FRC Finally Acting Helpful

First, the disclaimer: Under federal tax laws, the Family Research Council is forbidden from endorsing any candidate for political office or otherwise "intervening" in an election. But the reality is that nonprofits have become very sophisticated in influencing their particular audiences in political matters without stepping over the tax code's lines. The leftys even have an organization, Alliance for Justice, devoted to giving workshops and offering individualized legal advice to nonprofits to help them "get away" with as much political activity as possible while not jeopardizing their tax status. (I infiltrated their 2-day workshop a while back: extremely informative -- and maddening.)

So the Family Research Council / FRC Action really botched an opportunity back in October to help unite social conservatives behind one GOP candidate. After Mike Huckabee received more standing ovations than all of the other GOP candidates combined (and they all got ~20 minutes to speak to about 2,000 FRC members) at their Washington Briefing conference, FRC announced Mitt Romney the winner of their straw poll (by a hair over Huckabee), to stunned silence by the people who had actually attended the event. Quickly the true story leaked out: the Romney supporters had "stuffed" the online voting (which required "joining" FRC Action for $1), but Mike Huckabee had totally dominated the onsite voting, winning 51% of the vote, and Romney came in a very distant 2nd place with 10% of the onsite vote. Had FRC been forthcoming from the beginning about the results of much more reliable onsite voting, instead of issuing misleading press releases calling Romney the winner, this would have boosted Huckabee's status as the leader for social conservatives much more than the muddled reporting that actually occurred.

Well, FRC is now facing the prospect of the social conservatives getting left in the cold because of the 3-way split among the first three primaries. Now Tony Perkins' message on their blog is, we have to unite! He can't say which candidate to unite behind overtly, and he offers some complimentary points about each of Huckabee, McCain, Romney and Thompson, but today's blog entry does offer some subtle clues to readers about where the center of gravity ought to be:

• It criticizes Dick Armey and the Club for Growth for touring South Carolina, not to unite the party, but to attack Mike Huckabee. Also note that FRC has cast Dick Armey as the villian in multiple recent daily emails for trying to jettison the social conservatives and shove Rudy Giuliani down their throats. The implication is that Club for Growth is guilty by association and Mike Huckabee is the protagonist to slay the Armey dragon.
  
• Huckabee gets listed first among the candidates. Simple yet suggestive.
  
• The Blogroll on the right of the screen highlights 3 blogs, and then lists maybe a hundred more alphabetically. The top two featured blogs happen to be... prominent pro-Huckabee blogs! Evangelical Outpost, which has explicitly endorsed Huckabee, and Reasoned Audacity, belonging to Charmaine Yoest, who recently joined the Huckabee campaign as Senior Policy Adviser.

In other news, today's Rassmussen poll shows Huckabee overcoming last week's slippage in South Carolina and gaining 9 percentage points in one week to pull dead even with John McCain. I was getting a little worried and pessimistic the last few days about a McCain takeover, but things are looking promising as we head into the first in the South primary!

Persuading Politicos Part 3: Find Your Target Audience

So you're in a hotel with a bunch of "headliners" like Dr. Dobson, Dr. Land, and Sean Hannity, and you're trying to convince these people to support Mike Huckabee for President. If, at the end of the day, you have not spoken to any of these people, should you be disappointed? NO. Because...


Rule #3: The best way to a leader's heart is through his or her aides, members or friends.


If you really want to talk directly to a "headliner," I am not discouraging you from going for it. But you may find it hard to get to him physically, and when you do, you will only get 15-30 seconds to talk, unless you know him personally or you're introduced by someone who does. Don't expect a real conversation to happen, as the "headliner" is likely to nod politely and quickly move on to the next person.


So what's the point in going to the Washington Briefing? Mostly to talk with employees, aides, and friends of the leaders and active-but-not-famous members of influential groups. In other words, the best targets for an audience are the "ordinary" people who will actually give you a few minutes of time, but who in turn have greater clout with leaders.


Let's put it this way: when you're a lobbyist on Capitol Hill, you meet and talk with Congressional staff about 25-50 times for every one time you meet with a Member of Congress! We wouldn't do it this way if it convincing aides weren't highly effective.

Members of Congress and others in leadership positions simply don't have the time to process all the detailed information they need to make informed decisions. So they rely on trusted advisers to distill information and recommend a course of action. Convince the advisor, and you have about a 90% chance you've convinced the leader, even though you've never talked to him or her.

So how to figure out who the advisers are? Some ideas:

• Watch the people standing close to the leader before and after a speech, looking official, or chatting it up like an old friend. Remember what that person looks like and introduce yourself later.
• Go to a group's booth at the exhibit hall and talk with anyone there looking older than college age. (Powerful political aids can be as young as their mid-to-late 20s.) Ask about what that person does, and either try to convince him or her or fish for an invitation to meet someone higher up in the organization.
• Rely on Providence--pray you'll meet the right people and then just go out there, shake hands, and ask people where they work or what brings them to the convention.

