The Best of IL-5

It’s been a lot of fun blogging about the Democratic Primary for the 5th District Congressional seat.  We’ve seen a lot in the 10 weeks or so that the campaign has been in full swing.  I thought it would be nice to provide a rundown of the best and worst moments in the primary.

Image Credit: Progress Illinois

Best Coverage

This one is tough.  Capital Fax, Progress Illinois, David Ormsby and  Gapers Block have all provided insightful content into this race.  However, I think Progress Illinois did voters a tremendous service through publishing original and investigative content.  I for one am a more informed voter (though not a 5th District resident) because of the folks at Progress.

Too Many Skeletons in the Closet

By far, John Fritchey was put on the defensive more often than any other candidate.  This is a pol whose uncle-in-law and brother-in-law have been linked to some unsavory dealings, to say the least.  Furthermore, given his connections to the ward bosses and seeking their endorsement did  not do anything to alter the image that he’s the Machine candidate in this race…more so than even Patrick O’Connor.  Given the Blagojevich scandal and the Burris embarrassment, Fritchey seemed all too vulnerable in this race.  Rich Miller reports on just the last few days of Fritchey’s problems.

Where the Hell is this Guy?

Speaking of Patrick O’Connor, I’m confused as to why he even stayed in the race.  He didn’t show up to the first and probably best attended and covered candidates’ forum at DePaul University, citing that he had better voter reach going to various Super Bowl parties.  His website was not even up and running until about two-and-a-half weeks before the election and his biggest selling point is that he’s Richard Daley’s floor leader.  Not exactly a compelling argument to put him in Congress.

Most Impressive Campaign Operation

Sara Feigenholtz started campaigning in mid-December, before anyone else and never looked back.  She put together a top-notch group of staffers, whose outreach to the public was always respectful.  She was the first to open a second campaign office.  She received the biggest endorsement of the race – in terms of money and people to hit the streets – in the SEIU.  And, she demonstrated message consistency in a race with a lot of mudslinging that kept voters knowing she is about health care reform above all else.  Yes, that could mean she’s disciplined and a good campaigner.  But I also give a lot of credit to her staff for keeping the ship on course.

What the F*%k was He Thinking?

Victor Forys comparing Mike Quigley to the Nazi “Big Lie” theory:

The Minister of Propaganda for Germany in World War II, said “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

“Commissioner Mike Quigley is telling a big lie, and he is repeating it over and over and over,” said Dr. Victor Forys, M.D. “That is what you can expect from a career, recycled, politician like Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley,” said Dr. Victor Forys.

Bad taste, and low, Victor.  By the way, do you remember the Polish Chicago man who desecrated the Jewish cemetery on the Northwest Side?  Hello?!

Best Ads Barely Anyone Saw

I was super-impressed with Charlie Wheelan’s three TV ads – Underwater, Upside Down and the Dark Knight.  Those ads showed a level of creativity and uniqueness that I have never seen in a political advertisement.

The ironic thing is that few people saw them.  The Wheelan campaign just didn’t have enough money to buy any kind of airtime to get traction and their online promotion fell somewhat flat.  I think if this race was longer and they had a chance to raise more money, the viewership would have been a different story.  Still, I think campaigns will be influenced in the future to create ads that don’t always follow a formulaic method.  That’s a good thing.

Big Ideas and Netroots Champion

This goes to, of course, Tom Geoghegan.  Disagree with him or not, I have never heard a better, clearer explanation of single payer health care before.  Tom brought huge amounts of energy to really enhance the substantive debate about issues in this campaign.  I don’t think he’ll win, but I would bet he’ll be the one person who gathers a nice following after the race that could put him in office one day.  Thank you, Tom Geoghegan for challenging traditional thinking and making political leadership about improving lives and the health of our country.

Worst Stunt

Several weeks ago Mike Quigley’s campaign launched moretransit.com.  I blogged about it, arguing that stunts can be good thing when they’re thought through.  But this one was not, especially given that a day or so after it was launched the Senate voted on the bailout making the site irrelevant.

Biggest Need for a Twitter Lesson

This one also goes to Mike Quigley’s campaign.  The campaign’s Twitter profile teetered the line between badgering and annoying, prompting many complaints.  I had a conversation with Quigley’s campaign manager about this issue.  In the end, there’s definitely a right way and a wrong way to use Twitter.  At its best, Twitter is a conversational and community building tool that are a real asset to campaigns.  At worst, it’s a tool to stalk, offend and turn people away.

