Campaign Accounting Lecture

===Campaign Budgeting===
Source: Bob Carpenter- VP of American Viewpoint.
===Budget expenses to match the money coming in from fundraising.===
====Overhead====
Rent. If a real estate corp donates an office, it is from a
Corporation, not an individual, even if the individual owns
the company and the office.
Utilities- Phone, heat, gas, cable, internet, water, insurance.
Equipment- computer, TV, fax, copier, VCR, printer, postage meter.
Supplies- paper, ink, pens, envelope, letterhead, business cards, postage stamps.
Staff Salaries- Campaign manager, Treasurer, Financial Director, Press Secretary,
GOTV Director, Field Director, Driver, Scheduler, Researcher.
If they work on a campaign for 18 months, it is hard to
consider them temporary workers. Could give top 3-4 health
insurance form small business health insurance pools.
Overhead includes travel, care and feeding of volunteers.
Fundraising- costs money to raise money.
events- keep costs down.
telemarketing
direct mail.
Research.
Pollster, Lexis, Opposition Research.
Direct mail- design, printing, postage
State and local campaigns can get a headquarters donated.
But the rent would be over $2,000 personal limit?
Use regional foods at events. They are cheap gimmicks.
Reindeer sausage in Alaska, serve the local beer.
Finance Committee- phone calls, leaderhead, meetings, their
own separate fundraising events. All must be put in the
budget.
One on one solicitations by candidate are needed for large
donations.
Collateral includes yard signs, bumper stickers, buttons,
etc.
Opposition research should research your opponent and your
candidate. You should know as much about your candidate as
the opposition does to respond to charges, etc. Includes
bankruptcies, DUI, flunked college history course, etc.
Most state D and R parties have a voter file and phone
banks.
Direct mail includes postage, printing, design, voter file
maintenance, targeted mail.
Contrast ads are not called attack ads anymore. They
compare your position to that of your opponent.
Don't call it a victory party. Call it an election night
party.
Pass out slate cards at the polls. These list all of the
party's candidates on one card.
You could have candidates from many parties on one slate
card. The Responsible Voter slate card is a business.
They may charge senate candidates more money than a congr
candidate per 1,000.
Contact the people who have applied for absentee ballots.
25% of Calif. voters were absentee in 2002.
Media- ad buys - TV, radio, newspapers. includes production
and on-air costs.
Don't forget the weekly papers. They are cheaper. You can
list all of your supporters. Small business owners for
Smith, etc. Don't put them in alphabetical order. Make
them look through the entire list. If you forget someone,
apologize profusely, but ask for another donation to run a
corrected ad next week.
Collateral materials are yard signs, pens, buttons, bumper
stickers, t shirts, hats, brochures. Make sure that it is
100% given out before election day. You could try to sell
yard signs for $10, but you need them on high traffic
corners.
Use lapel stickers instead of buttons. They cost less.
Buttons are used once, then put in a drawer.
Give T-shirts to volunteers. Collect them afterwards then
wash them. Or give them to people who show up for every
rally and event. It is hard to sell campaign materials. If
someone marches 2 hours in a parade for you, don't make them
pay $15 for a shirt. Sell stuff on your web site. Better
to spend money on the media if you can.
Make sure your web sites link to other candidates and to the
state party. Ask for a link to your endorsers' web sites.
Prioritize the line items. They did this as a classroom
exercise with no rigtht answers.
1. media 60%
2. overhead 10%
3. direct mail 8%
4. research 7-8%
5. fundraising 10-12%
6. Collateral 5%
7. misc 5%...............play with numbers until it totals
100%
Rent- sharing headquarters with other candidates or with the
state D or R party. Better to have your own. Your
candidate's supporters may be incompatable with the other
candidates'. Often the Presidential campaign will piggyback
on your state headquarters.. Some economics of scale, but
supporters might not like both candidates. If you use their
headquarters, you should pay some of the rent. But just
having some brochures on the table is an incidental use.
Satellite campaign offices might only be open M,W, F from
10-2pm. How far can they reach- depends on the terrain.
You can often rent a phone and a desk at someone's real
estate office.
State parties often do a coordinated direct mail and slate
card effort for Pres, senate, congress, state rep etc.
Earned media is significant if a celebrity supports your
candidacy.
If the President of the US comes to town, it will probably
be for something official. But your campaign will have to
pay $40-$50,000 for security, trans, room rental, etc. So
tack on a fundraising event and also a lunch with the
President for $2,000. Make money on celebrity events,
including the President.
60-70% of a senate campaign is spent on the media. You must
be on the air. You can't be everywhere. Try to bank some
money for emergencies and for the last three weeks. It is
hard for a corporation to donate food or facilities. A
restaurant owner may be a sole proprietor, which makes it
easier.
PACs can give $5,000 to a candidate? (speaker is not an
attorney).
Gimmicks like campaign pens and mousepads lose money.