Lessons from the Trenches #4

Alicia Davis is a principal with TargetPoint Consulting. TargetPoint is a leader in the field of micro targeting and, unlike so many pretenders out there, has written most of the conventional wisdom on how to do advanced market segmentation at the individual level.

Alicia joined Target Point Consulting from the Republican National Committee where she most recently served as Regional Political Director. Prior to returning to the Republican National Committee, Alicia served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs and Communications at the United States Department of Commerce.

Leading up to the 2004 presidential election, Alicia served as the Director for the Presidential Coordinated Fund for the Republican National Committee.  Prior to her return to Washington for the fall campaign, Alicia worked in Manhattan as the Republican National Convention’s Director for External Relations.

 From 2001 to 2003 Alicia served as Associate Political Director in the White House Office of Political Affairs.  Before moving to Washington, Alicia worked for the Bush/Cheney 2000 presidential campaign and in Massachusetts for Governors Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci.

As my main man Ron Burgundy would say “She is…kind of a big deal.”

CF - What campaign on the GOP side showed real innovation in fundraising?AD - I may be biased, but I believe that Mitt Romney’s fundraising team utilized innovative new tools and pushed the limit on all fundraising mediums.  From building out an online platform for lower dollar donors, to developing a tracking system that utilized tools seen in the business world, to creating interesting events like national call day to draw donors together to compete – they covered the spectrum.  More importantly, they made sure that each piece worked in concert with the others – so, for example, big events had an online, mail and phone component.

CF - What campaign on the GOP side had the most effective use of New Media?AD - This is one area where we need to catch up.  Traditionally Democrats spend significantly more funds than Republicans on new media staff and resources.  Clearly Obama took advantage of his funds to maximize his reach and was successful at doing so.  There are a number of innovative ways to influence and motivate voters, we just need to invest.

CF - What candidate on the GOP side best leveraged earned media to get traction?AD - Huckabee certainly used earned media to his advantage in the primary process.

CF - What campaign on the GOP side showed the greatest comeback?AD - Clearly John McCain made quite a comeback in the primary process.  While he may have been the heir apparent in early 2007, his prospects weren’t looking so good the summer prior to the New Hampshire primary.  McCain continued to fight and won the reward of New Hampshire and ultimately the nomination.

CF - What campaign on the GOP side had the most effective GOTV organization?AD - The push for the Saxby run-off was an intense and well run operation that mobilized supporters and got the vote out.

CF - What GOP candidate has the biggest ideas for the future of our party (even if they lost)?AD - Again, I may be biased, but I believe Mitt Romney has the best ideas for our party.  He spoke out in 2007, stating that the we  “put our own house in order” and return to our principles.  With a foundation of our principles and a party that is constantly investing in modernizing and innovating its efforts.

CF - What GOP campaign was really good at the small stuff? (yard signs, bumper stickers, t-shirts, etc)AD - This t-shirt certainly qualified as the most interesting approach - http://www.adn.com/ted-stevens/story/572441.html