Social Media Champ

If Geoghegan won over bloggers, Feigenholtz was the most popular at engaging people on Facebook and Twitter.  She leads her opponents with the most supporters on Facebook, at nearly a thousand, and as the WindyCitizen’s Twitter Tracker shows, she also is the big leader in conversations about the IL-5 race.

Feel free to add to this list…and make sure to vote tomorrow!

IL-5 Race Goes National

The race for Rahm Emanuel’s open seat is starting to get national attention just five days before election day.

It’s taken a few days, but Charlie Wheelan’s Dark Knight political short is gaining headway with the creative professionals community and national marketing insider trade magazine, AdAge.  TimeOut Chicago mentioned it.  But the video has been viewed just over 4,000 times on YouTube – hardly viral.  Can Wheelan do better?

Photo Credit: Liz Bernunzio

Meanwhile, Tom Geoghegan continues to score big outside the district.  He received public support from Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson, Slate’s Mickey Kraus and a blog post from U.S. News and World Report.  Had this race been run over a normal period, Geoghegan might have seen some of this national popularity manifest into greater contribution levels.  As it is, peering at his last few 48-hour file contributions, most of his contributors are out of state (ActBlue, where most Geoghegan supporters are giving, doesn’t report individuals.  Those records will be made public by the candidate at a later date).

And, Geoghegan wrote an article featured in the nation’s most-read political blog, the Huffington Post.

Glaringly absent from national media coverage was much of a focus on the actual favorites – Sara Feigenholtz, John Fritchey and Mike Quigley.  To me, that says a few things.  First, Wheelan and Geoghegan have done a lot to either take risks or be so different from the rest of the field, that they’re candidacy has become a story.  And second, the national media just doesn’t get Chicago politics, its personalities, supporters and political organizations that will help determine the winner.  I think the answer is a little of both.

Advertisements Reflect the Candidate

Two advertisements were recently released by IL-5 candidates in their bid to win the Democratic primary.  Interestingly, both candidates’ messages – overt and subliminal – say a lot about the candidates themselves.

First, let’s start with Charlie Wheelan.  His latest political ad uses animation in an effort to really grab peoples’ attentions.  That’s a good strategy because this elections’ ads thus far have been very typical of campaign ads.  However, Wheelan has shown a willingness to take risks in his ads by pushing creativity, trying to be interesting and even seeming a little strange – in order to grab voters’ attention and hopefully their support.  His first two ads, “Underwater” and “Upside Down” created some nice buzz in the local and national blogosphere.

Now, Wheelan’s campaign has taken political communications creativity a step further with a political animated short released yesterday via Facebook and Twitter and posted on the campaign website.  Right now the campaign is only showing the trailer, with the hope of creating enough interest to draw people to a campaign event where the entire three-minute video will be aired.

The ad was produced by Bill Hillman’s agency, North Woods, responsible for Wheelan’s first two TV ads.  The ad’s purpose though is definitely different than other political ads we’ve seen in this campaign.  It’s unclear at the moment if a 30-second spot will be edited for a TV ad buy, meant to convince undecided voters in favor of Mr. Wheelan.  Instead, the ad is hoped to be an online viral success, drawing people to Wheelan’s website who are already Wheelan supporters or semi-supporters.  The campaign staff noted in an email that Wheelan’s website is much deeper in policy positions than his competitors and are confident that people who spend time on the site are sold on Wheelan’s depth.

I give kudos to Wheelan’s campaign for trying something daring.  Video goes viral because the production is so creative, smart, funny or shocking.  For a political campaign ad, Wheelan’s Dark Knight is solid (though a somewhat inaccurate, when at the outset the animated Blagojevich says that the Senate seat and Emanuel’s seat were up for sale.  It was really only the Senate seat.  Not that I defend Blago or anything.  Just for being informationally accurate.)  Wheelan is really shooting for the best viral outcome too in public affairs – offline action.  I’ve said for a long time now that political social media and viral efforts are the most effective when offline actions follow.

Meanwhile, John Fritchey’s latest direct mail advertisement hearkens back to his campaign messages as a reformer who has a history of leading  sensible legislation.

However, I can’t get over the irony inherent in the ad.  Fritchey uses the subject of honesty – admitting he puts ketchup on hot dogs – and that sort of straight talk is what is needed in Congress.  Using hot dogs, the ultimate sausage product, is ironic (and may piss off vegetarians) because Fritchey has been continuously tied to the “sausage-making” in Chicago’s legacy of corrupt political culture.  After all, Fritchey has been put on the hot seat for his role as a zoning lobbyist for clients looking to get clearance to develop in Chicago.  He’s also sought the support of the Northwest side Chicago Machine back in January.  And, as Progress Illinois has covered in depth, Fritchey has no inclination of distancing himself to family members who exercise the type of insider clout that onlookers have continuously criticized as shady.

