I was on Drudge Report the other day and noticed a Hayworth ad at the top of the page. J.D. Hayworth is currently challenging John McCain in the Arizona Republican primary for U.S. Senate. I have seen Hayworth ads before on Drudge, but I realized something that day. I am not in Arizona, nor am I anywhere near Arizona. I currently live in northern Ohio. I cannot vote in the Arizona primary and more than likely I am not going to get around to Arizona to volunteer anytime soon. So why would Hayworth spend time and money advertising out of his district?
There are a several reasons. McCain is known nationally, and there are those living across the country that feel McCain has been letting them down – as a Presidential candidate, Republican, or both. One could write a whole book on his current political situation. The point is, there are those outside his district that would like to replace him with a different type of Republican. So what can an out of district voter do for a candidate?
First is money. Even though I do not live in Arizona, I can still donate to Hayworth’s campaign. Both candidates are raising money in Arizona, but Hayworth is betting he can gain a competitive edge by raising money outside the state. I would be willing to gamble that Hayworth is raising a significant amount of money from ordinary citizens out of state.
Second is publicity. While getting name recognition outside your district may help in future runs that is not the main advantage here for. Hayworth is generating buzz nationally so people nationally are talking about the campaign. This would include not only traditional media sources such as TV and newspapers, but also on blogs, forums, and other social media platforms. In turn, this media reaches voters in Arizona. If voters in Arizona see people outside the state talking about Hayworth, even in a negative context, it will make him look more like a serious challenger since he merits at least mentioning.
While “advertising” can mean a lot of things, I do want to emphasize the power of technology. Candidate could always have advertised out of district with print, radio, or TV ads. However, those are expensive and difficult to gauge their effectiveness. The web makes it easy to scale the management of an ad campaign from your district to the entire world.
Many times advertising out of district only works well for special cases, such as being the party’s last Presidential nominee. However, there are a few cases were candidates launched themselves into national fame first such as Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown. He started off as being completely written off by just about everyone. Furthermore, out of district doesn’t have to mean nationally. It could be the district next to you. Many people live in one district but work in another so they are not only aware of the local politics of both, but also have a tangible stake in the outcome. For example, while living near Cincinnati earlier this year, I frequently saw Rand Paul ads for his Kentucky primary run at the U.S. Senate.
Deciding whether to advertise out of district is more of a general campaign strategy decision. However, candidates should be aware that technology has significantly brought down the cost and effort in doing so. It should be something to at least consider.
The next post will be on June 8th.