The Republican Party and it’s Conservative PAC allies spent close to 1 billion dollars in the past election. Looking at the results, it was a total waste of money. The Obama campaign dictated the terms of the election and ran circles around the GOP. He was able to do this because of the Media-Entertainment Industrial Complex. This is what Conservative donors should focus on. Buying media and entertainment outlets to start leveling the playing field.
Mitt Romney and the GOP lost, but it wasn’t for lack of money. They spent a lot; they just didn’t get enough bang for the buck.
Billionaire Sheldon Adelson alone donated $150 million. But Romney lost anyway, especially among unmarried women.
Which is why I think that rich people wanting to support the Republican Party might want to direct their money somewhere besides TV ads that copy, poorly, what Lee Atwater did decades ago.
My suggestion: Buy some women’s magazines. No, really. Or at least some women’s Web sites.
One of the groups with whom Romney did worst was female “low-information voters.” Those are women who don’t really follow politics, and vote based on a vague sense of who’s mean and who’s nice, who’s cool and who’s uncool.
Since, by definition, they don’t pay much attention to political news, they get this sense from what they do read. And for many, that’s traditional women’s magazines — Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, the Ladies Home Journal, etc. — and the newer women’s sites like YourTango, The Frisky, Yahoo! Shine, and the like.The thing is, those magazines and Web sites see themselves, pretty consciously, as a propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. So while nine out of 10 articles may be the usual stuff on sex, diet and shopping, the 10th will always be either soft p.r. for the Democrats or soft — or sometimes not-so-soft — hits on Republicans.
The loser Karl Rove’s Super PAC spent 300 million. If they had invested 100 Million of that on buying magazines and TV outlets, it would have been more cost effective. Republicans need to start buying up parts of the Media-Entertainment Industrial complex to get their message out.
Another tactic Republicans need to do is put out a positive message. Right now Republicans just like to whine and complain. Very rarely do they say what they are for. Many of the GOP are dismissive of groups that do not vote for them. This is a recipe for continual defeat. What is needed is building up infrastructure and a positive vision for the future. Personally, I am not optimistic if this can be done in time for 2016.
(Hat Tip: Eaglesoars)
In a more important matter, what do people think of the current NFL playoff scenario?