Maybe using a sausage wasn’t such a good idea after all.  It represents Fritchey’s candidacy perfectly though.  Nobody likes seeing sausage being made, but the end result is a pretty tasty product.  Though with the Blagojevich and Burris scandals looming, maybe voters will actually care about Illinois sausage-making.

Entering the Home Stretch: Who has Momentum?

Last week’s IL-5 race went out with a flurry of activity.  With several candidate forums coming up, the big question is which candidate, if any, is moving ahead of the pack?

I think the answer is not clear.  That’s no knock against any candidate.  It’s simply by virtue that this is a competitive race pitting talented elected officials, each with their own constituencies, voting histories and fundraising machines, coupled with two major upstart candidates with good ideas dedication to take smart, calculated risks to win over voters.  Here’s a quick rundown of where the last week took us.

Sara Feigenholtz

The Feigenholtz Campaign has led the field in fundraising since day one.  With over $550K raised, she’s in a good position vis-a-vis her opponents.  But, as David Ormsby points out, it appears as though the rate at which the campaign had been fundraising has slowed down.

Still, the hard early work is paying off.  The campaign launched its first paid advertising effort – featuring a TV ad with buys on major networks.  The Capital Fax provided some good

Photo Credit: Flickr Emily's List

insight into the details of the ad buy.

Feigenholtz was also able to hold off attacks this week by the Mike Quigley for Congress campaign accusing her of missing a crucial ethics vote in Springfield.  The mud-slinging hasn’t stuck though and Feigenholtz’s recent endorsement by SEIU last week and the launch of her TV ad really overshadowed the attacks against her.

Overall, the campaign has demonstrated a high level of organization with lots of paid staffers and multiple campaign offices.  The campaign’s commitment to its “ground game” will bode well moving forward.

John Fritchey

Fritchey, I would argue, has raised his profile significantly over the last week.  His campaign, which entered the race late, has the most momentum on the fundraising end.  The campaign has the second largest war chest behind Feigenholtz, raising more money than the latter since January 1.

Fritchey also held a notable conference call for bloggers last Tuesday.  He used the forum to answer questions for bloggers that have been covering the race.  The highlight of that exchange really came at the end of the call when asked about his comment that Rahm Emanuel told him he wanted the 5th District seat back after serving President Obama as Chief of Staff.  To me it proved Fritchey’s biggest asset, his frankness and ability to communicate in a no BS fashion, could hurt him if he’s not careful.  With only a few weeks until primary day, traditional media will surely be waiting for Fritchey to put his foot in his mouth.  Plus, he’s got baggage that other’s do not.  It will be up to him and his campaign to navigate communications carefully.

Tom Geoghegan

Geoghegan’s campaign seems to finally be able to bring home his netroots popularity to the 5th District.  Geoghegan’s popular interview at the Hideout on the Interview Show two weeks ago along with the another interview on Air America seemed to push him in the right direction.

Indeed Geoghegan picked up his biggest local endorsements last week, from the Greater Chicago Caucus and Teamster Local 743 (victims of the U of Chicago Hospital layoff).  Blogger and Geoghegan campaign volunteer Kathy G notes the endorsements are the latest, to go along with Progressive Democrats for America, Teamsters Local 743, Nation, Students for a New American Politics and  the CNA/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

The campaign has shown an adeptness to capitalize on Geoghegan’s netroots popularity.  The advantage here comes in the fact that this community understands each interview opportunity can be recorded and shared.  The netroots is effective because it shares.  And this creates the snowball effect of creating buzz which leads to more opportunities for Geoghegan to drive home his message. Certainly this has helped him.  But he’ll need more of these to continue gaining momentum.

Mike Quigley

Among the three elected officials vying for the congressional seat, Quigley brings the name recognition and reputation that early polls said led the field.  Two weeks ago and even the earlier part of this week, the campaign had been pretty quiet.

It even tried to gain quick attention and firm up Quigley’s position as reformer with the moretransit.com effort.  Problem was that the effort came too late, as the Senate voted on the stimulus package that day.

After ramping up with public criticism of Sara Feigenholtz for missing an ethics vote in Springfield last week, Quigley scored the first Chicago media endorsement when the Chicago Sun Times announced its endorsement.

