Frank knows his poop. And his press.
In my immediately previous post, you will recall I was mocking State Senator Frank Kloucek for his idea of checking the stinkiness of farms.
Afterwards I was lamenting to my wife, MP, that I had writers' block on what political topic I could ponder in more depth. A quick one off topic takes me about 5 minutes, but I needed something more substantive because I haven't done something in a couple days, and I would hate to be accused of ignoring my blog.
It must be the job hunt in Brookings/Sioux Falls. I hate job hunting. Almost as bad as I'll hate commuting to my new house in Brookings from Pierre every weekend. So, the job hunt drags on. (If anyone is hiring in the areas of association work, insurance compliance, or political stuff, you know where to find me.)
Anyway, my wife points out that I had an excellent post started on the Kloucek poop smell thing. "Huh? What do you mean?" I asked. She pointed out that the only reason Frank was doing it was to get his name in the paper, keeping his name ID up. (I knew I married someone as cynical as myself for a reason).
MP is 100% correct, too. No matter how utterly (or udderly in this case) ridiculous what Frank was doing, it wasn't stupid of him to do so. In fact, as a legislator who wants to continue to hold office, it shows #1 - he cares about the complaints of his constituents, and #2 - he's doing SOMETHING. And #3 - it got his name in the newspaper. Again.
I'm not going to debate the merits or smells of large dairy farms, etc. Livestock Farms have had their own particular odor since animals have been domesticated, and people have complained about the smells ever since (Didn't one of Hammurabi's laws deal with the smells of large hog confinements?) and not much is going to change that.
But the genius here is that here's a situation where despite the fact little or nothing is going to be done, Frank is gettting the press for doing something. It shows him as active in the issue for his constituents, and best of all, it helps keep his name ID at a very high level. Love him or hate him, Frank Kloucek is a master of getting his name in print. And I've said before, Name ID is the largest challenge that politicians face.
Want to challenge Frank in his home district? Lots of luck. As goofy as he might seem at times, he's crazy like a fox. I've had more than one person who lived in that area who noted that Frank has been a student of the political process since his youth. He is a master at local publicity. His name is in the papers in his area nearly every week, talking about agriculture or legislation, or something. With a strategy like that, he's nearly impossible to beat because you'd have to match his name ID just to start.
I'm told Frank goes to every wedding, every funeral, and he is everywhere in his district. The campaign to him is not just during the even numbered years - its every day of every year. You would have to be a significant local name in that area to do it. And that still might not be enough.
Ok, some of you Republicans out there might be saying, "yeah, right, PP. You don't know what you're talking about. I could beat him." Go ahead. Be my guest.
I can say it, because I've gone up against him twice and lost both times. The first time was assisting the local candidate on behalf of the state GOP. The second time I was hired directly by a candidate who was going to take him on.
In that instance, a former legislator who Frank had beaten before sought my assistance with his latest attempt. My advice? I said "Frank has beaten you once or twice before. If you want to stand a chance at winning, we have to pull out all the stops. We have to spend the money, and we have to show why you are better than Frank."
And we did those things. I did tons of research on his background and voting record before the days where it was all computerized. We advertised, we did direct mail, we did tabloids (a good post for another day), we did postcards, we did precinct door-to-door, we did everything, and we hammered Frank. We literally took the campaign to his doorstep and just pounded on the areas where he differed from my guy. No quarter was asked, and none was given.
(And Dems, don't start on the negative campaigning thing. What we did in this race was the same thing Rick Hauffe did to our guys in the legislative elections, and it's what got you the Senate majority for a while.)
By the end of the campaign, Frank was actually starting to turn down speaking invitations and debates against my guy because he had grown weary of the battle. I honest to god thought we might win it. The weekend before the election, my guy had 2 hours unfettered on the Radio because Frank was a no show for a radio debate. Then election day came around. And despite all our efforts, we lost. We just could not pierce that shield and slay the electoral dragon that is Frank Kloucek.
You can have the best candidate on the best day. And if they're starting to run for office in September against someone who's name ID has been in the 90th percentile for nearly a decade, they have a long, painful road ahead.
