In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Mobilizing Voters: The Coordinated Campaign Gail Stoltz Gail Stoltz has been the political director of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) since 2001. She was a fact witness for the defense and testified on the party’s coordinated campaign, voter registration, and voter mobilization efforts in election cycles. This excerpt includes her description of the “coordinated campaigns” that state parties conduct in conjunction with party and candidate committees to turn out Democratic voters. One of my major functions is overseeing our “coordinated campaign” programs in the various states. A coordinated campaign is a project of the state party to register, identify, and turn out voters on behalf of the entire Democratic ticket, including federal, state, and local candidates. The purpose is to increase turnout of Democratic voters for the benefit of all the party’s candidates, whether for state, local, or federal office. Typically, the various state parties draft a coordinated campaign plan, which is then approved by the political staff at the DNC. The DNC’s outside political consultants and donors to the coordinated campaign, such as labor unions and other interest groups, also sometimes review the coordinated campaign plan. State parties often hire campaign consultants, such as direct mail and phone bank specialists, to assist in the coordinated campaign. Direct mail consultants design mailings and then mail them to voters or prepare them for processing by volunteers. Phone bank consultants often organize and hire staff to run phone banks themselves, or they set up phone banks for Democratic Party volunteers. Sometimes the DNC provides recommendations to the state parties about which vendors to use, and sometimes the DNC endeavors to assist the state parties in negotiating contracts with these vendors. A coordinated campaign is financed with a combination of funds raised by the party itself and funds contributed to the state party by various national party committees, including the DNC; by candidate committees; and, as permitted by and pursuant to applicable state law, by individuals and entities such as labor organizations, corporations, state-registered political committees, and other organizations. These funds are then spent for the operating expenses of the coordinated campaign (staff, rent, and 122 03 1583-8 part1b 3/25/03 12:00 PM Page 122 the like) and for the costs of voter contact activities such as literature distributed by volunteers or paid workers, telephone banks, slate cards, and mailings. Federal, state, and local candidates participate in the design and operation and, in some cases, the funding of the coordinated campaign. Candidates may participate because of their leadership roles in the party within the state or because they are running for office and will thus benefit from the coordinated campaign activities that assist their own campaign and the entire ticket. Sometimes these candidates contribute their own campaign funds from their authorized committees to the coordinated campaign, but more frequently the candidates ask donors to contribute funds directly to the coordinated campaign in both federal and nonfederal funds. If a participant in the coordinated campaign committee for a state, including the DNC, is responsible for a donation by a donor to the coordinated campaign, that donation is credited against the participant’s funding commitment to the coordinated campaign. The DNC sometimes asks donors to give funds directly to state parties as part of an effort to fund fully as many coordinated campaigns as possible. For example, the DNC may ask a donor to contribute to one particular state’s coordinated campaign . If the donor agrees, DNC staff normally contact the state party staff to tell them that a donation is coming, and that this donation should be credited toward the DNC’s commitment to help fund the coordinated campaign. Sometimes DNC staff finds it hard to persuade donors to give to coordinated campaigns since they are run by state parties. We then try to convince the donors that it is important to win at all levels of the ticket and remind them that their contribution will help federal as well as state candidates . The candidates who raised money from donors—or had money raised on their behalf—to help complete their coordinated campaign commitment are aware when those donations come in or are made. The DNC helps develop the coordinated campaign in a state and provides money, advice, and technical assistance. The DNC also helps with recruitment and training of staff and workers. The DNC decides which coordinated campaigns to invest in on the basis of whether there are competitive federal and state elections in that state...

Share