American Reform Party Presidential Strategy: U. S. Senate, Public Relations Approach

The Public Relations Stable

We need to be able to build up significant political momentum and support for our candidates over the next two years. I suggest we form what I would call our Public Relations Stable. I understand, for example, that Governor Lamm may be willing to participate in some sort of public display affirming his support for the goals of ARP. Our first action should be to form a distinguished group of such public servants whose primary function would be to campaign for the ARP platform and ARP candidates. I suggest Governor Lamm can assist by helping us to recruit for this purpose from such groups as the Gang of Eight and the Concord Coalition. There are several such people. In my opinion, the most valuable persons to be targeted for recruitment, in alphabetical order, are John Anderson, David Boren, John Danforth, Mark Hatfield, Nancy Kassebaum, Angus King, Sam Nunn, Tim Penny, Warren Rudman, Paul Simon, Al Simpson, Linda Smith, Lowell Weicker, Bill Weld, and Ed Zschau.

In order for such a group to do us some good, they could initially do some appearances on Inside Politics, on Meet the Press, be the headline on PBS' Washington Week in Review, show up at a news conference covered by C-Span, make an appearance at the National Press Club, etc. etc. as a means of revving up support for ARP and her candidates. That might favorably impact our level of credibility with the media and those around the country who follow politics closely. But that still might not have much effect on the level of support for ARP in the public as a whole; political junkies are a small minority of our electorate after all. No, our Public Relations Stable must find a hook, a gimmick, that will catch the media's and the public's attention, and thus, hopefully, their imagination.

There are several options we could explore in order to accomplish this. My first choice would be that THE ENTIRE GROUP announce late this year or early next year that they will run for various public offices around the country, possibly in conjunction with Lowell Weicker's announcement of presidential candidacy. I suggest matchups such as the following might be appropriate:

Tim Penny to run against Senator Rod Grams(R)MN(49% in his last race) in '00

Warren Rudman to run for Senator Bob Smith's seat there in '02

Ed Zschau to run against Senator Feinstein's vacant Senate seat in '00 should she choose to move on to other pastures

etc. etc.

I would go so far as to suggest that two of the above races would serve to strengthen significantly the visibility and credibility of ARP. Those pivotal races, in my opinion, are:

1: The Minnesota Senate seat which is up in '00. Minnesota is a state where support for third party and/or independent candidates, Presidential and otherwise, has been higher than the national average. The incumbent Senator who is up that year, Rod Grams, is someone totally inimical to ARP's aims and goals. Moreover, he is weak politically. He won by only 49% in his last time at bat, and is therefore a logical target for ARP. And what better challenger than Tim Penny, former Representative, who is not only right on issues of political and fiscal reform, but already has a history of sympathy with the former group Richard Lamm also formed, the Gang of Eight?

2: New Hampshire's other Senator, Bob Smith, is threatening to run as a third-party candidate for President in '00, leaving his Republican credentials up for grabs in '02! So, Rudman has an opportunty then, an opportunity of which he should avail himself.

As a matter of fact, I do not believe it is outside of the realm of possibility for some of these other more public relations-oriented candidacies to succeed as well.
For example, the last time Ed Zschau ran for Senate in California he came within less than one percentage point of defeating Alan Cranston. He is a formidable fundraiser, and, whether against Boxer, who won by only 48% in her last race, or for an open seat, I believe he has a good chance of catching fire and bringing home the gold. There is currently a California law prohibiting folks registered with the Republicrats from running as a candidate for a third party. This law blatantly violates the constitutional protection of the right of free association. I suggest that Ed Zschau, or whichever distinguished figure ARP chooses to run for this Senate seat, simply dare the state to try to bounce him from the race; I believe such an attempt should be challenged all the way to the Supreme Court; I am sure the ARP will ultimately prevail in the Court on this point.

I AM assuming that a sufficient number of those listed above, plus others of whom I have not thought, will participate in such public relations candidacies, -- a sufficient number to take our lesser known candidates over the top in such critical races as Utah and Alaska.

In connection with the public relations candidacies hook or gimmick, I would suggest that if we select that option then the candidacies be presented en bloc at some sort of dramatic occasion at some point during this year. I would also suggest that ALL of these candidates, not just those running in '00 but also those running in '02 and '04, be presented at that time. Ours is an uphill battle, and the more lead time and campaign time we get the better. Ideally, at this occasion, some of our better known serious, not just public relations, candidacies, such as high-profile House candidates like Jim Bunn in Oregon, Bill Orton in Utah, Orson Swindle in Hawaii, and John Devens in Alaska, should also be present. Hopefully they will pick up some coat-tails from their more illustrious comrades.

Well, that's hook/gimmick number one. Now let's look at hook/gimmick number two, which should be viewed as an addition to, not a substitute for, hook/gimmick number one.

Perhaps this group should form itself into a sort of shadow government leadership team. One obvious choice would be Al Simpson for Speaker of the House and John McKernan as House Majority Leader. Mark Hatfield, Nancy Kassebaum, Sam Nunn, and Warren Rudman were all widely respected Senators, and they would all be logical candidates for Majority Leader.

And, finally, the third hook/gimmick to be added to this mix would be to include several incumbent Representatives in the travelling road show. You see, I believe there are Representatives in the House who could be persuaded to jump ship and endorse the ARP Presidential ticket in '04 and even '00 if the political circumstances in their own district are sufficiently propitious; I call these Representatives our potential Trojan horses, folks who might join us if they believe that the ARP endorsement might make the difference for them in a tight election in their state or their district. The potential Trojan horses we have in the House strategy who perhaps should be included in the road show, in my opinion, are, from Connecticut, Chris Shays(R), James Maloney(D) and Nancy Johnson(R), from Delaware, Mike Castle(R), from Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie(D), from Maine, John Elias Baldacci(D), from Minnesota, David Minge(D), Bill Luther(D), and Bruce Vento(D), from New Hampshire, Charles F. Bass (R), from New Jersey, Rob Andrews (D), Marge Roukema (R), and Bob Franks(R), from North Dakota, Earl Pomeroy (D), from Oregon, Peter A. DeFazio(D), from Washington, Brian Baird(D), and Adam Smith(D), and, from Wisconsin, Ron Kind(D) and Tom Barrett(R).

That concludes the first step in the ARP proposed strategy. We now proceed to the next step which is the campaign for a sufficient number of House and Senate seats to create a coalition in the House of Representatives and the Senate large enough to hold the balance of power and to prevent the Republicrats from having an effective majority.

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