Money Memes

Two things we know for sure about money. One, if someone tells you, “It’s not the money, it’s the principle of the thing,” it’s the money.

And two, that $1 million in union money was the reason Adrian Fenty lost the D.C. Mayoral election.

The second meme first appeared in an anonymously-sourced Politico article and was subsequently repeated–well, everywhere. There are a few problems, however. There’s no record yet that union spending even approached the $1 million figure. And even if the figure turns out to be true, Gray was still outspent 2-to-1.

Money is helpful in politics. But ask Meg Whitman whether you can spend yourself into office.

The real benefit that the union endorsements gave to Gray was their door-to-door campaign. Labor unions know exactly how to reach their voters and how to motivate them to get to the polls. A turnout operation is, pun intended,  labor-intensive. (Disclosure: I was the recipient of such a turnout operation myself.)

Fenty, of all people, should know the value of a shoe-leather campaign. In his 2006 race, when he famously knocked on the door of virtually every eligible voter, he also ended up winning every precinct. This year, he didn’t invest nearly the same effort on the doors. (He also reportedly didn’t poll, but that is the subject for another blog post.)

In Virginia, State Senator Chap Petersen knocked off a powerful incumbent in his first run for the House of Delegates. He did it by motivating education-minded parents to go door-to-door talking with their neighbors about the incumbent’s failure to deliver on his education promises. So even though the district had been drawn by the incumbent himself, Petersen won.

The lesson school reformers should take from the Fenty-Gray race is less about the money than the manpower. Reaching voters one-on-one is a time-consuming  job. But it still works.

Tagged as: District of Columbia, Election strategy