Another week of the Democratic primary is over. As of today, only 107 campaigning days remain before the Virginia primaries on June 13, 2006. The Senate race remains our primary focus: the race between Harris Miller, a Northern Virginia businessman and James Webb, attorney, author of several best-selling books and decorated veteran of service in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War.Harris Miller continues to lengthen his head start in this campaign. Miller's staffers are settling into their roles and his campaign seems to have ironed out most of the purely organiational wrinkles that face any enterprise at its outset. Miller spoke at several venues around the commonwealth this week and has been able to announce a week's worth of appearances a week in advance; a key factor if you actually want anyone to show up for your campaign events.
Miller's staff consists of experienced, energetic, young, paid professionals and they are acting like it: they are building a campaign on the fly and establishing a fast-paced operational rhythm.
In the other corner is the campaign of James Webb, a corner that remained largely dark and quiet this week. The only "official" Webb campaign action I've been able to discover is the beginning of petition drives to collect the signatures necessary to place Webb's name on the ballot. There has been plenty of "unofficial" activity from the campaign, all of it web-related (no
pun intended).
Rumors abound, spread by bloggers claiming some degree of familiarity with the Webb campaign. Many of the rumors relate to the identity of Webb's campaign manager and other key staffers. We are told they are "exceptional" and will "blow eveyone away," but the "official" campaign still remains dark and silent. Other "unofficial" initiatives included the estabishment of a James Webb Yahoo group and the morphing of the "Draft James Webb" website into a, you guessed it, "unofficial" campaign blog. Like endlessly striking a cigarette lighter that is out of fluid, these "unofficial" campaign efforts generate sparks without kindling a flame.
Obvious opportunities to generate publicity are being overlooked or neglected. Over two weeks ago we were told that Webb was undergoing surgery on his hand and that this was the reason he had to miss the party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. Why hasn't the Webb campaign issued an official press release notifying the public of the results of the operation? Such a press release would merit a mention in the mainstream media and would help generate both sympathy and the name recognition Webb will need to win both the primary and general elections.
Are publicity opportunities being overlooked, or has the Webb campaign adopted some kind of policy of secrecy? Such a policy could be counter-productive. In a military campaign secrecy is very important. In a political campaign an excess of secrecy can rob the candidate of something he needs to succeed: publicity. Moreover, a strict policy of secrecy forces staff to focus on not communicating at the precise moment when they should be focused on communicating as much as possible about the candidate.
Two final observations are suggested by my readings in Webb's book "Born Fighting." I'm not going to review the book here; I'm nearly finished with it though, and I will review it soon. Here are my two observations:
First, let me say that if Webb's staff is thinking they can better capitalize on Webb's Scots-Irish heritage by waiting until St. Patrick's Day to kick off his campaign, then this race is probably already over. Miller's campaign will have already nailed down most of the inside party support by then: this isn't a general election. The people who vote on June 13th will by and large be established rank and file Democrats with only a sprinkling of new blood. In contending for these voters Webb is already several steps behind Miller.Second, it seems to me that Mr. Webb is extremely proud of the military accomplishments of his Scots-Irish ancestors, and rightly so. Some of that energy can be directly translated into running a political campaign, but I would be remiss if I did not point out that the Scots-Irish military tradition in America contains both positive and negatives examples of what a campaign should be. Webb needs to decide soon who the model for his campaign will be: Will it be Thomas ?Stonewall? Jackson, a general who used speed, improvisation, and bold action to make up for a lack of material and numbers? Or will he pattern his efforts after another Scots-Irish general, George McClellan, a man who husbanded his already superior forces and refused to act until he was assured of victory; refused to act until his chance for victory had in fact passed?
Sometimes the best way to get a campaign moving is to, well, get it moving. If Webb's campaign staff is really exceptional, they know this. If they aren't exceptional, they'll waste another week trying to forge a mythical "perfect campaign."
On the other hand, if Webb's candidacy was nothing more than a ploy on the part of certain members of the Virginia Party, intended only to force Miller's campaign to get organized and aggressive as early as possible, then Steve Jarding and Mudcat Saunders have succeeded brilliantly.
Oh Mr Webb, come out now from the depths of silence. Your troops are awaiting the battle cry.
When sen(Josh - 4/4/2006 11:33:07 PM)
When senior officers are angry and insubordinate, and on encountering the enemy rush into battle with no understanding of the feasibility of engaging and without awaiting orders from the commander, the army is in a state of collapse. Sun Tzu
We're in this to win, folks.
Eyes on the prize.
'Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.
JC's stuff on Jackson and McClellan is a good metaphor. I love what JC writes, and he's definately nailed the week.
Week 3 will read something like: James Webb finally came out with solid people and strong positions. People are waking up to him, but he's still got ground to make up.
Week 4 will read something like this: remember a couple weeks ago when I was wondering what would happen with the Webb campaign? We were waiting, but Webb is the MAN and it was worth the wait.
There's too much solid support around James Webb right now for him not to be moving mountains behind the scenes right now.
Miller's doing a great job organizing, but remember, right now that may be his only advantage. If it takes a few more days to eliminate that advantage, primary voters will overwhelmingly choose Webb over Miller, because he's simply the better candidate.