That positions Mike Quigley very competitively in this coming week, with multiple  forums  scheduled and the endorsement by Chicago’s other major daily expected soon.

And while Sara Feigenholtz has notched the largest media buy, Geoghegan’s continued goodwill coming online and Charlie Wheelan’s openness to embrace unconventional and memorable TV ads, Mike Quigley has invested heavily in direct mail.  His direct mail campaign leads the field.  I would love to see the research behind the campaign’s direct strategy.  They’re clearly working on some solid evidence telling them direct mail is most effective at turning out voters on primary day.

Charlie Wheelan

Wheelan’s aforementioned TV advertising strategy helped get bloggers talking early.  Plus, Wheelan’s message and work as a professor at the University of Chicago has brought him new support coming from outside the district – support he’ll need to stay competitive in this race.

Unfortunately for Wheelan, his follow up TV advertisement, which was equally catchy as his first ad, came out at a time of too much campaign news and at the end of the week.  The story got buried.

He’ll have to remain aggressive and risque to bring some momentum back.  If he can pick up some endorsements this week – and possibly get the Tribune’s endorsement, which is not far fetched – Wheelan could find himself neck and neck with the field.

Watch for Prarie State Blue and Progress Illinois to follow the next forum at Access Living tomorrow.

Sara Feigenholtz Launches Paid Advertising

Following Progress Illinois’ report that IL-5 Candidate Sara Feigenholtz is kicking in her paid advertising, the campaign’s first TV ad was released just now.

This follows the latest in the battle for attention in the IL-5 race.  Yesterday, Candidate Charlie Wheelan unveiled his latest ad, coming on the heels of  his first “underwater” ad that received lots of buzz.

Can Charlie Wheelan Use Online Video Better?

I wrote this post a few days ago, waiting to post it at the right time.  Since writing it, Charlie Wheelan’s campaign has come out with a new TV ad.  I still think my points below are valid.

Watching IL-5 candidate Charlie Wheelan’s interview with local public affairs talk show host Jeff Berkowitz on YouTube it occurred to me that online video can help bridge the gap between the Wheelan Campaign and IL-5 voters.

Charlie Wheelan, because of his role as professor and economics expert, has entered this race with a slew of online videos.  This is important for two basic reasons.  First, we know from empirical evidence reported by the Pew Center’s Internet & American Life Project that online is fast gaining prominence as the go-to source for political information.  The only source deemed more important is TV.  So, my extrapolation is that online video plays a unique role in communicating a campaign message, simply because people are more predisposed to receiving political information in a televised format.  The other advantage is of course shareability.

The second Wheelan advantage going into this race is that the small library of video clips from his pre-candidate days gives Wheelan a leg up on the sheer number of online videos despite his competition serving from elected official serving for the past decade or more.

So, the question remains, how come the Wheelan campaign is not trying to drive traffic to Wheelan’s online video library and then ask people to share those videos with other IL-5 voters or Wheelan supporters?  I’m perceiving one of Wheelan’s most profound built-in advantages ignored.

For example, the Jeff Berkowitz interview represents the longest and most issue-oriented videos I’ve seen on this campaign to date.  Doesn’t Wheelan want people to see him explain his policy positions for themselves?  Why didn’t the Wheelan Campaign push out the video on Twitter?  How come the campaign didn’t splice up the video and use 2-3 minute segments to help explain Wheelan’s policy positions on his website to sit alongside the written narratives that web users may potentially not read?

Good branding recognizes their candidate’s (or product, service, company, etc.) inherent strengths.  Charlie Wheelan, for an upstart candidate, comes off as maybe smoother, more confident and as articulate as any of the more “experienced” candidates in this race.  In other words, Wheelan is naturally good for TV/online video.  Plus, as I’ve  mentioned, there is already ample video that the campaign can use.  Putting everything other advertising tactic aside, online video has to be more central to this campaign.

At 231 page views since January 20th, I think Wheelan’s interview with Jeff Berkowitz on YouTube is highly underwatched in the midst of this congressional race.

Quigley’s Twitter Problems and IL-5 Updates

Questionable Twitter ethics got me following the IL-5 race.  Now several weeks later, I see the question of how candidates interact with the public on Twitter is one of the interesting side stories in this campaign.

My earlier Twitter experience in the IL-5 race happened when John Fritchey’s campaign started to follow me on Twitter only moments after one of his opponents, Sara Feigenholtz, followed me.  I could see that one campaign was watching the other campaign’s Twitter followers and then going right to those people.  It just represented a left-to-be desired method to quickly build a Twitter following.

