THE PARTISAN DIVIDE: Congress in Crisis by by Tom Davis Martin Frost & Richard E. Cohen

Author:by Tom Davis, Martin Frost & Richard E. Cohen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Premiere
Published: 2014-11-10T16:00:00+00:00

Tom’s Response

I had a similar problem with my party base in 2006. Polling in my district in early January showed that I was beating my strongest potential Democratic opponent, but I was only polling at 51% (my opponent was polling in the high 20s). In prior years I had usually been near 60% at that point in a campaign. Moreover, I had just come off my best legislative session ever. Something was different, and my pollster told me that President Bush was very unpopular and voters were taking out their displeasure with the president on me.

I made two major adjustments to my usual campaign plan. One was that through major media, I emphasized my differences from the Bush administration and the GOP leadership in Congress, especially on social issues. President Bush was polling a favorable rating only in the high 20s, and doubling down with the White House would further alienate me from swing voters who were mad at the president.

Also, I nailed down what Democratic support I had previously held: the Professional Firefighters, the Letter Carriers, and a handful of other unions. Though I had sponsored right-to-work legislation and voted to repeal Davis-Bacon wage legislation, my committee chairmanship enabled me to work closely with several unions, including several federal employee unions. Together, we put forth a coalition to stop an AFL-CIO endorsement of my opponent, which was normally an automatic for a Democratic candidate in Virginia.

I did not want, nor could I have gotten, the endorsement for myself, as my labor record was not strong. But the AFL-CIO required a two-thirds vote to endorse. My opposition research revealed that my opponent’s law firm had done legal work decertifying unions from the workplace and had even advertised that work in order to draw potential clients. It was a large firm and labor law was not his niche, but he was a partner and shared in the spoils of that work. In the end, we were able to neutralize the AFL-CIO and stop the endorsement.

I also spent many hours engaging in ethnic outreach. We sent mail in Korean to Korean American households, set up phone banks contacting Korean households, and ran ads on Korean-language TV and radio. We worked the mosques and had a targeted Vietnamese get-out-the-vote/advocacy plan. I drew the support of key tech and Hispanic leaders, particularly from the Salvadorian community. (I had visited El Salvador earlier that year and publicized it through Hispanic media.)

Unlike Martin, I did not double down on my base vote (in the exurbs of western Prince William County). I worked it, but there were two helpful factors that allowed me to invest my efforts in swing voters elsewhere. The first was that I had Senator George Allen running for reelection. He played hard to the base as being against gay marriage, pro-life, and for tax cuts. He drove the base’s turnout. Additionally, once my opponent and the Democrats started attacking me for being too conservative (as they always did), the base would come home. Also, the state had a ballot measure outlawing gay marriage, which turned out the churches.

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