For all the talk of the US having a progressive tax code, I came across this at the Washington Post’s WonkBlog. Essentially, each tax bracket’s share of tax is fa [...]
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Download the 2014 Vote Goal Spreadsheet by clicking the picture Some candidates are intimidated by the prospect of calculating their vote goals for their race. It is a necess [...]
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The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has been tracking views of press performance since 1985, and the overall ratings remain quite negative. Fully 66% say news stories often are inaccurate, 77% think that news organizations tend to favor one side, and 80% say news organizations are often influenced by powerful people [...]
READ MORE »From Mandate Media. An op-ed by Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal is mostly of the banal “gee, the internet is changing politics” variety. Cutting-edge campaigns have quickly grasped how the Web makes it easier and less expensive to transmit information. But campaigns are only starting to understand how to use the Web and social-networking tools [...]
READ MORE »All signs point to Facebook being a primary battleground. A recent Pew poll revealed that Facebook users who utilize the site multiple times a day are an additional two and half times more likely to attend a political rally or meeting, 57 percent more likely to try to persuade someone how to vote and an [...]
READ MORE »Roger Ailes: Let’s face it, there are three things that the media are interested in: pictures, mistakes and attacks. That’s the one sure way of getting coverage. You try to avoid as many mistakes as you can. You try to give them as many pictures as you can. And if you need coverage, you attack, [...]
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I recently touched on performing opposition research – or opponent clarification in new parlance – on those you run against. What’s often left out is performing research on yourself – called “vulnerability studies” – and why you need it. I often get odd looks and the typical refrain – “I don’t have anything that can be used [...]
READ MORE »From Politico: Opposition research, long vilified and romanticized as a kind of political dark art, has stepped out of the closet for the 2012 presidential campaign, in which current and former opposition researchers are taking prominent roles, the self-described “high road” candidate has an extensive research operation and the climate couldn’t be better for dropping negative [...]
READ MORE »Bill Cotterell, my favorite reporter at the Tallahassee Democrat once wrote: If you asked Democrats if they’d rather win and feel guilty, or lose, they’d have to think about it. Republicans wouldn’t get the question — having stopped listening after the word “win.” This week I was reminded of why this is important. You have [...]
READ MORE »I wrote earlier on polling and your campaign. The Miami Herald has an article that sums up what a relationship between a pollster and a candidate is supposed to look like. If you love or hate Rick Scott as governor, there’s one man who deserves a lion’s share of the credit or blame: Tony Fabrizio. [...]
READ MORE »In light of the recent controversy over the Iowa marriage pledge, that suggested African-Americans were better off under slavery, I will share why I discourage candidates from signing pledges. Your oath is to the Constitution of the United States, your state constitution and your local laws. You govern for the for good of the electorate, you don’t pander for [...]
READ MORE »The mainstream media have a reputation of being left-wing and dismissive of conservative viewpoints and politicians. I’ve always thought this is a bit exaggerated. While the media are never your friend it is good to build a good relationship with them and at least not treat them like the enemy. Then, there are situations like [...]
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