Political campaign staff

Last updated

Political campaign staff are the group of people who formulate and implement the strategy of a political campaign. Campaign staffs are generally composed both of unpaid volunteers and paid employees of either the campaign itself or a related political party. The staff may include political consultants who provide advice and assistance to a campaign.

Contents

Structure of a campaign

Campaigns are generally run by a campaign manager who coordinates the campaign and assures that efforts are being focused effectively. [1] [2] In small local campaigns, the campaign manager will often be the only paid staff member and will be responsible for every aspect of the campaign that is not covered by the candidate or volunteers. In larger campaigns, such as a United States presidential campaign, hundreds of staff members will cover the required tasks. While campaign managers are often the lead strategists in local campaigns, in the United States larger campaigns hire consultants to serve as strategists and the campaign manager focuses mostly on coordinating the campaign staff. Campaign managers will often have deputies who oversee various aspects of the campaign at a closer level.

Directly below the campaign manager on the organization chart is the deputy campaign manager and directly below them are department directors who coordinate specific aspects of the campaign. These staff members often have deputies as well.

In some campaigns, an executive chairman of the campaign committee will be appointed. The responsibility of an executive chairman will vary widely by campaign, usually an executive chairman is a consultant on internal matters such as campaign staff appointments and major internal policy.

Below the department level, campaigns vary widely in their structure. On larger campaigns, there will be various coordinators for certain functions within each department. For example, within the fundraising department, there might be a staff member who focuses only on direct mail fundraising.

The foundation of the campaign structure are the interns and volunteers. Their tasks can include addressing envelopes, entering data into databases, and canvassing voters on behalf of the campaign.

Departments and their respective purposes

Operations department

Larger statewide and national campaigns will have operations departments, which is responsible for the internal functions that power a campaign as an organization. While structure varies, the operations department will generally take on human resources and people operations responsibilities, including running payroll; IT and cybersecurity operations, which secure the campaign's electronic systems and ensure their availability for use; financial operations which will track the budget against actual spending and raising; and field operations, which handles the logistics of a larger field program. On some campaigns, including smaller campaigns, these functions are sometimes outsourced to outside vendors to keep overhead low.

Field department

The field department focuses on the "on-the-ground" organizing that is required in order to personally contact voters through canvassing, phone calls, and building local events. Voter contact helps construct and clean the campaign's voter file in order to help better target voter persuasion and identify which voters a campaign most wants to bring out on election day. Field is generally also tasked with running local "storefront" campaign offices as well as organizing phone banks and staging locations for canvasses and other campaign events.

On the statewide level, field departments are generally organized by geography with an overall statewide field director who oversees the efforts of several regional field directors who in turn manage several local offices.

Other field workers below this level include:

In addition to voter persuasion and voter identification, field staff will often provide information for the campaign headquarters as to what is going on in the communities they work in. Field staffers are the primary liaison between the campaign and local influentials such as interest group leaders and prominent community activists. Field departments are also often primarily responsible for the local distribution of "swag" i.e. lawn signs, bumper stickers, buttons, and other such materials.

Communications department

Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc campaign material in Ukraine, August 2007. OU Augustus 2007 277.JPG
Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc campaign material in Ukraine, August 2007.

The communications department oversees both the press relations and advertising involved in promoting the campaign in the media. [1] They are responsible for the campaign's message and image among the electorate. Press releases, advertisements, phone scripts, and other forms of communication must be approved by this department before they can be released to the public. [1] The staffers within this office vary widely from campaign to campaign. However, they generally include:

Political department

Researching and developing a set of policies requires a large team to research and write each plank. Researchers also provide information to the campaign on issues and the backgrounds of candidates (including the candidate they work for) in order to be aware of skeletons in the various candidates' closets. The latter practice is known as opposition research. On smaller campaigns this is often folded into the communications department.

Fundraising (Finance) department

The finance department coordinates the campaign's fundraising operation and ensures that the campaign always has the money it needs to operate effectively. [1] The techniques employed by this campaign vary based on the campaign's needs and size. Small campaigns often involve casual fundraising events and phone calls from the candidate to donors asking for money. Larger campaigns will include everything from high-priced sit-down dinners to e-mail messages to donors asking for money.

