Karl Rove knows a thing or two about how to manipulate a public spectacle. Let’s see what his advice is for the Democratic contenders:
Rule #1: Control the Convention Mechanism. If you set the rules, decide who votes, organize the event and control what is said, it’s almost impossible to lose. So while Democratic National Committee chief Howard Dean is ostensibly in charge, both candidates would be well advised to gain control of the levers of the convention.
Rule #2: Watch the Platform. Party platforms were once the most important statement of the presidential campaign. No more. But they can still get you in trouble with your own party, or with the public. Put your best policy nerds on this—but make certain they have some charming pols and crafty negotiators along as well. You’ll need to make compromises—sometimes to smooth hurt feelings, as Carter did in the negotiations with the Kennedy forces in 1980, feeling certain changes wouldn’t make a real difference but would help heal deep wounds. Other times, nominees agree to make platform changes because they’ve sewn up the nomination but can’t prevail in this particular fight. This was the case for President Ford in the 1976 GOP battles over the foreign-policy plank.
Rule #3: It’s All About Delegates. Delegates are political junkies. This is their moment in the spotlight. Don’t take them for granted. Make every effort to attend to their every legitimate (and legal) need. By now your campaign should have a massive set of binders with information on every delegate—their birthday, pet peeves, hobbies and interests. If not, get them started.
Rule #4: Have a Strategy to Win. Whatever combination of endorsements, announcements, policy statements and stagecraft you can engineer to create a sense of momentum going into the convention, do it. Nelson Polsby, one of the great scholars of conventions, wrote that delegates “behave in a way that will maximize their political power … Delegates will trade their votes for access to the candidate they think most likely to win nomination.” So create the appearance of a bandwagon for your candidate and invite uncommitted superdelegates to climb aboard.
Rule #5: Focus on Staging. Conventions are elaborate made-for-TV productions. We live in a culture of the visual. Every moment and every event should be scripted. The media will complain about it, but think through what messages you want and when you want them. This script must be visually powerful and interesting enough to keep the cameras on your candidate and not somewhere else. Make the spectacle personal. The Al and Tipper Gore kiss, for instance, did him a lot of good. And be sure to provide fresh content all the time. In the era of cable TV, talk radio, the blogosphere and YouTube, someone is watching and talking all the time. If you’re not pressing content into all available channels, someone else will.
That’s actually pretty good advice.