What lessons have I learned from running campaigns in South Dakota? It's like the Jim Croce song..... "You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't run as a Republican in District 15, and you don't mess around with Frank."
Afterwards I was lamenting to my wife, MP, that I had writers' block on what political topic I could ponder in more depth. A quick one off topic takes me about 5 minutes, but I needed something more substantive because I haven't done something in a couple days, and I would hate to be accused of ignoring my blog.
It must be the job hunt in Brookings/Sioux Falls. I hate job hunting. Almost as bad as I'll hate commuting to my new house in Brookings from Pierre every weekend. So, the job hunt drags on. (If anyone is hiring in the areas of association work, insurance compliance, or political stuff, you know where to find me.)
Anyway, my wife points out that I had an excellent post started on the Kloucek poop smell thing. "Huh? What do you mean?" I asked. She pointed out that the only reason Frank was doing it was to get his name in the paper, keeping his name ID up. (I knew I married someone as cynical as myself for a reason).
MP is 100% correct, too. No matter how utterly (or udderly in this case) ridiculous what Frank was doing, it wasn't stupid of him to do so. In fact, as a legislator who wants to continue to hold office, it shows #1 - he cares about the complaints of his constituents, and #2 - he's doing SOMETHING. And #3 - it got his name in the newspaper. Again.
I'm not going to debate the merits or smells of large dairy farms, etc. Livestock Farms have had their own particular odor since animals have been domesticated, and people have complained about the smells ever since (Didn't one of Hammurabi's laws deal with the smells of large hog confinements?) and not much is going to change that.
But the genius here is that here's a situation where despite the fact little or nothing is going to be done, Frank is gettting the press for doing something. It shows him as active in the issue for his constituents, and best of all, it helps keep his name ID at a very high level. Love him or hate him, Frank Kloucek is a master of getting his name in print. And I've said before, Name ID is the largest challenge that politicians face.
Want to challenge Frank in his home district? Lots of luck. As goofy as he might seem at times, he's crazy like a fox. I've had more than one person who lived in that area who noted that Frank has been a student of the political process since his youth. He is a master at local publicity. His name is in the papers in his area nearly every week, talking about agriculture or legislation, or something. With a strategy like that, he's nearly impossible to beat because you'd have to match his name ID just to start.
I'm told Frank goes to every wedding, every funeral, and he is everywhere in his district. The campaign to him is not just during the even numbered years - its every day of every year. You would have to be a significant local name in that area to do it. And that still might not be enough.
Ok, some of you Republicans out there might be saying, "yeah, right, PP. You don't know what you're talking about. I could beat him." Go ahead. Be my guest.
I can say it, because I've gone up against him twice and lost both times. The first time was assisting the local candidate on behalf of the state GOP. The second time I was hired directly by a candidate who was going to take him on.
In that instance, a former legislator who Frank had beaten before sought my assistance with his latest attempt. My advice? I said "Frank has beaten you once or twice before. If you want to stand a chance at winning, we have to pull out all the stops. We have to spend the money, and we have to show why you are better than Frank."
And we did those things. I did tons of research on his background and voting record before the days where it was all computerized. We advertised, we did direct mail, we did tabloids (a good post for another day), we did postcards, we did precinct door-to-door, we did everything, and we hammered Frank. We literally took the campaign to his doorstep and just pounded on the areas where he differed from my guy. No quarter was asked, and none was given.
(And Dems, don't start on the negative campaigning thing. What we did in this race was the same thing Rick Hauffe did to our guys in the legislative elections, and it's what got you the Senate majority for a while.)
By the end of the campaign, Frank was actually starting to turn down speaking invitations and debates against my guy because he had grown weary of the battle. I honest to god thought we might win it. The weekend before the election, my guy had 2 hours unfettered on the Radio because Frank was a no show for a radio debate. Then election day came around. And despite all our efforts, we lost. We just could not pierce that shield and slay the electoral dragon that is Frank Kloucek.
You can have the best candidate on the best day. And if they're starting to run for office in September against someone who's name ID has been in the 90th percentile for nearly a decade, they have a long, painful road ahead.
What lessons have I learned from running campaigns in South Dakota? It's like the Jim Croce song..... "You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't run as a Republican in District 15, and you don't mess around with Frank."
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