The Tea Party taught the pros in both parties several lessons, including the value of a clear populist message, but the pros have shown the Tea Party a thing or two, also. Decades ago Ray Bliss, Republican National Chairman, preached the importance of "organization," to the point that sound policies and a compelling campaign message were relatively neglected. Regardless, there was no doubt that Bliss' home state of Ohio in those days, and even today, was famous for its GOP organization in depth. This year the Republicans won back control of the governorship, both houses of Ohio's legislature and replaced one Republican senator (Voinovich) with another (Rob Portman), and added four new US House seats.
This year the Republican Party National Committee did much less well in fundraising than did the rival Democrats, and it showed in turnout efforts. In contrast, the NRCC (GOP House campaign committee) did much better than its Democratic counterpart.
Meanwhile, outside conservative groups like American Crossroads were immensely successful in matching overall pro-Democratic spending on ads and internet efforts. Trouble is, TV ads this year went beyond saturation to over-kill. Sometimes the ads piled on top of one another. Yet Republicans paid in places like Nevada and California for lack of year round paid organizational effort.
But in many other urban states, it is the Democrats that are masters of organization. This is largely due to the year-round, union funded political workers and the powerful network of Democrat-leaning foundations, faculty and non-profit groups that come together for elections. In 2008, ninety eight percent of campaign donations from officers of foundations went to Obama over McCain. The single largest source for small donations to Obama came from faculty and staff of the University of California, Berkeley. This linkages are important for fundraising, but also for personal outreach via email, for example.
In Nevada's Senate race yesterday, the public employee unions and the big casinos and their unions were really prepared, and they came through for Sen. Harry Reid. Republican Sharon Angle, oddly, raised plenty of money for ads, but the Republicans were weak on the ground. Illinois is another interesting case. The state is so difficult for Republicans to crack now for statewide and national races because the GOP no longer controls patronage in a state where patronage still pays off at the polls. It seems that this year, as one result, Illinois, though wracked by scandals and damaged bond ratings from over-spending, is going to continue on the same path under Gov. Pat Quinn (though the Republican candidate, Jim Brady is not yet ready to concede).
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