Lately, I’ve observed an interesting pattern from Mike Quigley’s campaign.  It seems the campaign manager is aiming to attack  Sara Feigenholtz’s campaign on Twitter.  Here’s a sampling of his Tweets:

So @saraforcongress, didn’t see you raising awareness, saw you missing an ethics vote and attending fundraisers. http://tinyurl.com/betu3t 6:23 PM Feb 5th from TweetDeck

My buddy @SaraforCongress is twittering again. The great thing about campaigning today is no votes to miss! http://tinyurl.com/c4d6ju 7:31 PM Feb 8th from TweetDeck

@jessegreenberg you’re not going to get an invite from MQ4Cong. cause you’re right, there are better things to do than campaign tweets 6:01 PM Jan 20th from TweetDeck in reply to jessegreenberg

Done with petitions. If somebody wants to stop Quigley from getting on, better kidnap me now. Paging @saraforcongress 8:54 PM Jan 18th from TweetDeck

I point this out because it’s just a low form of mudslinging politics that I think a lot of us are tired of.  Twitter and Facebook should really be about using the tools to communicate real issues to people.  It’s hard to build relationships and built trust in a candidate when the subject matter is petty jibes at an opponent.  I know more about Quigley’s opponents in this race – Geoghegan, Feigenholtz, Fritchey and Wheelan – because their campaign’s outreach has been an invitation for people to learn about their candidacy (for the most part).

It also appears Quigley had more Twitter trouble.  The Rogers Park Bench blog posted a funny situation involving a Tweet he received from Quigley’s Twitter account.  It just shows that Twitter is a forum for actual people and it is very hard to skate because people do listen.

*The Quigley campaign attacks were also picked up by Rich Miller over at Capital Fax.  He provided the IL-5 day’s roundup that I encourage you to check out.

*The Chicago Tribune’s editorial board has begun to interview the IL-5 candidates, so it can presumably make an endorsement.

*Access Living in River North will also be hosting a candidate forum next week.

IL-5 Twitter Stats

I started to follow this race regularly because of Twitter.  Now, several weeks later, I thought it would be a good idea to look at Twitter use from the leading campaigns and see what we can learn.

Overall

We see varying levels of Twitter use by the IL-5 candidates.  Sara Feigenholtz leads in all categories, followed by Mike Quigley, John Fritchey, Charlie Wheelan and Tom Geoghegan.

Twitter is a powerful tool to communicate news, updates and drive users to relevant web pages.  Thus far, it has been an underused tool.  Some might argue that because this is a congessional and therefore a localized race, Twitter will have limited impact.  That is true in some sense.  The larger the electoral geography, the greater Twitter can capture scale and impact.  However, we also know that the 5th District has significant levels of online access and use, particularly in the lakefront portion of the District, which happens to be very politically active.

Taking an integrated marketing view, which inherently a political campaign practices (includes word of mouth, online, voter contact, TV, print, etc.), Twitter plays a powerful role in reinforce brand messages, build community and activate supporters.  Especially in a short race like this one, Twitter can assist candidates in getting members of the 5th district excited about the election and move them to volunteer for their candidate.

Feigenholtz

At 918 followers and 145 Tweets, Sara Feigenholtz’s campaign holds the leg up in Twitter use.  She benefits from being an existing Twitter and Facebook user where she was able to migrate followers to her SaraForCongress Twitter profile.  Feigenholtz also benefited from jumping in this race early and getting a head-start in building up her Twitter presence.

The campaign averages three to five Tweets per day (by my unofficial count), which I would argue is relatively inactive for a political campaign.  In addition to Tweeting more, Feigenholtz’s Tweets should include links to drive traffic to major campaign news, like endorsements and events.  What we see is a lot of generic updates.  That’s ok, but content really is king to an effective Twitter use.

Where the campaign does succeed is replying @ Twitter users regularly and capturing a voice that is consistent while coming off as if the candidate herself is communicating.  That’s a powerful message being sent to the Twitter community that the campaign is trying to pay attention to what people are saying and then communicating like Sara was talking to them.

John Fritchey

John Fritchey is the third most active Twitter user, with 23 updates and 122 followers.  That is somewhat disappointing considering Fritchey has maintained a blog for some time and therefore has proven adept at using new media to communicate to the public.

For the Fritchey Campaign, Twitter could prove to be a much more powerful tool to drive traffic to that blog and announce campaign updates.  For a leading candidate in this race, Twitter really has significant growth potential.

