Struble Eichenbaum Communications

Governor Steve Beshear’s successful 2011 campaign is proof that the right candidate and the right message are a difficult combination to beat. We began the campaign reminding voters of Beshear’s small town values, his faith and his close-knit family. And we used the governor to camera to project his strength of character, which would become an important contrast for us in the campaign.

We knew that our opponent – Beshear’s chief Republican rival in state government – would try to paint the governor as weak. So our ads portrayed Beshear as a strong hands-on leader, willing and able to make tough decisions. Specifically, we ran a campaign focused on two things: cutting government spending and creating jobs. And because voters are skeptical that things are getting better, we were careful to be modest on our job creation claims. Believability was the key.

Our slogan – Tested. Trusted. Tough. – was seen and heard on many of our ads, as was the phrase “Leading by Example” to highlight Beshear’s decision to cut his own pay and to include himself in a furlough of state workers that he ordered to cut costs. We contrasted these actions with our opponent’s wasteful spending and abuse of perks during tough economic times.

From giving specific examples of how Beshear cut government to the smallest size in a generation, to examples of businesses he helped and jobs created, we painted a picture of a decent, caring and engaged chief executive helping Kentucky weather tough economic times.

In 1996 we helped Tim Johnson defeat incumbent Sen. Larry Pressler in South Dakota. In 2002, we once again helped Tim come from behind to beat then Congressman John Thune by 524 votes. His re-election in 2008 presented a far different dilemma. On December 13, 2006 Sen. Johnson suffered an arteriovenous malformation, a condition which causes arteries and veins to grow abnormally large and produces stroke like symptoms. He was incapacitated for almost a year. Tim had to relearn how to walk and talk.

Our task was to re-elect a Senator who had a speech impediment and who had lost the use of much of his right side. This was no easy task, but Tim’s a fighter and was determined to prove he was up to the job.

In the end, we decided humor was the best way to re-introduce him as the hard working husband, father and public servant who could still deliver for the people of South Dakota. Sen. Johnson was re-elected by 62.5% of the vote.

Chris Murphy entered the 2006 campaign as the least likely of the three contested Connecticut House races to win. Nancy Johnson had proven herself a fierce and formidable campaigner able to raise millions of dollars and never afraid to go on the attack.

Johnson's strategy was simple: disqualify Murphy before he knew what hit him. She attacked early and often, swamping Murphy with negative ads intended to define him on Johnson's terms.

Our research, however, was clear that voters were tiring of Johnson but would still give her the benefit of the doubt. We realized that strong negative attacks on her would backfire, but that a straight forward campaign about character would give us a chance.

We portrayed Chris as a fresh face we needed and used Johnson's attacks as an example of how Washington's changed her and she's no longer listening to the people of Connecticut.

We attacked Johnson plenty, but we did it with a lighter touch. In one of the closing ads, Murphy even says, "She's not a bad person, but she's become part of the problem."

We played up the contrast between young, energetic fresh-faced Murphy and Johnson who's been in Washington for 24 years. We also put Murphy to camera as much as possible to play up our best asset. Most importantly, we never allowed Johnson to get us off our message and our strategy and they were reflected, one way or another, in every ad we ran.

In the end, Murphy won by 12 points, a margin that surprised almost everyone. Of the other two Connecticut House races, one Democrat squeaked through by one point and the other lost.