About Politics

John Reiling asked:


Is a Political Campaign a Project?

I say, a resounding “YES” to the question “Is a political campaign a project?”. Why? Well, a political campaign has a distinctive beginning and end, and in between there is a lot of planning, a great deal of execution, and a great deal of monitoring and controlling. And of course there is a closing – usually with lots of lessons learned. Let us look a bit at these elements and explore if a political campaign is a project.

Project Management Processes in Political Campaigns

We live in an increasingly projectized world, and projects abound all around us. Let’s take a look at how the Project Management Process Groups as per the PMBOK map to a political campaign.

1.Initiating - How many times have you heard candidates say that they are considering running for a particular position? This is part of the initiating process. This involves assessing chances of success, introspection regarding desire to do the campaign and to occupy the office, as well as, effects on personal life and career. Financial and organizational assets are also a major factor in the initiation process for a political campaign.

2.Planning – Once it has been decided to undertake a political campaign, there is a great deal of true project planning. If you use professional project management terminology, a work breakdown schedule is clearly plays a part in managing a political campaign, as there are many tasks to be coordinated. There is a great deal of planning related to where to spend money, where to travel, what to say, and a myriad of other things, to achieve the goal of winning the campaign.

3.Execution – Putting the plan into action is a key to a political campaign. Having the feet on the ground (volunteers and paid), in action, handing out leaflets, putting out posters, organizing others, making phone calls, setting up ads, setting up engagements – all of these are part of the project execution process for a political campaign.

4.Monitoring and Controlling – Just a cursory look at what happens in national campaigns in the United States reveals that the process of monitoring and controlling is not only of critical importance, but has gotten much more sophisticated. One example is the visual graphing of audience reaction - on a word-by-word basis - to what candidates say. Here the candidates get favorable, unfavorable, or in between ratings from listeners on virtually every word or phrase they utter! Campaign rhetoric strategy and approaches is changing constantly to try to adapt to political opinion and developments on the campaign trail.

5.Closing - The ultimate objective of the campaign is to win the election. Win or loose, the campaign will actually end at the conclusion of the election. Eventually, the campaign organization will need to be dissolved and the project will be “in the books”.

Absolutely, Political Campaigns are Projects!

Yes, simply thinking about a political campaign in terms of the PMBOK Project Management Processes makes it clearer than I ever thought before that a political campaign indeed is a project. In fact, I think it is a quintessential project and one that most of us experience simply by living on a day-to-day basis. Indeed, it is plausible to consider that a political campaign is even a series of projects, but that can be a subject for exploration at another time.

Sarah

Sn00p asked:


I am aware it is a pretty broad area of work, but how do you go about getting a job deep in the ‘Politics field’? Have nearly all of them just put themselves forward to be MP’s to get where they are or is their various routes to get a career reasonably high up in Politics? Please no ‘witty ‘You just lie to the public and take all their cash” answers, this is a serious question. Thanks in advance.

Jorge

Christine Harrell asked:


Often volunteers are asked to place political yard signs at specified locations for a candidate but are not provided tips on the best way to place them to maximize their effectiveness. Utilizing some important tips can increase the visibility of the sign and improve the chances of people remembering the name on the sign.

The Proper Sign Angle

Placing the signs at approximately a 90 degree angle to the nearby road will allow drivers to begin reading the election signs as soon as possible. Drivers often only have a few seconds of time to glance at a sign and digest the message, so placing election signs at an optimal angle increases the chances that they will be read.

Don’t try and grab the attention of all the traffic on the street. When election signs are placed at corners, place them so they are ideally situated for one direction of traffic and not all four. If volunteers attempt to get the attention of everyone driving on the street the sign will probably be difficult for everyone to read and the candidate will not be able to take advantage of a great location. Spending the extra money and placing election signs on all of the corners is an excellent strategy.

Height Placement - Political Yard Signs

Experts recommend situating the election signs a half a foot to a foot from the ground. Signs attached to poles or fences and placed up high are typically not safe for a driver to read while traveling down the road.

Study the area and decide the likelihood of the sign being stolen or damaged. Find out if there is a history of sign damage in particular neighborhoods in your voting district. You can still place election signs in the area but don’t place your large signs made from expensive material. Placing your signs in public property areas will increase the chances of it not being removed.

Target Particular Voters

It’s not enough just to place sign at heavy traffic areas. If you want to get the attention of young voters place the political yard signs near shopping malls and at their entrances. Place them at nearby colleges and areas of town that are known for nightlife.

Position them at office centers to increase the candidates name recognition with business people. Situating them near schools will increase name recognition with adults who take their children to school. Popular movie theaters and grocery stores are other excellent locations. Shopping centers are good locations when targeting women voters.

Distance From The Road

Check with your local officials regarding how close the political yard signs can be to the road. Most cities require signs to be more than 10 feet away from the road. Also, if they are being placed on actual lawns whether on public or private property keep in mind that the lawns will occasionally be mowed and signs can be damaged or removed from the ground.

Selecting high traffic locations and appropriate places for target groups as well as properly situating the election signs can significantly increase the number of people who will notice the signs and increase the readability of them. It’s important that staff and volunteers be trained to effectively place political yard signs in order to increase a candidate’s name recognition.

Clumping

Often signs that are placed in groups of three or four properties in a row can give the impression that there are more supporters. This concept of clumping yard signs together can also make a smaller number of signs look like more that what really there. If you get a yard sign request from one residence be sure to ask the residence on either side for their assistance in your campaign sign placement.

Dandelion signs

Every spring, overnight it seems, the green landscape changes to a sea of yellow spots as the dandelions bloom. The reason this change in nature is so noticeable, is because it happens rather abruptly. The same technique can be applied to how you put up your yard signs. Candidates who gradually release their yard signs are missing out on a lot of the impact a political or Business sign can have.

The best way to catch people’s attention with your signs is to map out 90% of all your yard sign’s locations before your signs even arrive. Then on one evening get all the volunteers you can muster together and put the majority of your signs up all at once. The next morning, your constituents will drive to work noticing the vast change in the landscape. Suddenly they want to know; what this new candidate all about, and why are so many people rallying behind them. First impressions are everything, and this can be an effective “wake-up call” to not only the voters, but also your opponent, and shaken opponents tend to make irrational decisions.

Timing

Probably the most frequently ask question we hear is, “How far out should I put my signs in the ground.” While the consulting community has debated this issue for years most would conclude that you want your signs to be release when people have their minds on elections. For most elections this means signs should go up about 30-40 days prior to early voting. (For elections that do not have early voting 30-40 days from the actual election) If signs are put out much sooner than this people begin to get used to seeing them and they forget what they’re even about. Yard signs sent out much later than 20 days loose the effectiveness to become household names.

Albert

advait0 asked:


Many cry the Council on Foreign Relations is somehow related to conspiracy, but how much does it really and openly influence policy or politics? It seems more like a social club or elite organization to me.

I mean I don’t see them all agreeing, the Director of the ACLU is in the CFR after all.

It would be the perfect mechanism to control the nation as it even has the Pres/Director of the ACLU in it and heads of non-profits, media, academic, etc. However, not all of these people agree at all.

So what does it really do?

Edwin