MEMO
from NRCC
TO:
INTERESTED PARTIES
FROM: NRCC COMMUNICATIONS
DATE: NOVEMBER 3, 2010
SUBJECT: LOOKING BACK AT THE 2010 CYCLE
The message sent by the American people last night was the
response to nearly 22 months of a reckless, job-killing spending agenda
on the part of House Democrats as the economy suffered under their
watch. While it was Democrats that created the political
environment that eventually became their downfall, it was House
Republicans that defined that agenda from the very beginning and
provided the resources needed to achieve our goal of retiring Nancy
Pelosi.
As the Washington Post recently noted: “at the start of the 2010
campaign, House Democrats' 39-seat majority seemed
insurmountable.” Knowing this, House Republicans moved forward
with a significant effort to ensure that we had enough resources and
candidates in place so that – if the political environment were to
change – we would be in a position for victory.
Doing so would require us to build a political organization to provide
Republican candidates with the resources necessary to gain the
majority. The first step in that process was to expand the
playing field of qualified and competent candidates, helping them build
strong campaigns, and putting them in a position for victory. We
had to improve every campaign that we touched, and we did so with a
team effort.
BUILDING THE NRCC TO WIN
While Democrats were still celebrating President Obama’s historic
electoral victory in January 2009, it was evident that if Republicans
were to win the majority it was going to take a team effort from within
their ranks. With that in mind, Chairman Sessions sought to make the
NRCC more inclusive for the entire House Republican Conference and
enlisted Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) to serve as his Deputy Chairman.
Creating a structure of regional Member teams dedicated to recruitment,
fundraising and incumbent retention, Walden and this team played a
critical role in helping the NRCC take advantage of opportunities
sooner and prevent problems earlier. After making the NRCC more
inclusive for Members, the next step was to develop programs and
projects that would enhance Republican opportunities nationwide.
Among these:
- Young Guns:
Lacking the tools Democrats had at their disposal with control of the
White House and Congress, it was clear early on that Republicans did
not have the luxury of throwing money at candidates this cycle.
In the 2007-2008 election cycle, Reps. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Kevin
McCarthy (R-CA), and Paul Ryan (R-WI) had established the Young
Guns program as a member-driven organization dedicated to electing
open-seat and challenger candidates nationwide. Impressed by
their success, Chairman Sessions decided to incorporate it as the
official candidate recruitment and development program for the NRCC.
A total of 92 candidates reached “Young Gun” status, an indication of
both the expanded playing field and the strength of their campaigns.
- Patriot
Program: Under the leadership of Incumbent Retention Vice
Chair Mike Rogers (MI), the Patriot Program has successfully helped
shore up incumbent members who have committed themselves to meet
rigorous goals to ensure victory. By strengthening
potentially-targeted Members and limiting the amount of vulnerable
ones, Rep. Rogers helped the NRCC widen the playing field and focus its
efforts and resources on Democrat-held seats. The NRCC spent a
total of $11 million on vulnerable incumbents who this year faced
little or no competition for re-election. That money, in turn,
went directly towards Democrat-held seats that helped us earn the
majority.
- Sell the Fight:
Deputy Chair Greg Walden (OR) took the lead in running Sell the Fight,
a project with the objective of reminding friends and allies in the
business community that Republicans were going to earn a majority in
the House. Through a series of meetings with industry trade
groups, presentations by Walden and many House Republican colleagues
resulted in a dramatic shift of PAC money from Democrats to Republican
candidates.
CHANGING MENTALITY AND STRUCTURE
One of the first steps in building a political organization designed to
play offense was to change the mentality and structure of the
NRCC. Knowing that we would be outraised by Democrats for the
cycle, several steps were made to ensure that we would not be outgunned
in terms of staff. Traditionally, the bulk of committee staff is
hired in the election year, with the off year used to build up
resources on a slim budget. Knowing that we did not have the
luxury of allowing Democrats to outgun us in 2009, the NRCC took steps
to strengthen its Communications and Research departments, as well as
establishing a new eCampaign department to improve the capability and
use of new technology.
RECRUITMENT
Under Rep. McCarthy’s leadership as NRCC Vice Chair for Recruitment,
“Young Guns” was built as a program to help candidates meet a series of
goals and benchmarks to help them on the road to victory. To help
convince candidates to run, Rep. McCarthy – along with Chairman
Sessions and Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) – traveled the country to
recruit “community leaders” who had a brand outside of party politics
but were committed to changing the direction of Washington and this
country. After surpassing a goal to recruit 80 candidates in key
races, Leader Boehner set a more ambitious objective of 100. At
the end of the day, McCarthy and the team at the NRCC were able to help
get a Republican on the ballot in 431 of the 435 House congressional
districts.
