Synopses & Reviews
The Campaign Manager is a clear and concise, must-have handbook that is based on the author's three terms as mayor of Ashland, Oregon, and her numerous successes in managing campaigns. Supportive of both candidates and issues, this handbook gives political novices and veterans alike a comprehensive and detailed plan for organizing, funding, and publicizing local political campaigns. Finding the right message and targeting the right voters with it are clearly explained by means of specific examples, anecdotes, and illustrations. Included is in-depth information on assembling campaign teams, precinct analysis, canvassing, and dealing with the media. The Campaign Manager is an encouraging, lucid presentation of how to win elections at the local level. Thoroughly revised and updated, this new edition now covers campaign technology methods in every chapter, and includes expanded material on direct mail, effective yet inexpensive television spots, and how to get the most reach for your campaign dollar. Also included are updates on working vote-by-mail elections for better results, organizing your database for campaign workers and donors, and fighting negative campaigns.
Review
“The fourth edition of
The Campaign Manager still has the useful designs and tools you’ll use every day and enough conceptual guidelines and background to help you invent your own systems when something unpredictable happens. But the elaboration of author Cathy Shaw’s methods for Precinct Analysis, new to this edition, are the crown jewel. Her rigorous model will help you or your staff deliver more actionable and sophisticated planning than most of the hundred-million dollar Presidential campaigns of the last three decades . . . and for a lot less money. No matter how new you are to the game, Shaw will make you smarter. And no matter how experienced you are at it, there are original insights and tools that will build up your effectiveness.” —Jeff Angus, Management consultant and author of
Management by Baseball; former Washington state elections committee chair for the Citizens Party
Praise for Previous Editions
“Practical, witty, and fact-packed, this is the Bible of campaign management.”
—Les AuCoin, Former nine-term U.S. Congressman, Oregon
“This is an important book for anyone interested in modern campaign management. Candidates, party activists, seasoned professionals, and budding consultants will all find wisdom in Shaw’s pages. In fact, I can’t imagine anyone heading into the campaign trenches without a copy of The Campaign Manager!”
—Daniel M. Shea, Director, Center for Political Participation at Allegheny College
“Based on twenty years of experience, Shaw’s Campaign Manager is quite simply the best organizational tool for anyone seeking political office or working on an issue-based campaign.”
—Mara Liasson, National Political Correspondent, NPR
“Catherine M. Shaw’s The Campaign Manager is a comprehensive guide to all aspects of modern campaigns, from strategy to understanding voter contact techniques, to fundraising, paid and earned media, to get-out-the-vote-drives, and other important topics. It gives easy-to-follow practical advice for candidates and campaigners from someone who has held office and who has run many successful elections and issue campaigns. It outlines what is needed to win elections at the local, state and national level.” —James A. Thurber, Distinguished Professor and Director, Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, American University
“This is arguably the most comprehensive, insightful, and useful compendium of local campaign wisdom ever assembled.” —Phil Keisling, former Oregon Secretary of State
Synopsis
A complete, step-by-step success kit for organizing, funding, and publicizing local political campaigns
Synopsis
The complete guide to executing successful local political campaigns, packed with expert insights and updates on current trends
Synopsis
Featuring invaluable insight from an expert author, The Campaign Manager offers the most comprehensive guide for organizing, funding, publicizing, and winning local political campaigns. Author Catherine Shaw draws on experience from her three terms as mayor of Ashland, Oregon, and dozens of campaigns to provide practical, proven advice, and her field-tested methods carry candidates through the entire process. The fourth edition offers expanded coverage of key conceptsincluding targeting voters, evaluating media effectiveness, setting fundraising budgets, using and developing Internet resources, and organizing get-out-the-vote effortsand a new appendix with a step-by-step guide to precinct analysis. Other useful resources include the latest census data reflecting voting and voter shifts over the past six years; and current information on initiative, referendum, and recall requirements. Brimming with clear, concise wisdom, The Campaign Manager is the best way to kick-start a local campaign.
About the Author
Catherine Shaw served twelve years (three terms) as Mayor of Ashland, Oregon, and is currently the Chief of Staff for Oregon State Representative Dr. Alan Bates. She has nearly two decades of campaign management experience and has taught campaign courses at Yale University, the University of California, and Southern Oregon University.