The legal department makes sure that the campaign is in compliance with the law and files the appropriate forms with government authorities. In Britain and other Commonwealth countries, such as Canada and India, each campaign must have an official agent, who is legally responsible for the campaign and is obligated to make sure the campaign follows all rules and regulations.

This department will also be responsible for tracking all financial transactions, including bank reconciliations, loans and backup for in-kind donations. They are generally required to keep both paper and electronic files. Small campaigns will often have one person responsible for financial disclosure while larger campaigns will have dozens of lawyers and treasurers making sure that the campaign's activities are legal. After the election, the compliance and legal department must still respond to audit requests and, when required, debt retirement.

Technology department

The technology department designs and maintains campaign technology such as voter file, websites, and social media. While local (county, city, town, or village) campaigns might have volunteers who know how to use computers, state and national campaigns will have information technology professionals across the state or country handling everything from websites to blogs to databases.

Scheduling and advance department

The scheduling and advance department makes sure that the candidate and campaign surrogates are effectively scheduled so as to maximize their influence on voters. This department also oversees the advance people who arrive at events before the candidate to make sure everything is in order. Often, this department will be a part of the field department.

On small campaigns the scheduling coordinator may be responsible for developing and executing events. The scheduling coordinator typically manages the candidate's personal and campaign schedule, field and advance team schedules, and gathers important information about all events the campaign and candidate will attend.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Film crew</span> Group of people involved in some phase of the making of a film

A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film. The crew is also separate from the producers, as the producers are the ones who own a portion of either the film studio or the film's intellectual property rights. A film crew is divided into different departments, each of which specializes in a specific aspect of the production. Film crew positions have evolved over the years, spurred by technological change, but many traditional jobs date from the early 20th century and are common across jurisdictions and filmmaking cultures.

A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of the firm's marketing and sales functions as well as the day-to-day operations of the business. Frequently, the general manager is responsible for effective planning, delegating, coordinating, staffing, organizing, and decision making to attain desirable profit making results for an organization.

A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget and specific requirements of a production as well as whether the production is unionized.

A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. This person usually has the highest level of skill within a specific technical field.

Congressional staff are employees of the United States Congress or individual members of Congress. The position first developed in the late 19th century, and it expanded significantly during the 20th century. Staffers may work with individual members of Congress, or they may be associated with committees or other organizations that support Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Get out the vote</span> Efforts aimed at increasing the voter turnout in elections

"Get out the vote" or "getting out the vote" (GOTV) describes efforts aimed at increasing the voter turnout in elections. In countries that do not have or enforce compulsory voting, voter turnout can be low, sometimes even below a third of the eligible voter pool. GOTV efforts typically attempt to register voters, then get them to vote, by absentee ballot, early voting or election day voting. GOTV is generally not required for elections when there are effective compulsory voting systems in place, other than perhaps to register first time voters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campaign manager</span>

A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote, and other activities supporting the effort, directly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staff (military)</span> Management personnel of a military unit

A military staff or general staff is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military unit in their command and control role through planning, analysis, and information gathering, as well as by relaying, coordinating, and supervising the execution of their plans and orders, especially in case of multiple simultaneous and rapidly changing complex operations. They are organised into functional groups such as administration, logistics, operations, intelligence, training, etc. They provide multi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer, subordinate military units and other stakeholders. A centralised general staff results in tighter top-down control but requires larger staff at headquarters (HQ) and reduces accuracy of orientation of field operations, whereas a decentralised general staff results in enhanced situational focus, personal initiative, speed of localised action, OODA loop, and improved accuracy of orientation.

A residence hall director is college or university employee generally responsible for the management and daily operations of campus residence halls. While the term residence hall director is the common title used for this position in the United States, they are also known at different schools as area coordinators, area directors, hall coordinators, community directors, hall directors, resident or residence directors, resident deans, residence hall coordinators, or residence life coordinators. While different titles are used by different colleges and universities, the positions generally have similar job requirements, dependent upon the size of the institution and scope of the position's overarching department.

