Techniques Are Changing Campaigns : Political Consultants Meet to Share New Technology

When a politician in Canada got desperate for campaign cash recently, his consultant composed a letter from the politician’s wife that said, “John doesn’t know that I’m writing, but with the burdensome debt that lies ahead of us, I and the children are very worried about whether we will be able to keep the house.”

A political consultant used this story, which he swore is true, to illustrate new technology recently at a conference of the American Assn. of Political Consultants in Santa Monica.

The woman’s letter was produced by using “laser handwriting fonts”--that is, a computer printed the letter in what was supposed to look like the woman’s handwriting.

‘A Tough One’

“It got an 18% response, but it’s a tough one to use over and over,” consultant Richard Parker said, to much laughter. Soon, he told the group, consultants will be able to send out political messages in something called “Fed-Ex look-a-likes.”

“They actually look like a slightly reduced Federal Express package, which of course increases the likelihood they will be opened (by the voter or potential contributor),” Parker said.

He and other consultants who specialize in getting out political messages for candidates had a rapt audience as they attempted to meet one of the association’s stated goals: “Removing the cloak of secrecy and mystery that has been placed on political consulting activities.”

Most of those attending the three-day conference of the 16-year-old association are fairly new to consulting, and they took notes as if they were college students cramming for exams. The panels were packed with veterans (the association has 250 consultant members), including mail expert Frank Tobe and Los Angeles consultant Joseph Cerrell, president of the group.

The techniques they heard about are changing political campaigns.

Want to make sure voters go to the polls on Election Day?

Consultants can track lazy voters throughout the day by hooking up their computers with precinct lists. When the list shows that a voter has not shown up by lunchtime, the voter begins getting phone calls urging him to get off his duff. The computer can be merciless. It dials the voter’s phone number automatically, and it keeps dialing at intervals until the polls close.

The candidate himself can prompt the voters by making an audio tape that is hooked up to the computer dialing the phones.

Give It to Computer

“If it’s a close election, the campaign panics right before the election and says, ‘Oh God, we’ve got to call all these voters.’ Now you just turn it over to the computers,” said John Phillips of Aristotle Industries in Connecticut, a manufacturer of automatic calling devices.

Telemarketing, using telephones and computers to get out the vote and raise money, is the hottest new tool in political campaigns, according to several conference presentations.

“We’re the people who call you at home and drive you crazy,” said John F. Davis III, vice president of Advanced Telemarketing Corp. in Irvine, Tex.

Davis said his firm pays its most skilled operators $50 an hour, plus commission, to raise money for political candidates. The operators do not know much about the candidates they are raising money for. According to Davis, they get a one- to two-hour briefing on a candidate’s political career and views.

At a Minimum

Keeping information at a minimum was also the advice given by a person who makes his living gathering signatures for ballot initiatives.

“We don’t want our circulators to know too much,” Kelly Kimball said. He equips his employees with one or two slogans. “Normally if it takes more than 10 seconds to explain an issue (to a voter), we hand them a fact sheet and move on.”

If someone wants to make sure he or she qualifies an initiative for the ballot, he said, that person should pay a firm to gather the signatures rather than depend on volunteers and spontaneous enthusiasm. It works like this, Kimball said:

“You put money in one end and signatures come out the other end. I hate to put it so crudely.”

Absentee Ballots

Another conference topic concerned the professional use of the absentee ballot, a subject of much interest in California, where absentee voting has been used effectively by the Republican Party since changes in the law made it easier to vote by mail.

Rick Taylor, a partner in a political consulting firm, told the group that for a fee, his firm will distribute absentee ballot applications and make sure they get to the county registrars, who send out the ballots.

Advocates of absentee voting contend that it is a good way to ensure the participation of people who would normally not bother to go to the polls.