The National Parties as....VC Funders?

Most folks on this site today, tomorrow, and the rest of this week will come here to slice and dice the election results in NY-23, NJ, and VA.  As Patrick's earlier column noted, the NY-23 situation (paired with the endorsement of Crist by the NRSC, etc.) has rankled many conservatives and has broken faith between the conservative faithful and the national party organizations.

There's no doubt that national party organizations have a great amount of resources and knowhow that can be of great use to a local campaign that is just getting its bearings.  Whether or not you agree with their recent play-calling, simply the financial resources and infrastructure alone do give national parties value in elections.  Yet a lot of what we've seen as big campaign successes these last few cycles haven't been born here in DC but rather came out of clever ideas and innovations by campaigns outside the Beltway. (On the other side of the aisle, look at the early Obama campaign as a great example.)

Which begs the question - how can the resources of the national parties be brought to bear in elections without eclipsing or smothering local efforts?  

Another hot topic here at The Next Right is on the topic of innovating in campaigns, at coming up with the Next Big Thing to help usher our candidates to victory.  What if the national party (RNC or either of the campaign committees) set aside some funds specifically to invest in innovations being tested at the local or state level?  Think of it like a national party version of venture capital funding - looking for potential Next Big Ideas or candidates with real promise who are underfunded and under the radar, giving them the seed money, and letting them implement fresh campaign thinking?  

This will probably get blowback from entrenched consultant types who make a killing each year running "tried-and-true" (and tired) campaign tactics.  I imagine that makes this idea even more appealing to many up-and-comers.  If, say, the NRCC were to offer to max out contributions to 15 candidates whose campaigns submit a proposal for something truly unique they want to do with their campaign, I can't help but wonder how much brainstorming that might inspire.  This wouldn't have to be terribly expensive in the end, and out of 15 ideas, maybe only one or two really uncover a great new method of voter contact or targeting.  But that's one or two ideas we didn't have before.

Right now, the national parties in many ways are like private equity firms, sweeping in to races that need "national help", investing money, hoping for a return on that investment.  That can work too and in some cases, when a local campaign is falling apart at the seams, there needs to be a national organization to pick up the slack.  But I think if our national parties started acting a bit more like venture capital firms - investing in good ideas, letting them flourish or fail, reaping huge payoffs when one succeeds - we might have a shot at spurring some innovation as well as finding a role for national parties that respects local control.

This is just a passing thought, and idea I haven't firmed up quite enough, but I wanted to throw it out there to The Next Right commenting corps to see if the idea resonates at all.