GOP could learn from White's campaign
By PETER UBERTACCIO
May 20, 2009
Cape Cod Times
As national Republicans wonder what to do about their rapidly shrinking party, the name Taylor White is not likely to be on their minds. It should be because he's the real future of the GOP.
At 28, White may seem an unlikely standard bearer for a national party. After all, he was only elected a town clerk May 7 in the small town of Sandwich. He raised only $7,000 for the effort, and garnered 1,343 votes versus 1,177 for his nearest opponent.
But those numbers mask the true importance of his victory. If the GOP wants to regain strength in the Northeast, and it must if it hopes to again become a national party, it must learn these essential facts: most races for public office are nonideological, and organization trumps partisanship.
Town clerk positions are professional, almost technical offices. The large issues that bedevil national parties have little resonance. White ran a campaign based on improvements to the office, better outreach to the local community, and increasing constituent service. His winning message to Cape Cod voters was how to improve government and make it more efficient by treating constituents as customers. That alone should make party leaders in Washington, D.C., take notice.
But the second fact of life at the local level will be much more challenging: organization counts. Republican leaders in Washington will ultimately fail if they cannot build and support local party organizations that field candidates, provide social network opportunities for its members, and guarantee turnout.
White spent the last seven years as the chief of staff to Sandwich's successful and conservative Republican state representative, Jeff Perry. It's important to note that White and Perry work in an amendable climate: 19 percent of Sandwich voters identify as Republican versus 22 percent for Democrats. The statewide figures are nearly 37 percent Democrat, 12 percent Republican.
Still, this is Massachusetts and Perry's politics makes him unusual. He defeated an incumbent Democrat in 2002 and survived his biggest challenge in 2008 against a strong challenger running on a ticket headed by Barack Obama. Sandwich voters gave the nod to Obama by a margin of 51-49 percent. But Perry took in 72 percent of Sandwich voters.
Anyone who has followed Perry could understand why: he more than matches his political conservatism with a very strong organization and a retail politics that brings in Democrat and Independent voters.
One of the main events of the year in Sandwich is the Fourth of July parade. It is small town America at its most quaint: veterans, local civic organizations, homemade floats, the fire department, and a sea of children bringing up the rear on their bikes. And the Sandwich Republican Committee marches in high numbers.
It is throwback to a time in the 19th century, when parties sponsored torchlight parades, and speeches by candidates were social events held amidst a party-like atmosphere. The Sandwich GOP sponsors a talent show, a yard sale, Presidents Day events, mock (and mocking) Democratic debates.
For local parties, these events and sponsorship opportunities are the glue that holds their organizations together. Through these events, perhaps more than the candidates' politics, they reach out to voters through family members, fraternal organizations, and civic clubs. They have successfully created a social network and in their activity, reach out to others.
This brings us back to White. He inherited the Perry and Sandwich GOP organization. One could not help but notice that the number of people holding signs for White on the corner of busy intersections far surpassed the other candidates. His Web site was more easily accessible, his signs everywhere, the candidate himself all around town all of the time. Standing right next to him, for all to see: Jeff Perry and his supporters.
White defeated two well-known and eminently qualified figures because he matched the rhetoric of the future with a strong organizational apparatus. As the national GOP strategists in Washington flounder, they would do well to study the back-to-basics approach of the younger generation.
Peter Ubertaccio is associate professor of political science and director of the Joseph Martin Institute at Stonehill College in Easton.
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