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Building Coalitions. Stakeholder Management in Political Campaigns. Ronald Nehring Chairman, Republican Party of San Diego County. Building Coalitions. Factions dominate politics. Coalition represents a plurality of your district.
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Building Coalitions Stakeholder Management in Political Campaigns Ronald Nehring Chairman, Republican Party of San Diego County
Building Coalitions • Factions dominate politics. • Coalition represents a plurality of your district. • Critical part of reaching your vote goal …but not the only part. • “Leave Us Alone” vs. “Takings” Coalitions
Building Coalitions • Building coalitions means identifying potentially supportive groups within your district, and bringing them into your campaign. • Neutralize potentially negative groups. • A game of addition, not subtraction. • Your campaign = common interest
Identifying Stakeholders • Stakeholder: Individual or group potentially affected by the office you are seeking. • Build a stakeholder matrix. • Target specific groups. Taxpayers = Taxpayer groups. Business = Chamber of Commerce, NFIB Professions = Trade Associations People of faith = Churches, faith-based groups. Tech workers = Dell, Microsoft employees.
Stakeholder Matrix Comprehensive list of all stakeholders with a potential interest in your office. • Identify and list each group. • Determine their perceived position on your campaign. • Determine actual position. • Which groups’ positions can you influence?
Stakeholder Management Potentially Positive Groups: Incorporate into your campaign.
Bringing a group into your coalition • Prepare to approach the leadership: • Nature of the group. • Leadership. • Membership. • How does it communicate? • Important dates and events. • Partisan? • Precedents? • What causes have they adopted in the past? What public policy interests do they have? • Calendar of events?
Bringing a group into your coalition • Your victory is their victory. • Approach the leadership, or entire group (depending on circumstances). • L. L. H. L. • When the time is right, ask for their support. Don’t expect to get it if you don’t ask.
Once You Secure Their Support • Formal endorsement • Financial support from group and/or members? • Membership list for voter database? • Most groups are stingy with lists. But, where there is a will there’s a way. • One-time use of the list? • Communication to members of group’s support? • Volunteers for campaign? • Surrogate speakers? • Voter registration? • Participation in events?
Stakeholder Management Potentially Negative Groups: Neutralize when possible.
Neutralizing Threats • Identify potential threats when developing the stakeholder matrix. • Determine which potentially-negative groups can be neutralized. • How? • Build relationships. • Identify common ground. • Identify support within the group.
Building Coalitions Stakeholder Management in Political Campaigns Ronald Nehring Chairman, Republican Party of San Diego County