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August 15, 2006
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A week ago, my friend Ned Lamont pulled off a stunning upset in the Democratic Primary in Connecticut. Running against three term incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman, who just six years ago was nearly elected Vice President of the United States, Lamont won by four points, amazing pundits and his own inner circle including yours truly. Note that in the initial polls, Lamont was down by 40 points! (Full disclosure: I held a fund raiser for Ned.)
Here are some lessons from the campaign that might be useful to those of us in the private sector:
1) Be Who You Are-Senator Lieberman is known as a decent and devoted public servant, with never a bad word for Democrat nor Republican. Yet when he came to debate Ned, he refused to shake hands with his opposite number, he sneered at Ned's responses and was generally disrespectful. The result was a 10 point gain in the polls for Ned, who acted throughout as a gentleman of great intelligence and enthusiasm, the usual role for Joe Lieberman.
2) Visuals Matter-The single most important visual was of President Bush kissing Senator Lieberman on the cheek as he strode down the aisle to deliver the State of the Union address in January. This image corroborated Lamont's contention that Senator Lieberman had lost his way in his blind support of the President and that Connecticut should elect a real Democrat.
3) When You Have a Winning Issue, Stay With It-Lamont made it clear from the outset that he was the anti-war candidate. He has suggested establishment of a firm deadline for withdrawal of American troops from the front lines, to be replaced by Iraqis. Though he has also talked about national health insurance and a robust education plan, the exit polls indicated that 80% of those voting for Lamont did so because of the war in Iraq.
4) Address Your Weaknesses Early and Directly-Lieberman's camp tried to portray Lamont as a rich guy without qualifications for high office. Lamont turned the tables on this gambit by going public with his personal net worth and by discussing his successful small business start-up in the cable industry. He had real world experience with employee health costs and the need for better technical training.
5) Engage with the Blogosphere-When the Lieberman campaign made a big announcement about Lamont's ownership of stock in Halliburton, the Lamont campaign did its own quick research and found that the Senator also held shares in the same company. A few bloggers (Daily Kos as example) were given the story, which was then picked up by mainstream media. In fact, the blogosphere has been a key asset for Lamont’s campaign, discussing his views, magnifying the impact of his ad campaign and speeches. One funny ad on YouTube, which was picked- up some blogs, parodies the negative attacks against Ned by showing his family critiquing Ned’s coffee making skills which Ned acknowledges lamely.
6) Don't Be Over-Scripted-I asked Ned how he prepared for his appearance on Face the Nation on CBS News on Sunday. He told me that he read the Sunday newspapers. He came off as a plain-spoken, thoughtful man able to bring something different to the Senate. He is not afraid to say that SUVs ought to be counted in the fleet mileage targets for auto companies or that a needed revaluation of the Chinese currency relative to the dollar might well mean higher prices at Wal-Mart.
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Posted by Edelman at August 15, 2006 05:36 PM
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