Candidates count on Fl field marhsals

For most of the past year, the Giuliani and Romney campaigns have been waging aggressive, mostly unseen campaigns to identify and mobilize voters and key opinion leaders to build excitement, momentum and infrastructure to win Florida's Jan. 29 primary. So what are the field marshals for Romney, Giuliani and Thompson up to? Take a peek here.

Comments

Its certainly worked for Rudy, but not for Romney.

Also, putting up all those signs is a waste of money. There are so many signs that they lose their impact.

The only thing that counts is having the candidate attend rallies, speaking events, and other in-state events. It earns them "unearned media". Unearned media is media for which they do not have to pay.

There is no substitute for a candidate appearing in person.

The smart campaign would focus on media, and media alone. The rest is an incredible waste of money.

The Thompson people called me. I did not know he was so strong on Second Amendment rights and that he got the endorsement of the National Right to Life people.

823 Nice attempt to show how a call center has impact. Too bad it is not true and that you are simply a Thompson employee.

All the candidates are identical on second amendement, even Rudy and liberal Romney

Dlorida will go to the R nominee. Our candidates are months ahead of the Ds in organizing. The Ds can thank Dean for that, but they won't. They will probably just whine that the election was stolen or that it is all our fault for some reason or other.

[Ping Pong]

I can not believe the press this hansen kid gets. They did a profiel piece on him with the Cappeeli campaign too, one of the worst run campaigns in Florida in 2006. And now this? They are wasting their money on him and his strategy. He has no knowledge or background for this work, he was an education major in school 2 years ago! HA!

Probably because Nick is the man!

Between the tiger woods red shirt, the cargo pants shorts, the watch, the belt, the crew cut, and the used car, what do you expect? He certainly is not going out on a Saturday night date with anyone.

He also needs to learn how to mount those campaign signs on their stands. You first make sure that they are not bent in any way, and then you slide the sign onto the stand slowly, making sure that the two wire rods are entering the sign channels evenly. If you do it too quickly without thinking or looking, you get a messed up sign, just like the one in the picture.

He should also clean up that car trunk, the garage, and police the grounds. Everything in this picture points to a very untidy campaigner.

[VPS]

9:55
That is one of the new plastic signs, not the corrugated kind.

9:55 is probably a D - wishing he had signs to post. But alas, his party has written off Florida and left all Florida D s out in the cold.

[Common Sense]

Re: 9:55 - I'm a Republican and You're absolutely correct about the attire. The cargo shorts must go! Long khakis and a dress button up for door-to-door field work. Khaki shorts and tennis shoes for mounting campaign signs -- lets at least look presentable if we're askig people for their support.

8:18 - It's "earned" media, you idiot.

9:55 -
As a former field op, I can tell you that what you see are classic signs: the trunk, back seat, passenger seat, garage, and probably the living room are full of campaign materials. The phone alternates between being strapped to the hip and pressed to the ear. When you aren't working, you try to sleep. Long hours, A LOT of caffeine, and little to no recognition. They earn WAY LESS than $10 an hour, and when you sit down and do the math, it is usually closer to $5 (and most don't do the math on purpose, because it is depressing - but you don't do it for the money).

These are the grunts of the parties, and no amount of TV can replace them: If you want to know how a message will work, but you don't want to spend tens of thousands polling, run it through a night at the phone bank, or a day of door-to-door canvassing. The information they give back to the parties is invaluable - and they are treated like crap. If candidates listened more to their field ops, they would develop messages that resonate better with a broader number of people.
You don't have time to "tidy up" when you are working 6 or 7 days a week 12-16 hours a day.

12:55 - Give the kid a break. It IS Florida after all...I would like to see you out there in your "dress shirt" and long pants. You would quickly realize that a polo is the best way to go, and that the cargo shorts are necessary because he is likely carrying around everything from campaign literature to paper clips, pens, a PDA, an alternate cell phone, a wallet, keys, assorted pieces of paper, and nearly everything else he needs to run a truly mobile office. All you people who hate on this guy and other field ops are knocking the very essence of grassroots.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/politics_nation/

Hey, Romney's gonna tell us why he baptizes dead people of other religions. Wonder if anyone will have the guts to ask him this question?

other questions:
1. Is the garden of eden in missouri (near Branson?)
2. How did the lost tribe of Israel make it over to the americas?
3. When Jesus came to America after the crucifixtion, where did he go, what did he say?

4:56 hey you knucklehead, the kid should dress up. hell, the nation of islam is suited up when they go door to door. Let's start cleaning up our acts.

[Gene Smith]

None of you morons actually know what Nick was doing that day - so no need to criticize his attire.

Actually, that discussion is a sign of why you knuckleheads will NOT win Florida. You are more worried about what they guy looks like than what kind of job he is doing.

Keep up the good work.

Any smart candidate - R or D - knows that what pushes them past the finish line is a good ground game.

A suit and tie makes a lot of sense walking door to door in Florida.

[L.D.H.]

Hey Ping Pong-
Glad to see you know so much about Nick. As a guy who graduated with him from High School in 2000 and the University of Florida in 2003! I can tell you he was never an education major. He graduated with a double major in Criminology and Political Science (unlike you I know him well enough to call and find out instead of assuming). From the looks of your typing and spelling skills you wouldn't graduate from the life-skills center in 10 years with a fulltime tutor.

Maybe you're confusing the fact that he was a teacher for a few years with going to school for education. Either way you're an idiot.

I can't believe some of you morons who want him to wear a suit while he's cleaning out his car. Common Sense, you obviously have none.

if there is one thing I hate are sloopy campaign workiers coming to my door. Scares me. The worst are the girls that are fat and wear shorts! eeeewwwwwwwww! What are they thinking? Have so pride.

LDH - The suit and tie comment was a joke.
As a former field director, for any of you who come out and walk for the party or a candidate, please dress somewhat descent. A nice polo and Khaki shorts are the best thing. No jorts, gym shorts, Ronald Regan 1980 T-Shirts, or Hilary Clinton is a communist shirt (not only Republicans live at a household, sometimes, and this shocks people, a Republican marries a democrat). Sorry just venting, you cant tell a volunteer to go home and change! Thanks volunteers though.

[Peter in New York City]

This was probably the worst series of comments ever put on this blog. Are you all really criticizing Nick for what he is wearing while he is cleaning out his trunk?

I've known Nick for some time now and while he certainly has his own fashion style, at least he has one. Of the two dozen or so times that I saw him out on social occasions, almost every time I saw him dressed not just in slacks and a dress shirt, but usually in a blazer as well.

But that is not the point. I disagree with Nick on almost every political issue. And I don't think the Cappelli campaign was efficiently ran, at least from a strategic standpoint. But Nick is a nice young man that works his tail off "in the arena."

There should be a thousand more Nick Hansens in Saint Petersburg.