No matter what kind of political campaign it is, one of the first things savvy politicos do when beginning a run for a seat is determine their viability. Once viability is established, candidates and their inner circle try to draw out a map that leads to a victory. That usually consists of several key discussions like money, support base, volunteers, money, the demographics of the district, timing, the competition, strengths, weaknesses, issues, money, media, and the overall political big picture.
Did I mention money?
Campaigns aren't free. It costs money to reach constituents so you want to make sure you maximize each and every effort. You do this by having a message, or more accurately, a brand.
Think of political campaigns like purchasing any other product. Contrary to what you might think, you aren't buying a product, you are buying a brand. You are buying the prestige, quality, reputation, efficiency, etc. that the marketers of that product have convinced you exists.
I used to bartend, so I'll use vodka as an example of what I mean. In order for it to be classified as a vodka, it has to be three things: odorless, colorless, and tasteless. So if all vodkas are odorless, tasteless, and colorless, what is there to market to a customer?
The bottle and distillation process. Distillation is sort of a pointless marketing ploy because no matter how many times its distilled, it's still odorless, tasteless, and colorless. So it essentially boils down to marketing a bottle. (I know, I know, there are now flavored vodkas that go in foo-foo drinks, but work with me here.)
You can never tell a vodka drinker that it doesn't have a taste, but there's a reason it's the base liquor of most cocktails. It mixes well with everything because there is no taste! Think about it, if a drink has scotch or tequila in it, you'll know right away.
But people will pay more than $100 a bottle essentially for the way purchasing an expensive vodka makes people feel. That's how most products are sold.
The same holds true for political candidates.
Candidates have to sell you their brand, it doesn't have to be true, you just have to buy it. It's not like you can get a refund on your vote. You'll have to wait a few years to have another swing at the plate to do that.
In last year's Presidential Election there was a choice between two brands, Change and America First. We all know how that one turned out. America First was a failed brand because it echoed of the status quo and missed the mark when it came to what the American voter was looking for at the time. Conversely, Change resonated well because people didn't like the current course of the Ship of State.
In the District Four race for City Council there is yet another example of selling a brand. City Rep. Melina Castro is currently executing a pretty smart campaign branding tactic. She is selling the “Independent Voice” product to voters. Not only is she selling her own brand, she's doing a brilliant job of marketing her opponent to voters on her terms.
Here's what she's doing.
Castro is repeating her message repeatedly to voters in every stump speech, home visit, and media opportunity. She's positioning herself as an “independent voice” to Northeast voters. This message resonates very well with the Northeast because many already feel like the red-headed step child of El Paso. This message speaks to the “us v. them” sentiment and would make undecided voters sympathetic to her message.
The true brilliance of Castro's branding campaign is how she's positioning Robinson, who appears completely oblivious to what she is doing. Castro is painting Robinson as a “rubber stamp” for the mayor and easily “controlled” by the current majority on council, aka, the Progressives.
Castro isn't running against Robinson's record, she's running against the record of her political foes while minimizing her opponent to the point where he's almost an after thought. Absolutely brilliant move.
Here's the spot where the message gets stuck. She has a conflicting message that she also sends out, that of fiscal conservative. The sentiment in the Northeast is that they don't get their fair share of things in this town. Well if you are a fiscal conservative, you are inclined to say no to a lot of things, as she has in the past, and that means saying no to things in your own district, as she's done in the past.
As I mentioned before, the message doesn't have to be true, voters just have to buy it. There is very little about Castro's record that is independent. It's not like she's the lone voice against particular issues before council. She's one of the conservatives on council, along with city Reps. Eddie Holguin and Rachel Quintana. When they dig their heels in, its the three of them together and she's almost never alone in a vote unless Holguin and Quintana aren't there.
She's pumping in a boat load of money in to the race with the purchase of billboards, radio ads, and television ads and dropped $30k at a city council meeting a few weeks ago. She's not independently wealthy, so the money is coming from somewhere (although as you'll see below, she finally answered the question as to where). It's tough to be truly “independent” when you have that much money coming into your campaign.
But again, that's the brilliance of her branding.
“Independent voice” can mean a lot of things and can't necessarily be disproved, no matter how difficult it may seem to buy the sentiment.
That's also the brilliance of her branding campaign of Robinson. There is absolutely no evidence what so ever that says that Robinson will be a “rubber stamp” for the mayor, nor easily “controlled” by the Progressives. But she doesn't have to prove or disprove the sentiment, she just has to repeat it over and over. Then other people will repeat it and the next thing you know, it's the commonly held belief.
Like I said, brilliant.
Two False Debates
Castro and Robinson debated on ABC 7 Xtra Sunday night and it was pretty interesting, especially given the fact that she may have finally addressed the subject of where the $30k came from. When asked about the $30K Castro replied that the money came "from my personal funds."
I took two things away from that debate, Robinson is in no shortage of confidence, and Castro is ready for a fight.
Castro was in the position where she had to go to the debate because she spent so much time talking about Robinson not showing up to a debate earlier in the week that not showing up to a debate with a bigger audience would have been disastrous.
But both candidates wasted some valuable airtime participating in two debates that mean absolutely nothing.
The appeal and the Devil's Triangle location.
Newsflash people, no one outside the Northeast cares whether the mystic Devil's Triangle location is in District 2 or 4. A lot of Westsiders probably think its a place where their GPS system goes haywire. I have no idea why so many people fight about whose district it's in but it's a bone of contention for all them. Even if it's not in your district, it's close enough to care about and people probably drive through it when they leave their homes to go to the mall or hospital that also isn't in your district.
The other pointless debate was Castro's appeal and whether or not she “owed” the money. Once she made it rain on Richarda Momsen's desk with the $30K, the debate of whether or not the money was “owed” was over. The whole immature did-not-did-too moment was frustrating to watch.
If Carl Robinson has any desire to win, he has to go after Castro harder. He needs to stop being afraid that she'll play the pobresita like she did with the mayor's email. He needs to highlight vulnerable parts of her record and draw sharp contrasts. He needs to do a much better job of reaching out to the voters that voted for the other candidates in the race to get their support.
For Castro, all she has to do is keep doing what she is doing. She can afford a fiscal war of attrition because she has a much bigger campaign war chest to work with. Her strategy has been brilliant and she may be in the lead at this point.
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Abeytia writes theLionstar blog and is a political animal who spends way too much time traveling the wilds of El Paso politics. Reach him at lionstar@thelionstarblog.com.