Especially when it comes to the last tactic, it helps to have as many Huckabee supporters attending the Washington Briefing as possible, so we can fan out. Again, if you are planning to come, please email me so I can coordinate meeting places, carpooling, etc. I'm still looking for someone driving from/through/near Norfolk Virginia, and also have received word that a couple of guys will have an extra space in their hotel room for a "Christian young man." So please let me know if you can help or need help in transportation or lodging.

Persuading Politicos Part 2: Dress for Success

Today's installment of tips for persuading GOP activists to support Huckabee at the Washington Briefing and similar events may be self-evident to a lot of people, but you know what they say about assuming, so here it is:

Rule #2: Dress Professionally and Wear a Tasteful Pin. [Updated 10/15]

The Washington Briefing is not the place to advertise your support for Huckabee with a t-shirt or baseball cap. This event is more a business convention than a pep rally. Dress as if you're going to work at a professional job, and advertise your Huckabee support with a button pin. You can buy them at the Huckabee Store, or you can get one from me (I bought 10-packs of 3 different designs) if you email me so we can arrange to meet up when you first arrive at the Washington Briefing.

Washington, DC is a very conservative town when it comes to dress. Politicos are more likely to listen to you if they think you're "one of them" and "professional" (again, fair or not, this is reality). Politicos usually go all out for suits, but the Washington Briefing registration materials suggest "business casual" dress for the daytime sessions, so you could go either way.

• Men: Khakis, button-down shirt and sport jackets are a great look. Black/navy/dark gray suits give you a professional-looking edge. At the very least wear a long sleeve solid color button-down shirt.
  
• Women: Anything professional-looking will work for ladies--suits, skirts, nice pants, colors, solids, patterns. Just keep it modest--don't commit a Jeri Thompson-esq faux pas by dressing for Hollywood or Miami.
  
• Both: Scent is not a part of dressing professionally. In this town, janitors and 20-somethings going to clubs wear cologne and perfume; professionals do not.

And finally, if you can't make it to Washington October 19-20, be sure to join FRC Action and cast your Presidential straw poll vote online, and encourage others to do the same with FRC Action Straw Poll Voter Drive.

Persuading Politicos Part 1: Don't Be a Single-Issue Voter

As I promised in an earlier post about the Washington Briefing, this is the first in a series of tips on "lobbying" -- how to maximize your effectiveness in persuading GOP activists to support Huckabee.

The goal here is to show that Huckabee's supporters are thoughtful, realistic, mainstream conservatives. As evidenced by the Ron Paul movement, having a lot of very active, true believer supporters doesn't translate into electability if the supporters are perceived as being "fringe."

And with that introduction...

Rule #1: Don't be a single-issue voter.

Single-issue candidates don't win elections or know how to govern the country. So if you want your candidate to have credibility, do not tell people you support him because of one key issue. Otherwise, the listener may conclude that your candidate is a single-issue candidate because you are a single-issue supporter. (Fair or not, that is reality.)

Take a tip from the preachers: always list three different issues that are important to you when explaining your support. Two is fine sometimes, but more than three is too much information for the listener to process, while one issue is too narrow.

Example: What NOT to Say

"I support Mike Huckabee for President because he supports the Fair Tax. Let me explain to you what the Fair Tax is and why it's good for America..."

Problem: Even though you may be prepared to list 3 reasons you support the Fair Tax, it still makes Huckabee look like a single-issue candidate. Even worse, the listener may not care much about this one issue, or may even actively oppose it, causing him or her to oppose Huckabee.

Example: What You Should Say

"I support Mike Huckabee because he is the most charismatic and likable candidate who consistently supports core conservative values such as low and fair taxation, the right to life, and securing our nation's borders. He had an amazing track record as Governor of Arkansas, lowering taxes, enacting covenant marriage, and even winning elections in a traditionally Democratic state with nearly half of the African-American vote."

Why this is effective: You made 3 big points, each supported by 3 subpoints, all within less than 30 seconds!
1) Huckabee is highly electable.
a) He is charismatic
b) He is likable
c) He won Arkansas elections in a Democratic-leaning environment
2) Huckabee takes solid conservative positions.
a) He supports low and fair taxation (note: you are supporting the Fair Tax without using a buzz word that may set off alarm bells for the listener)
b) He is pro-life
c) He wants to secure our borders against illegal immigration
3) Huckabee has a strong track-record as the executive of a State.
a) He lowered taxes
b) He enacted covenant marriage
c) He won the support of a broad spectrum of Arkansas voters
(Yes, 1.c and 3.c are double-dipping, but that's not a bad thing! Keeping it concise but positive-information-packed is good.)

Check back tomorrow for the next installment of Persuading Politicos. And don't forget to email me if you're planning to attend the Washington Briefing or want to know if anyone else in your area is planning to go. (Make sure to register ASAP!) I am working to arrange a meet-up for Huckabee supporters and am also happy to give travel tips for out-of-towners.

(Speaking of which, I have a request for a ride from the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Anyone coming from there or passing through?)

Go Huckabee!!