congress (1994) elected 55 (R) and 45 (D) Senators; 228 (R) and 206 (D) Representatives. The 111th Congress (2008) elected 40 (R) and 58 (D) Senators; 178 (R) and 256 (D) Represenatives. Fourteen years did not see the entire demography of the nation shift politically, but instead followed a pendelum of social and fiscal policy. Just as midwestern union autoworkers rallied around Ronald Reagan when the economy necessitated strong fiscal leadership, families facing lost jobs and health care crises rallied about Barack Obama. People vote nationally and statewide for the economic, educational, and social policies that they view as most relevant to their own households. 1980, 1994, and 2008 demonstrated that one party more than the other delivered a message that resonated with greater than 50% of voters--plain and simple.

In future installments, we will be addressing how we may increase your share of your electorate by carefully examining and executing upon: (1) Issues upon which you hold very strong, well-defined, and possibly long-term positions; (2) Issues upon which your opponents hold very strong, well-defined, and possibly long-term positions; (3) Issues of current importance for which you have not previously developed a well-defined position; and (4) Issues of anticipated future importance for which you have not previously developed a well-defined position.

TODAY'S QUESTION: How will your campaign ensure that your message engenders the victorious spirit of 1980, 1994 and 2008?