For example, taking the Midway and labor issues that have put Fritchey at the middle of traditional media coverage, he could use Twitter and his blog to answer major questions posed by journalists and bloggers.

Tom Geoghegan

The Geoghegan Campaign’s Twitter use is this race’s biggest social media anomaly.  Geoghegan has arguably the largest national following – spending time during the campaign recently in LA and DC – and could really benefit by scaling this national support via Twitter.  Those followers could help stimulate local word of mouth and drive online fundraising in particular.  For an upstart candidate like Geoghegan, Twitter really has to be a more integral part of the campaign’s communication toolkit.

Geoghegan’s Twitter efforts are used primarily to communicate campaign news.  That’s a good start.  The next step has to be to build up the network and then personalize the profile.  That would include communications with people rather than at people.  Again, for the candidate that has become the “blogosphere darling” it is surprising that Twitter is not used very effectively.

Mike Quigley

The Quigley campaign has the second largest following on Twitter amongst the IL-5 candidates.  However, 19 updates is really unacceptable for an early leader, according to one poll.  A candidate’s reputation will carry them only so far.  All communications stops have to be pulled and Twitter is really lacking.

The campaign only began Tweeting regularly on January 30th.  Clearly, some important moments earlier in this race were missed.  Quigley’s Tweets are used primarily to drive web traffic to Quigley’s website and to share campaign news.  Those are both commendable uses.  Now, the activity level has be increased and like Geoghegan and Fritchey, Quigley needs to increase the size of his network and start communicating with people.

Charlie Wheelan

The Wheelan campaign has the third most updates but the smallest amount of followers amongst the surveyed candidates.  There are two reasons the lack of Twitter uses leaves me scratching my head.  First, Wheelan’s popularity with the younger voter and relationships with university students as a lecturer at the University of Chicago, should give Wheelan a pretty sizable and active built-in following.  Secondly, as the other major upstart candidate in this race, he needs every communications vehicle to make an impression with voters as possible.  Every communications point matters, especially for Wheelan.

Recommendations are essentially the same for the Wheelan campaign as the others.

Becoming Unique in the IL-5 Bid for Congress

Sara Feigenholtz scored a significant boost for her campaign yesterday.  The National Organization for Women (NOW) officially endorsed the current state representative in her bid to win the Democratic Primary for Rahm Emmanuel’s vacated seat.

Looking to separate herself from the crowded field of good candidates, Feigenholtz is building on her strength and tradition as champion of women’s issues.  Women voters will play a big role in this race, probably more than people expect.  The post-presidential election hangover has caused voter fatigue that will diminish voter turnout on March 3rd.  But, I believe women will turn out in bigger numbers than men on election day and Feigenholtz is positioned to take advantage.

Interestingly, while helping her own brand with the NOW endorsement, Feigenholtz may indirectly help define the other candidates.  For example, if Feigenholtz is clearly the women’s issues candidate, then Mike Quigley is the good government candidate, Charlie Wheelan is the economy candidate and Tom Geoghegan is the labor candidate.

In this very short election, there is no time for a candidate to reinvent oneself or attempt to be the best on every issue for every constituency.  Instead, they have to run very hard on their strengths.  And where Feigenholtz has a built-in advantage through years of public service and is able to grab big endorsements to make news, the other candidates without a built-in constituency (Wheelan and Tom Geoghegan), have to make their own news.

Whether that comes from endorsements from non-major organizations or go after established organizations for their endorsements, these public displays of support are important for voter turnout and defining a candidate.

For Geoghegan, he’s going to have a tough time getting the labor endorsements he needs, despite his background.  The field of candidates have worked hard to build support with labor and therefore labor will probably stay on the sidelines.

Geoghegan instead should go after individual and influential labor leaders who support him and get their endorsement.  Sometimes leaders’ support can be nearly as effective an organization’s support.  Geoghegan would have to think of creative and interesting ways to deliver the communication of key supporters to his publics.  I don’t think press releases will cut it unless the campaign can make it into a big story.  Instead, a potential web video and using the key endorser’s social network to deliver the message would give a powerful impact for Geoghegan or another candidate to stay competitive with Feigenholtz.

Candidates need to be remarkable and memorable.  Nobody is going to know all a candidate’s positions and history.  They’re going to know generally what a candidate stands for and what core issues they are defined by.  Whoever can paint that clear picture and motivate the right constituents to vote, will be well-positioned come election day.