RESOURCES
Heading into this election cycle, there was never any doubt that
Republicans would be outspent by Democrats on both the local and
national level. The challenge was to ensure that we were
competitive against our counterparts at the DCCC. To start
filling this fundraising gap, NRCC Finance Chair Jeb Hensarling took
the lead on expanding our national network of donors, utilizing Members
and Leadership in regional fundraising events, and employing Republican
allies and surrogates to campaigns nationwide. The results speak
for themselves:
- Member participation was higher than it was in
any previous cycle. We set a goal of $65 million for Members to
meet their cycle assessments. They collectively exceeded that
goal by hitting $70 Million. 106 Members met their full cycle
assessments, with 12 Members raising $1 Million or more.
- Our Battleground Program – led by Rogers,
Hensarling and Royce – had a goal of $20 Million and raised $31.25
Million. 122 Members met their Battleground goals in full, a much
higher percentage than in cycles past.
- We tripled the number of individual $25K+
donors from 2008
- We had our highest month in fundraising on
record.
- We held 75 Regional Events in 2010.
RETIREMENT STRATEGY
The NRCC understood firsthand that, in order to make a good election
cycle a great one, Republicans needed to force more open seat
opportunities in Democrat-held seats. To do so, NRCC
Communications developed a retirement strategy to put pressure on
senior Democrat lawmakers who might consider throwing in the
towel. Rep. Dennis Moore’s (KS-03) announcement in December 2009
set off a string of retirements in the months to follow; including John
Tanner (TN-08), Brian Baird (WA-03), and Bart Gordon (TN-06) in
December. In all, Republicans claimed victories last night in all
13 of these competitive Democrat-held open seats.
EMBRACING THE MOVEMENT
The townhall protests that erupted in August 2009 provided the first
visible signs of the anger and frustration that Americans of all
political parties were feeling. While Speaker Pelosi and other
Democrat leaders criticized these citizens as “un-American,” the NRCC
embraced the movement and highlighted the rude awakening that
vulnerable Democrats were receiving with daily emails entitled “Recess
Roastings.” Events held by Reps. Baron Hill (IN-09), Steve
Driehaus (OH-01) and others became instant YouTube sensations and were
proof that Democrats had a much bigger problem on their hands than they
originally expected.
SPENDING STRATEGY: EXPANDING THE
PLAYING FIELD
The NRCC spent a total of $54 million in 90 congressional
districts. While that figure is a significant increase from last
election cycle, the more important fact is not what we spent but how we spent it. It
was always expected that Republicans would have fewer financial
resources than Democrats this cycle, but we were able to make up for it
with a significantly wiser spending strategy. By investing
resources early in key races that expanded the playing field, we forced
the Democrats into a game of “Whac-a-Mole” that required them to
constantly play defense in an unsuccessful effort to stop the
bleeding. Here’s how political observers viewed it:
- The NRCC’s
“Moneyball Strategy”: “It
appears the NRCC has Michael Lewis' ‘Moneyball’ in its library. The
book - a must-read for sports fans - discusses how the Oakland
Athletics and general manager Billy Beane skillfully utilized limited
funds to yield maximum results from their team. The NRCC is using
a similar strategy for their television ad buys this year….Looking more
deeply into those districts, it's clear that the NRCC is looking to
stretch their dollars.” (Jeremy Jacobs, “The NRCC's Moneyball
Strategy,” Hotline On Call,
08/17/10)
- The NRCC “Won
Their Bet”: “The National
Republican Congressional Committee…adopted a reasonable but risky
strategy, which proved effective. Those strategists decided to spend
their limited financial resources early and in some not-so-obvious
cheap media markets, hoping to put more seats into play and generate
momentum for the cycle….they bet that increased opportunities would
encourage a more aggressive approach by ‘outside’ Republican-leaning
groups, some of which seemed more focused on Senate races. They
have won their bet.” (Stuart Rothenberg, “Big Gulf Between Parties on
Spending Strategies,” CQ-Roll Call,
10/27/10)
REAL WORK BEGINS
While many deserve credit for this victory, the American people proved
once again that they control the levers of power in this
government. For the last two years, Democrats failed to recognize
that there is a difference between campaigning and governing.
Republicans have listened carefully to the public’s outcry and now
accept the responsibility that comes when voters entrust a party to
govern according to the will of the people. We are proud to stand with
the American people as they send a message to Washington by taking the
Speaker’s gavel away from Nancy Pelosi. Now the real work
begins.
###