Television crew positions are derived from those of film crew, but with several differences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Location scouting</span> Filmmaking and commercial photography production process

Location scouting is a vital process in the pre-production stage of filmmaking and commercial photography. Once scriptwriters, producers or directors have decided what general kind of scenery they require for the various parts of their work shot outside the studio, the search for a suitable place or "location" outside the studio begins. Location scouts also look for generally spectacular or interesting locations beforehand, to have a database of locations in case of requests.

In the cinema of the United States, a unit production manager (UPM) is the Directors Guild of America–approved title for the top below-the-line staff position, responsible for the administration of a feature film or television production. Non-DGA productions might call it the production manager or production supervisor. They work closely with the line producer. Sometimes the line producer is the UPM. A senior producer may assign a UPM more than one production at a time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Victory 2006</span>

Victory 2006 was a joint Get out the vote (GOTV) project between the California Republican Party and Californians for Schwarzenegger, with the intent of re-electing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and electing the entire Republican slate of candidates during the California gubernatorial election, 2006.

A hotel manager, hotelier, or lodging manager is a person who manages the operation of a hotel, motel, resort, or other lodging-related establishment. Management of a hotel operation includes, but is not limited to management of hotel staff, business management, upkeep and sanitary standards of hotel facilities, guest satisfaction and customer service, marketing management, sales management, revenue management, financial accounting, purchasing, and other functions. The title "hotel manager" or "hotelier" often refers to the hotel's general manager who serves as a hotel's head executive, though their duties and responsibilities vary depending on the hotel's size, purpose, and expectations from ownership. The hotel's general manager is often supported by subordinate department managers that are responsible for individual departments and key functions of the hotel operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New South Wales State Emergency Service</span>

The New South Wales State Emergency Service, an agency of the Government of New South Wales, is an emergency and rescue service dedicated to assisting the community in times of natural and man-made disasters. The NSW SES is made up almost entirely of volunteer members, numbering over 10,214 as of July 2021. Members are easily identified by their distinctive orange overalls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Jackson 1988 presidential campaign</span>

The 1988 Jesse Jackson presidential campaign was Jesse Jackson's second campaign for President of the United States. This time, his successes in the past made him a more credible candidate and he was both better financed and better organized. Although most people did not seem to believe he had a serious chance at winning, Jackson once again exceeded expectations as he more than doubled his previous results, prompting R. W. Apple, Jr. of The New York Times to call 1988 "the Year of Jackson".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WCUC-FM</span> Radio station in Clarion, Pennsylvania

91.7 WCUC FM is a fully operational, FCC-licensed, non-commercial educational, student-run radio station under the Department of Communication that is operated with the intention of being a student learning lab for Clarion University of Pennsylvania.

Debbie Willhite is an American Democratic political consultant and activist who has worked on six presidential campaigns, served as Policy Director for the Speaker of the House in Connecticut, and served as the National Coordinated Campaign Director for both the 1992 and 1996 Presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton. In addition, she has worked for every Democratic National Convention from 1980 until 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional Scouter (Boy Scouts of America)</span>

The Boy Scouts of America is an organization run by volunteers, however the day-to-day administration is performed by a staff of professional Scouters. The organization has professional staffing at every level—district, council, regional and national. The Chief Scout Executive is the top professional Scouter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Director (business)</span> Title given to the senior management staff of a large organization

The term director is a title given to the senior management staff of businesses and other large organizations.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "CAMPAIGN ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES." CAMPAIGN ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (n.d.): 1-3. Wellstone. Wellstone. Web. 22 Jan. 2016. <http://www.wellstone.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Campaign-Roles-and-Responsibilities_0.pdf>
  2. 1 2 Garecht, Joe. "5 Team Members Every Campaign Needs." Local Victory. Joe Garecht, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2016. <http://www.localvictory.com/organization/campaignteam.html>.
  3. ↑ "Organizing For Action - Graphic Designer Job Application". Organizing for Action.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.